Discogs Inc.

Discogs is looking to hire a Director of User Experience (UX) to serve as the strategic and creative leader for the Discogs user journey. This role will hold and communicate our vision of an experience- and design-centered culture that will put users and their needs at the center of our products. The UX Director will influence and transform the way our users interact with our marketplace, database, and community on a global scale. This role is responsible for a team of designers and engineers responsible for learning and understanding the needs of our users, envisioning how users should experience our products, and bringing that vision to life in a way that is both inspired and thoughtful. This role will collaborate with stakeholders to create, communicate and implement the Discogs UX roadmap. The ideal candidate will be a mixture of hands-on designer, creative director, team builder, coach and mentor, and valued and influential partner to our Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Operations teams. The UX Director role requires someone who can be the champion of our user experience by fostering  a user-centered approach to UX design that is embedded in our product definition and development processes at the start and can hold that vision through launch.

Location

This is a Remote position. Open to candidates in or willing to relocate to OR, WA, ID, CA, AZ, TX , CO, IL

Who We Are

Discogs is the largest crowd-sourced, community-driven database of recorded music information and physical music marketplace in the world. Every day, millions of people use the Discogs Marketplace to connect, learn about music, and buy and sell vinyl records, CDs, and cassettes. As Discogs continues to grow, we are looking for experienced, committed, and highly motivated people to help us realize our mission to serve the music fan in everyone.

We are relatively small, so individual contributions can have a large impact. High value is placed on quality, critical thinking, and continuous improvement. Our teams work collaboratively but are distributed geographically and open-source tools are important to who we are and how we work. We value the experiences and skills each team member contributes to helping us serve our music community.

What You’ll Accomplish 

As a key member of the Senior Management team, you will create and influence a clear vision and UX strategy for Discogs’ database, marketplace, and community in designing the ways our users interact with our product.  You will:

• Collaborates effectively to create and communicate a clear vision and UX strategy for Discogs’ database, marketplace, and community. 
• Builds and nurtures a high-performing experience design and engineering team that is well-balanced across a wide range of design skill sets to accomplish Discogs UX goals and objectives with an aim to unleash the full potential of every single person in the team. 
• Drives a user-centered approach for Discogs’ features and services in partnership with key internal and external stakeholders.
  • Establishes and promotes a top of mind “user first” perspective by interacting with our community of users and driving the user perspective back into our work in a consistent, meaningful way.
  • Collaborates with Engineering to ensure adherence to standard product and engineering processes.
  • Collaborates with the Product team to ensure user needs are at the center of the product ideation and development processes.
  • Collaborates with Marketing to create marketing and positioning strategies based on consolidated research and findings.
  • Collaborates with Operations to better support our users and embed compliance requirements at the design level.

What You’ll Contribute

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in UI/UX Design, HCI, Product Design or design-related areas from a four-year college or university, or equivalent technical work experience. 
• 14+ years of related work experience.
•  Proven champion of user-centered product design processes with successful leadership of creative projects and teams from research and ideation through delivery.
• Demonstrated understanding of and experience in driving user-centered UX design within complex legacy systems with e-commerce, web, and mobile applications.
• Proven experience leading a team as an effective coach and mentor, providing constructive feedback to employees and having difficult conversations with individuals when required. 
• View interactive design, visual design and aesthetics, typography, motion, 3D, human factors, and more as tools in the UX designers toolkit. Possess strengths in most of these areas, know how they work together, with capability to design hands-on; know how to direct the work and combine it all into an experience that delights.
• Active in the UX and design community with a passion for exploring new UX design related technologies and processes.
• Preferred experience:
  • Previous experience of complex, data management
  • Experience working with a global team or managing remote team members

What We Provide

• Competitive compensation: salary, plus performance-related bonus program
• 401(k) with employer match
• 100% company-paid medical and dental insurance benefits for you and your dependents
• 4 weeks paid vacation, increasing based on tenure
• 18 weeks paid leave for birth moms
• 8 weeks paid parental leave, including adoption
• Monthly wellness allowance
• Annual professional and personal development allowance
• Work from home office set-up and expense allowances
• Flexible work location opportunities
• Employer matching toward charitable contributions

What We Believe In

Discogs’ mission is to serve the music fan in everyone. We represent a diverse and inclusive community, and we are committed to serving our community with innovative and creative solutions. We know that innovation happens best when varying perspectives are embraced and integrated. Our global team reflects our global community.

Discogs is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Applicants needing accommodation to apply should contact us at 503-597-6340

If you apply for this role, you will be required to upload a resume, cover letter, and fill out a few questions regarding your application. Once submitted, our hiring team will review your application and contact you if you are selected for an interview. Whether you are successful or not, we will store your application and data in our system for a maximum period of one year from the application date in case another role becomes available that you are suitable for. If you have any questions or concerns about us storing this data and/or the period of time, please contact us at legal@discogsinc.com and we will respond to you within 30 days.