THIS IS A HYBRID ROLE THAT EXPECTS CANDIDATES TO BE IN THE WEST LAKE VILLAGE, CA OFFICE 2-3 TIMES/WEEK Summary: Part of the Mars Petcare family of businesses, Mars Veterinary Health is a purpose-driven team of 70,000 passionate, pet-loving Associates spanning preventive, general, specialty, and emergency veterinary care. We set a standard for high-quality care delivered through millions of pet visits each year across 3,000 veterinary clinics worldwide. Together, we are dedicated to harnessing our combined knowledge, talent, and resources to lead the veterinary profession in making A Better World For Pets – and the people who care for them. Overview/Purpose: As the Creative Director of Application User Experience, you will be responsible for leading the creative direction and design strategy for our IT applications. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to conceptualize, design, and deliver intuitive, visually appealing, and engaging software solutions that meet business objectives and user needs. Key Responsibilities: - Creative Direction: Define and drive the creative direction and design strategy for IT applications, ensuring alignment with brand guidelines, design standards, and user experience principles. - User-Centric Design: Champion a user-centric design approach, conducting user research, usability testing, and persona development to understand user needs, preferences, and behaviors, and incorporating insights into the design process. - UI/UX Design: Lead the design and development of intuitive and visually appealing user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) for IT applications, utilizing industry-standard design tools and techniques (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, Figma). - Prototyping and Wireframing: Create wireframes, prototypes, and mockups to visualize design concepts and interactions, iterating and refining designs based on feedback and usability testing results. - Collaboration and Communication: Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and stakeholders, to translate business requirements and user needs into compelling design solutions, and communicate design concepts effectively. - Design System Development: Establish and maintain design systems, patterns, and components to ensure consistency and coherence across IT applications, promoting reusability and scalability of design assets and elements. - Accessibility and Inclusivity: Ensure accessibility and inclusivity in design solutions, adhering to accessibility standards and guidelines (e.g., WCAG), and advocating for inclusive design principles and practices. - Trend Analysis and Innovation: Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and design innovations, and incorporate insights and best practices into design solutions to drive innovation and differentiation. - Team Leadership and Mentorship: Provide leadership, mentorship, and guidance to a team of designers and creative professionals, fostering a culture of collaboration, creativity, and continuous learning. - Quality Assurance: Conduct quality assurance reviews of design deliverables to ensure adherence to design standards, usability principles, and brand guidelines, and provide constructive feedback and guidance to team members. Qualifications: - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), Digital Media, or related field. - Preferred: Certification in UI/UX design, interaction design, or related fields (e.g., Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification, IDF UX Certification) - Proven experience (12) in UI/UX design, interaction design, or related roles, with a focus on designing IT applications and software solutions. - Strong portfolio demonstrating expertise in user interface design, user experience design, and visual design for digital products and applications. - Proficiency in design tools and software, such as Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, XD), Sketch, Figma, or similar tools. - Excellent understanding of UI/UX design principles, usability principles, and best practices, and experience applying them to create intuitive and engaging user experiences. - Strong knowledge of design systems, patterns, and components, and experience in establishing and maintaining design systems for software applications. - Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate design concepts and ideas effectively to technical and non-technical stakeholders. - Leadership and management skills, with the ability to lead and inspire a team, set clear goals and expectations, and drive results in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. - Preferred: Experience working in Agile or Lean development environments, with knowledge of Agile methodologies and practices. Salary: $150,000 - $205,800 What We Offer – The Good Stuff: Competitive salary with paid time off & holidays so you can spend time with the people you love. Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your loved ones. Fertility and family-building assistance. Paid Parental leave. Practice Paid Basic Life Insurance. Practice Paid Short- and Long-Term Disability. Competitive referral program – join our team, bring your friends, and get paid. Automatic enrollment 401(k) Savings Plan after 60 days of employment with generous company match Commuter Benefits. Legal Plan. Health Savings Account & Flexible Spending Account. Mental health support and resources. Paid Volunteering. Optimum Wellness Plans® for up to three pets. Continuing Education allowance & MED hours for eligible positions. Student Debt Relief (for full-time DVMs). A Variety of discounts including Mars, PetSmart, Royal Canin, fitness, cellular and so much more. WE ARE A DRUG-FREE, SMOKE-FREE, EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. Mars Veterinary Health (MVH)® strongly supports and values the uniqueness of all individuals and promotes a work environment where diversity is embraced. MVH is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, genetic information, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with disability. MVH complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every MVH location.