Head of User Experience
Information Services (IS)
Reporting to: Director of Global IT Programmes and Solutions
Salary: £47,787 - £57,031 per annum (pro rata) depending on skills and experience. Salary
progression beyond this scale is subject to performance
Job Family and level: 6
Contract Status: Permanent
Hours of Work: Full time
Location: Kings Meadow Campus
You are a creative IT leader. You have a passion for elegant technical design and
incorporating innovative technologies in user centric ways. You play with new
technologies and constantly scan for the next exciting innovation. Create and lead a
new team which will design intuitive services to allow our user to be productive and
creative wherever they are.
The University
The University of Nottingham (UoN) is ranked in the UK’s top 10 and the world’s top 75
universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings, placing it
in the top 1% of all universities worldwide. UoN has award-winning campuses in the UK, China
and Malaysia and is committed to providing a truly inspiring and international education.
Described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern
international university’ – the University of Nottingham is uniquely enterprising and renowned
for its production of world-leading research.
Information Services
Many of our services are typical of any business and offer similar challenges: Managed
desktops and laptops, data storage, email, printing, web content management for the internet
and intranet, data and voice networking, multimedia design and production, and the major
applications underpinning finance, HR/payroll, marketing, facilities management, conferencing
and a range of commercial enterprises, including incubator premises for new business
ventures.
Other challenges are specific to higher education and to our University in particular.
Nottingham has huge ambition to transform the experience it provides to students — to place
them at the heart of its global, digital community. This will involve fundamental change to the
business processes which underpin the student journey through the institution, major
organisational change across professional services teams, and the implementation of a
comprehensive, integrated suite of supporting IT systems. We in Information Services will play
a pivotal role in this exciting and challenging change programme — known as Transform.
We also run specialist systems to underpin the life cycle of each research project as it moves
from grant application through to publication and dissemination. Our researchers need
information to help them target the next exciting and lucrative research opportunity. They
need to be able to demonstrate the impact their research is having in the world.
As our mission says, “by bold innovation and excellence in all that we do, we make both
knowledge and discoveries matter”. This depends on getting the right information to the right
people within our community. Here, the creation, sharing, analysis and dissemination of
information are defining activities. It’s what we exist to do. Both students and researchers are
demanding, innovative users of technology and we aim to provide them an information
environment in which they can be boundlessly creative and highly productive. We have
campuses in Nottingham, China and Malaysia, and aim to support mobility, ease of
communication and team work across this hugely diverse and geographically spread
community.
In response to these specific challenges, we provide particular and differentiating services.
These include a Virtual Learning Environment and other innovative technologies for learning,
High Performance Computing services and a large range of specialist software. Our researchers
produce vast amounts of data and need tools to manage, mine and generate information from
it. Many of them collaborate with industrial partners and researchers in other institutions
across disciplinary and organisational boundaries. Our students have grown up with internet
technologies and expect to be constantly connected using their mobile devices. A technologyrich experience is what they expect from University life. We provide equipment in teaching
rooms, PC suites, language laboratories, wireless everywhere, and internet services in the halls
of residence. Our global nature also means that video conferencing is particularly important.
Context
Following the appointment of a new CIO, Information Services is undergoing a significant
restructure and reinvigoration. The aim is to build an organisation which is able to be the
reliable, trusted, innovative and agile IT partner that the University needs to deliver its
ambitious 2020 Strategy across the UK, China and Malaysia campuses.
There are four ‘Head of’ roles reporting to the Director of Global IT Programmes and Solutions:

Head of Portfolio Delivery – accountable for delivery of the global project portfolio;
acts as the centre of excellence for portfolio and project management; leads a team of
professional project and programme managers

Head of Infrastructure Solutions – acts as the technical design authority for the
data centres, the network, storage and servers including High Performance Computing;
leads a team of deep technical experts in this area

Head of Application Development – acts as the technical design authority for the
portfolio of applications and software which underpin and provide data for the
University’s business processes; leads a team of deep technical experts and software
developers in this area

Head of User Experience (this role) – acts as the technical design authority for the
systems and technologies which provide a workplace in which users can communicate
and collaborate effectively, and the devices (laptops, desktops, smart phones, tablets,
printers etc) which enable users to access IT services and data; leads a team of deep
technical experts in this area
University of Nottingham
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13 July 2017
Your team
We express the team’s purpose as: “Make it intuitive and convenient for me to use my
computing devices and applications to access services in a simple, friendly and
secure way that enables me to be productive and creative wherever I am.”
The aim is to underpin personal and team productivity in our highly mobile and geographically
spread community by providing devices that ‘just work’ and enable seemless access to all the
core software tools that people need. We will make them feel that they are part of one global
community. We will guide users towards a set of standard tools wherever possible: simple
communication, collaboration and presentation tools for each common context and purpose;
simple ways to access and synchronise data from anywhere and from multiple devices; simple
ways to install and access additional software; simple ways of finding and sharing information;
classroom technologies that are intuitive and consistent for teachers and students across all
global campuses.
This demands that we design IT services with excellent, empathetic understanding of our user
and they way in which they interact with technology in different physical contexts. It demands
accurate profiling of the different patterns of need that arise in our diverse community. It
demands understanding how people move around the campuses and chose places to work and
socialise. It demands imaginative design which prizes consistency whilest accommodating
flexibility and variation when needed. Most people don’t want Do-It-Yourself IT. They want IT
that works consistently as expected and without frustration.
With this aim in mind, the new User Experience team will design all aspects of the computing
experience provided for users. Since all services have touch points with users, the brief is
inevitably wide but there are three main domains of expertise required:

Workplace computing: The primary focus will be on the design of the core workplace
computing environment: desktops, laptops and mobile devices (including BYOD) and
the way these devices are managed, secured and integrated within the wider landscape
of services such as file storage, printing, networking, directory and identity
management. This will include the design of email, calendaring and team collaboration
platforms and the incorporation of unified communications technologies (IP telephony,
web conferencing, instant messaging, text messaging). The team will be heavily
involved in the the ‘Smarter Computing’ programme which envisages a radical redesign
of this environment and further exploitation of the Office 365 offering.

Technology enabled spaces: Also critical will be the design of video conferencing
facilities (heavily used across the global University) and technologies used in
classrooms such as image projection, interactive whiteboards, voting devices, lecture
capture facilities and digital signage systems

Application development: The team will also provide expert design capability for the
look, feel and usability of application developments and interfaces to Web Content
Management systems and portals – particularly those which are used by the student
community in large numbers.
Your Role
You will create, lead and inspire a new team that will design all aspects of the computing
experience provided for users.
You will lead a team of 10 to 12 staff in total in the following roles:
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13 July 2017

Senior User Experience Designer *1 – design authority for user interfaces

User Interface Developers *3 – develop robust, easy-to-use, interfaces

Solutions Specialist (Windows Desktop)*1 – design authority for our fully
managed Windows desktop and laptop service, including the way we design, connect,
manage and deliver software to the estate.

Desktop Developers*2 – develop robust software images and systems management
tools to underpin the managed deskop / laptop services

Solutions Specialist (Microsoft Productivity Suite)*1 - design authority for the
combination of Exchange, AD, Sharepoint and unified communications tools (including
the full range of features in Office 365).

Solutions Specialist (Identity and Authentication)*1 - design authority for
identity management services.

Solution Specialist (Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces)*1 – design authority
for technologies deployed in classrooms and the way these are integrated into the
Virtual Learning Envivonment. This includes video conferencing, image projection,
interactive whiteboards, voting devices, lecture capture facilities and digital signage
systems.
Two further roles are envisaged for the second phase of team development:

Solutions Specialist (Mobile)*1 – design authority for the way we manage a fleet of
University owned smart phones and tablets, and they way we accommodate BYOD
devices within our environment.

Solutions Specialist (Linux Desktop)*1 – design authority for a semi-managed
LINUX / Mac OS x service that is particularly suitable for scientific users
Principal Accountabilities:
1. Create the context for a high performing team and exhibit model leadership behaviours:

Ensure that staff have clarity of purpose, understand the wider strategy and context in
which they work, why their contribution is important and are focussed on results

Ensure they have the knowhow, resources, environment and support necessary to
achieve results in an effective manner

Use evidence based approaches to drive continuous improvement

Foster excellent team work removing constraints and enhancing effective working
across boundaries within IS and with other parts of the University

Help individuals to plan their careers and maximise their employability.

Provide constructive feedback and encourage reflective thinking
2. Act as the Solution Architect for the User Experience:

Maintain deep awareness of emerging trends and user behaviours in relation to
technology. Assess the opportunities and threats that these trends create within the
global University context. Act as an expert advisor to the IS Senior Management Team
and other colleagues within IS accordingly.

Develop vivid personas and ‘day in the life stories’ for each profile of user across the
University. Develop clear descriptors for the various physical environments in which
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13 July 2017
users work, study and socialise. Maintain a test lab of devices and equipment. Use
these to test the validity of UX designs for various users in various contexts using
various devices.

Incorporate analytics into UX designs where possible. Use the data produced in live
operation to inform continuous design improvements.

Set vision, strategy and standards for the UX of all core IT services

Develop and maintain a coherent multi-year UX roadmap for implementing the
strategy, drawing together contributions from the various specialists with the team.

Play a key role in establishing and maturing the Architecture function within IS by
attending regular Solution design Authority reviews and challenging UX aspects of
proposed solution designs

Work particularly closely with the Manager, Application Development to ensure that all
application solution designs are coherent with regard to the UX aspects and to provide
interface development resources into wider development projects.
3. Act as the team leader for work packages associated with major projects which involve UX
developments

Plan, estimate and allocate resources to work packages

Take accountability for delivering work packages to meet project quality and time
commitments

Ensure agreed standards are applied

Mentor and challenge team members to help them solve design problems in a creative
manner

Work with operational teams in IS to ensure smooth transitions of new services into live
operation. Provide intensive early life support as necessary.
4. Act as the point of escalation for third line incident and problem resolution as necessary

Lead the team to diagnose and resolve complex incidents in live services

Lead cross functional teams to understand and design solutions for root cause problems
5. Own and manage relevant strategic supplier relationships, especially those which provide
thought leadership in the area of the UX
6. Develop own skills and professional capability in line with the needs of the service
Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience
Essential
Qualifications/
Education
University of Nottingham

Desirable
Educated to degree level in a
relevant discipline or with
equivalent additional experience
5

ITIL V3 Foundation

PRINCE2 Foundation

Relevant Microsoft
Certifications
13 July 2017
Skills/Training
Experience
University of Nottingham

Has a passion for elegant
technical design and incorporating
innovative technologies in user
centric ways. Technology
evangelist who can see the
potential of how new technologies
and devices can transform the
user experience

Fosters creativity and innovation
in others: encourages
experimentation and risk taking;
celebrates success; learns from
failure; is open to new thinking.

Broad knowledge of development
project lifecycles

Strong co-design and facilitation
skills

Strong negotiation, influencing
and communication skills

Excellent team player and leader

Able to understand and manage
the expectations of a range of
stakeholders

Strong organisation and planning
skills

Substantial experience of solution
design and development within a
large IT service organisation. Has
deep knowledge of at least one of
the three core technology
domains relevant to the role.

Substantial experience delivering
highly available services in a
disciplined, customer focussed
environment.

Substantial experience in design
specialisms such as personas,
wire framing, site mapping, task
analysis, sketching, prototyping,
usability testing etc.

Broad understanding of IT
architecture.
6

Demonstrates excellent use of
typography, colour, imagery
and graphical elements.

Understands current trends in
XHTML, JS and CSS coding
and practice

Experience of working with
Agile development teams

Experience within Higher
Education
13 July 2017