USER EXPERIENCE (UX) DESIGNER

(Royston, Cambridge)

Do you have expertise in, and passion for, UX Design / Research? Would you like to apply your expertise to impact the User Experience team in a company that follows the science and turns ideas into life changing medicines? Then AstraZeneca might be the one for you!

ABOUT ASTRAZENECA

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-focused biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious diseases. But we’re more than one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

Disrupt an industry and change lives

We at AstraZeneca are a one purpose-led global organisation. The enablers and innovators, ensuring that we can fulfil our mission to push the boundaries of science and discover and develop life-changing medicines. Working in Technology here means you’ll be a self-starter who is comfortable stepping up and taking ownership, willing to constantly explore and challenge the status quo. You’ll be empowered to orchestrate new possibilities, solve challenges and continuously innovate.

Digital products and services are becoming increasingly important for AZ, whether these are aimed at patients (e.g. an asthma inhaler connected to a mobile app to remind patients to take their medicines), doctors or colleagues (e.g. a web tool for scientists to visualise real-time data coming from a clinical trial).  To address this, ~5 years ago, we created an in-house global User Experience team to promote User-Centered Design (UCD) across AZ and ensure that these products are both usable and desirable.

The UX team is currently made up of 18 experts in UX Research, UX Design and UI/ Visual Design, across the UK (Cambridge, Macclesfield), US (Wilmington, DE) and China (Shanghai).  We’re a team that is growing in size and importance, offering great future career opportunities and able to make a real difference to people’s lives.

ABOUT THE ROLE?

The UX designer is responsible for understanding what users want/need from digital products & services then using the insights to design those products to be easy and delightful to use.  These products and services will include both external (patient- and/or doctor-facing) and internal colleague-facing tools, and cover a range of platforms (devices, websites, mobile apps, etc.)  We are looking for someone who can manage a full, end-to-end UCD process, not just an ‘expert designer’.

You will work in a collaborative environment with other UX team members, using research insights to inform the early design process; for example, creating personas or user journey maps.  You will then design the product’s information architecture (IA), describing the high-level UX, plus lower-level interaction designs which unambiguously describe the product experience.  Typical outputs will be interactive prototypes, flows & wireframes.

You will iteratively improve your designs based on results from usability testing (usually carried out by others).  You will work closely with technical developers during the build process to manage compromises and ensure the best possible UX is launched.  You will keep in touch with post-launch insights to further optimise the product’s UX.

As well as the tactical side of UX Design on projects, the role also includes a more strategic side.  You will support the Head of UX and the UX Leads in evangelizing the benefits of UX/ UCD across AZ, using a set of excellent case studies where UCD has made a measurable difference to business performance.  You will help to develop new business for yourself and the wider UX team.  You will also support training non-UX colleagues into UX/ UCD methods and creating guidelines, style-guides and other materials to help them.

If what you’ve read so far sounds of interest, take a look below on the skills you’ll need for this role…

REQUIREMENTS (Technical)

• Degree-level qualification (preferably postgraduate) in Ergonomics, Human Factors, Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design or a related relevant field
• Understanding of UX principles, both from academic learning and on-the-job experience
• Experience as a UX Designer in an industrial (not just academic) environment – working either in or for large, client-side companies
• Basic understanding of UX Research methodologies – e.g. interviews, surveys, usability testing, field trials – and how they fit into a full UCD process.  Hands-on experience moderating such studies is not essential but would be helpful.
• Experience using research insights to make design decisions, and in creating strategic design documents such as Personas, User Journey Maps and Storyboards.
• Experience creating high-level information architectures, low-level flows and wireframes, interaction designs, interactive prototypes, etc.
• Significant experience using interactive prototyping tools (e.g. Figma, Axure, InVision, Adobe XD) and ‘static’ UX Design tools (e.g. Sketch, Balsamiq)
• Specific experience designing for mobile apps, with up-to-date knowledge of UX/ Interaction Design patterns for iOS and Android.  Also experience working across digital channels, including fixed-web and tablet too.
• Visual/ graphic/ creative design skills are not essential but would be desirable
• Demonstratable experience in designing for accessibility
• Strong analytic skills; comfortable working with big, complex, numerical data
• A portfolio of case studies where good UCD has made a measurable (quantitative) difference to the quality of digital products and services
• Experience working with pharmaceutical/ medical products and services is not essential but would be nice to have

REQUIREMENTS (Soft Skills)

• A self-starter
• The energy and pro-activity to develop new business opportunities for themselves and the wider UX team
• An active member of the external UX community, with an interest in sharing and keeping up with the state-of-the-art in design tools and research methods
• An excellent listener, with the ability to quickly filter the relevant user insights for design
• An excellent presenter, succinctly imparting UX designs, with appropriate rationale, in both written and spoken formats, and in plain, non-technical, language
• Great influencing skills, including the ability to evangelize UCD to stakeholders
• A great team player, able to work well as part of a small UX team and also collaborate closely with Product Managers, Business Analysts, Technical Developers, etc.
• Motivated to both give and receive constructive criticism on UX designs
• Able and willing to help mentor more junior members of the UX team; e.g. interns.
• Able to successfully juggle the competing demands of multiple concurrent projects within a global corporate environment

WHY JOIN US?

We’re a network of entrepreneurial self-starters who contribute to something far bigger. There’s a diversity of expertise in our Technology group that’s unique to AstraZeneca – it allows us to dive deep into

exploring new leading-edge technology. We enable AstraZeneca to perform at its peak by delivering world-class technology and data solutions, unlocking the potential of science. We optimise and evolutionise AstraZeneca by maximising efficiencies and finding new ways to drive productivity. From automation to data simplification.

A place to be open and transparent – we speak up, think creatively and share ideas. Our diverse contributions help us to make better decisions. But we have a constant drive to innovate, and an appreciation for high standards. It takes challenging the status quo to add value in our ever-evolving environment. We love it here because put simply, we make a meaningful impact.

Technology at AstraZeneca is a home for purposeful disruptors!

WHAT NEXT?

So are you ready to start your journey? Click the link to apply and we’ll be in touch soon.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

Our Social Media, Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/

Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers/

Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrazeneca_careers/?hl=en

Competitive salary & benefits on offer.

Open Date: 06/08/2021
Close Date: 06/10/2021

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.