Job Description

About The Company And The Team

At Microsoft, we have bold ambitions: Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. To accomplish this, the Mixed Reality Design and UX Research team is looking for divergent thinkers and makers who explore and learn by making, obsess over every degree, pixel, word, and sound wave, and bring their curiosity and passion to re-imaging the relationship between people and technology. In 2015, we launched HoloLens, the world’s first spatial computing device and platform, with the mission of empowering people to transform their world. In 2021, we continue that journey with the core belief that mixed reality can bring people closer and help them go further.

About The Role

Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Design and UX Research team is looking for a customer-focused user experience design leader with the passion, curiosity, creativity, and empathy to define the spatial future of computing. You will work with our interdisciplinary team to transform customer signal into actionable insights, generate and prototype transformative experiences, and define the path ahead for Microsoft’s MR products, platform, and services.

As an MR UX Designer, you will be focused on defining the end-to-end core product experience, informing the device design and experience architecture that unifies Microsoft’s mixed reality software, hardware, and services.

In this role, you will combine the holistic thinking of a product designer, the technique of an interaction designer, and the aesthetics of an artist. You will bring your unique perspective to our human-centered design process as we seek new ways that technology can empower people and groups to transform the world. You’ll work alongside others in a highly collaborative, cross-disciplinary rapid prototyping environment where we envision, prototype, and tirelessly push for the best. You will bring humanity to our long-term planning, systems thinking to our platform, and focused craft to our products. There is no bigger opportunity than defining the foundation of mixed reality computing, communication, and creativity. We cannot wait to see what you will bring.

Responsibilities

As a Principal Design Manager, you will have the following responsibilities:

• Define and drive people management responsibilities for individual team members and across the team
• Lead and inspire designers to create and explore in highly ambiguous situations
• Drive and assess design solutions based on user research input, user goals, and business requirements
• Architect user experience for Mixed Reality from initial concept through finished product
• Drive deep engagement with product teams on product design
• Create an invigorating and positive team culture
• Drive cross-disciplinary team to rapidly and iteratively identify, generate and prototype ideas and solutions that address user needs and outcomes
• Create and drive UX strategies and solutions grounded in research insights of user needs and outcomes in Mixed Reality
• Work closely and constructively with product management, visual and interaction designers, writers, engineers, and user researchers to drive alignment on product experiences and priorities
• Drive HCD processes across the team, partners and organization
• Effectively manage resources, schedules, process and priorities of design across several features and initiatives
  

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in product design, HCI, interaction design, communication design, architecture, or equivalent experience
• 10+ years of relevant design experience with proven success in working with partners and customers
• 5+ years working in AR, VR or related fields
• Experience shipping innovative and complex AR/VR products while meeting and exceeding milestone deadlines
• Strong communication, interpersonal, organizational, and collaboration skills across multiple disciplines - this role works with developers, designers, and artists
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to think strategically
• Experience dealing with the ambiguity of incubation work
• Collaborative and self-motivated; able to partner effectively with others while also making smart, strategic decisions and working independently
• Working knowledge of real-time 3D authoring tools such as Unity and Unreal
• Understanding of real-time 3D content development for both current-gen and mobile platforms
• Experience designing UX for hardware products a plus
  

Preferred

• Designing user experiences for enterprise software and services
• Service design experience
  

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.