Product Designer, Kobo

• Strong ability to demonstrate design thinking, process and solutions
• Strong design aesthetic in addition to demonstrated experience in delivering effective design solutions informed by qualitative research and user testing
• Solid understanding of accessibility principles and prior experience in delivering WCAG compliant digital experiences
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills
• Strong ownership and collaborative mindset to ship products
• Proficient in UX/UI design tools in creating wireframes and prototyping
• Minimum 2-3 years of experience as a product designer, UX designer, information architect or interaction designer
• High proficiency with Figma for design delivery and FigJam for collaboration (or experience in alternative design tools that can translate into using Figma effectively and efficiently)
• A portfolio demonstrating artifacts such as taxonomies, flowcharts, wireframes, interaction design specs, visual design, journey maps, personas, and prototypes
• Ability to articulate and rationalize your concepts or process through white-boarding
• Ability to facilitate stakeholder workshops and enable collaboration

Desirable

• Rakuten Kobo Inc. is looking for a Product Designer (10 month contract) to join our Product Design Team
• Kobo Product Teams are responsible for connecting our cross-functional teams to our reader’s needs all over the world
• Reporting to the Senior Director of User Experience, the Product Designer plays a vital role in delivering amazing product design capabilities and features to our users, bringing us closer to our company goal of enabling people anywhere in the world to read more
• Our products are designed by readers, dedicated to readers. We are focused on crafting the best experience possible for all people, all languages, and all devices
• Working alongside various practices such as architects, developers, researchers, analysts, product owners and product management
• Opportunity to work on multiple platforms such as the eReader, Apps, and Responsive Web
• Working and aligning across three different geos and time zones and being able to deal with Cultural Diversity and Differences in Cross-cultural Project Teams
• Establishing a culture of respect and transparency
• Participate in design vision of product roadmap
• Actively integrate customer centric research findings into product design decisions
• Ensure the product teams’ understanding of the WHY and building of the WHAT
• Translating business requirements, end user needs and input from cross-functional Business units into differentiated design solutions
• Create design stories and design acceptance criteria
• Ability to measure product design release outcomes
• Contribute to our design centric culture by focusing on user intent, user needs, and shareholder value
• Actively participate in building and implementing a best-in-class design system and component library