Director of User Experience (UX) - Connected Research Platform

ZS is a professional services firm that works side by side with companies to help develop and deliver products that drive customer value and company results. From R&D to portfolio strategy, customer insights, marketing and sales strategy, operations and technology, we leverage our deep industry expertise and leading-edge analytics to create solutions that work in the real world. Our most valuable asset is our people—a fact that’s reflected in our values-driven organization in which new perspectives are integral and new ideas are celebrated. ZSers are passionately committed to helping companies and their customers thrive in industries ranging from healthcare and life sciences, to high-tech, financial services, travel and transportation, and beyond. Position Overview ZS Connected Research Platform. ZS’s Connected Research enables a human-centric clinical trial digital experience for patients and clinical operations teams by empowering them with remote/decentralized trial capabilities. Our mission is to optimize the performance of clinical trials by harnessing the power of technology, data science, clinical expertise and prioritizing the human experience at the center of everything we do. ZS is seeking a Director of User Experience (UX) who is enthusiastic and skilled in lean, human-centered product innovation. The director will grow and lead a global User Experience team of researchers, designers and content strategists focused on our Connected Research platform team as new healthcare products are envisioned, designed, and developed to ensure the most simple and effective user experience across robust offerings in Digital and Connected Health. This role works across various lifecycle stages, from initial definition to continuous enhancement, as we integrate user-centered design into the work of multi-disciplinary teams across the portfolio of the Connected Research platform. You will lead UX strategy, research, and design for decentralized clinical trials, digital therapeutics and virtual care enabling core platform capabilities. You will guide UX researchers and designers in creating, executing, and synthesizing various types of user research studies to continuously discover user needs. You will also lead UX team members to leverage user research findings, combined with knowledge of UX best practices and client needs, to develop recommendations and solutions, including navigation and interaction strategies for patient facing applications. As a leader of the team, you will play a significant role in growing a world class UX team, capabilities, and knowledge base. This includes growing our understanding and transformative insights about people and their health and wellness experiences, articulating, and teaching lean user experience methods and best practices, contributing to ZS thought leadership and product/solution innovation, and mentoring the team. Responsibilities Leverage deep expertise to drive user experience strategy for ZS’s Connected Research platform during conceptualization, research, design, validation, implementation, and pre-sales phases of the product lifecycle to provide clarity and shared understanding across our Digital and Connected Health team, internal account teams, practice areas, and clients. Lead the creative evolution, articulation, documentation, integration, and learning of product strategy, UX industry trends, human-centered research and design methods, tools, and work practices that inspire, guide, and accelerate product innovation for ZS’s Connected Research platform. Create, socialize, and implement User Experience strategies for continuous discovery programs focused on end-users, client advisory, user experience measurement, and other means of providing empirical data to inform and prioritize product strategy decisions. Hire, onboard, coach, mentor and grow the skills of UX practitioners as well as others who participate in and contribute to UX work at ZS. Partner with Software Development leadership, consulting staff, and our clients to articulate target user groups (as distinct from client buyers) for our platform; ensure that those users’ needs, behaviors, and key tasks are well documented and consistently supported across the product portfolio. Provide nuanced guidance on key end-user segments, needs and challenges. Partner with Product Management team to inform and guide product strategy, owning the user experience elements to shape the future roadmap of emergent innovations and existing digital health products. Help to understand and frame challenges and opportunities in relation to user engagement, behavior change, adoption and their impact on business strategy, service design, and/or product/solution strategy or design. This may also include the articulation of UX innovation related service offerings (e.g., Innovation Workshop) and engagement/opportunity mapping approaches. Author, present and communicate thought leadership in a variety of forms and forums (e.g., white papers, conference presentations, internal workshops, etc.), to establish ZS as a trusted UX leader in health and wellness and accelerate UX product/solution innovation. Provide subject matter expertise and advisory support to leadership and client projects involving digital health software products. Advise and provide strategic oversight across teams, projects, and programs to help plan and execute key UX research, design, and delivery work-streams and activities to inform product planning, innovation, and design for Connected Research. Harvest, generate and apply useful and transformative UX, adoption, and behavior change insights and design principles, and generating innovative design concepts based on user insights. Desired Skills and Experience Bachelor's Degree; Master’s Degree highly desired in Human Computer Interaction, Human Factors, the social sciences (Anthropology, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology), or a relative industry experience 15+ years of experience in the field of User Experience, with a focus on enabling and delivering complex, high-volume, high profile consumer grade solutions for healthcare. Outstanding skills in user experience strategy, experience design (interaction design and UX architecture), and business process analysis Mastery of when and how to apply user-centered research and design approaches to solving a variety of business problems, including developing hybrid, novel approaches when needed. Expertise in eliciting requirements through a range of activities from planning and leading stakeholder interviews, working from problem statements, articulating business objectives, and asking the right questions to inform design thinking. High level of expertise, creativity, and adaptability in all facets of qualitative and quantitative UX research, assessment, and measurement; Fluency with user-centered design (UCD) process and user research techniques such as ethnographic studies, user interviews and usability testing, with the ability to clearly articulate various research methods. Proven ability to deliver intuitive information architecture decisions, including navigation systems, content organization systems, taxonomies, and labeling approaches. Ability to guide production and delivery of concept models, sketches, and detailed schematics through cycles of rapid iteration to prototype experiences across mediums and realize a final solution. Experience guiding product strategy for designing cross-channel solutions and mobile applications Functional understanding of modern code, like HTML 5, JavaScript and CSS, and how digital business properties can leverage it, when possible, to provide a rich, consumer-grade user Experience working in a heavily regulated and compliance focused clinical environment A functional understanding of healthcare software is required, including EHR, Clinical Decision Support, Remote Patient Monitoring, Medical Diagnosis, Patient Management, Portals, Customer Ability to develop and ensure execution of an overall team- and/or project-level plan for UX research and design, including scoping, costing, planning and facilitation Expertise in UX project and program management, including scope definition, deadlines, and stakeholder management. Excellent communicator with strong empathy and the ability to motivate and influence individuals beyond his/her direct field of control. This requires strong facilitation and consulting skills. Demonstrated ability to focus, motivate, energize, and coach junior team members for high performance ZS is a global consulting firm. Fluency in English is required; additional fluency in at least one European or Asian language is desirable. Candidates must possess work authorization for their intended country of employment. An on-line application is required to be considered. ZS offers a competitive compensation package with salary and bonus incentives, complete medical/dental/life insurance programs and retirement savings benefits. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. ZS is committed to providing and maintaining a safe workplace. You are required to have received or be willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination by date of hire to be considered. Proof of vaccination will be required. Religious/medical exemptions can be requested on a limited basis upon hire. NO AGENCY CALLS, PLEASE.