Who we are:
The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.
Position Summary:
Are you ready to lead the charge in revolutionizing user experience and communications? The American Physical Society (APS) is seeking a visionary Director of User Experience (UX) & Communications to join our team, reporting to the Chief Experience and Engagement Officer (CXO). In this role, you will shape the future of APS by defining a three-year UX vision, crafting a dynamic product roadmap, and driving our digital transformation. Collaborate with top executives, foster cross-functional teamwork, and champion data-driven decision-making as you spearhead our customer-focused strategy. With your leadership, we will elevate web, app, social media, and email engagement to new heights, ensuring alignment with business goals and industry trends. Join us in shaping the future of APS and redefining the standard for user experience and communication excellence.
APS has a “remote first” concept that promotes equal treatment and equal access within the United States, independent of physical work location, with a majority of staff working primarily from remote work locations. APS values diversity and welcomes candidates from a variety of backgrounds. APS offers a dynamic work environment with an outstanding total compensation package, including salary, outstanding benefits, and excellent paid time off.
Responsibilities:
User Experience
- Lead the customer journey, define a big three-year vision, and lead a team that builds the product roadmap for critical parts of Discovery.
- Collaborate with CIO and CXO to develop and drive a customer-focused digital experience strategy and digital transformation efforts.
- Work cross-functionally across all stakeholder groups to create and build support for a shared product vision.
- Manage prioritization, trade-offs, and alignment for speed to market, performance, and features.
- Define metrics, create objectives, and drive cadences that track progress, managing through obstacles to achieve those objectives.
- Manage the portfolio of APS digital channels and their strategic development with an emphasis on user experience.
- Lead the customer experience strategy and digital design to enable robust customer experience in collaboration with marketing, the business, sales, service, and technology.
- Drive experience strategy and design, through digital using data and customer insights.
- Support the CXO developing and managing a modern, data-driven, customer-centric, and performance-oriented strategic organization
- Provide thought leadership to ensure that we develop creative ways to measure and optimize web, apps, social media and email designs and engagement.
- Collaborate with brand, marketing, customer insights, product, technology, and business stakeholders to help ensure alignment between strategic priorities, business objectives, and measurable outcomes.
- Develop and execute a comprehensive website strategy aligned with our goals by assessing industry trends, customer needs, and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for website enhancement and innovation.
- Oversee the daily operations of the company website, ensuring it delivers an exceptional user experience, meets performance metrics, and supports lead generation and conversion goals.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Communications
- Lead the development and execution of integrated communications public relations, aligned with APS's strategic direction (including individual business units) and major market trends.
- Promote APS's social media, web, and public relations presence while ensuring messaging is well developed and enhances communications impact and member engagement.
- Collaborate on the development, execution, and assessment of the APS brand and messaging, ensuring they are consistent with APS's mission, vision, and values.
- Leverage key performance data insights on corporate communications.
- Engage and work together with the Director, Marketing & Head of Brand to ensure Communications, Brand, and Marketing strategies are consistent and aligned.
- Collaborate with the Executive Office and Human Resources to create corporate strategies and communications.
- Oversee the writing and editing of press releases, APS editorials, white papers, annual reports, APS Physics Magazine and APS News feature stories, e-newsletters, event programming books and materials, and other communication materials to ensure excellence and consistency.
- Lead the content development and design for APS Web site, aps.org, and seek contributions from across the organization.
- Assess and recommend transformation of communications products into digital formats and maintenance of print strategies where appropriate.
- Interact and collaborate APS Executives to create and design strategies, PR/media programs, and presentations.
- Drive awareness of local, national, and international news and issues that impact the APS community and ensure the organization's views and positions are represented accurately and in a timely fashion.
- Oversee the planning, direction, and coordination of media responses and outreach efforts, including press releases and interactions with reporters and staff (i.e., journal editors).
- Develop and maintain partnerships and relationships with local, national, and international media venues to increase coverage of APS and its programs.
- Develop and manage the annual department budget in partnership with CXO.
- Serve as an active and contributing member of APS's core management team.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Team Management
- Guide staff in operationalizing the strategy to inspire actions among APS's key audiences (members, future members in the physics community, policymakers, the media, and the public).
- Develop and implement a performance management strategy based on defined KPIs. Evaluate staff to determine strengths and areas for growth and develop processes to support their development. Reinforce APS's culture of continuous improvement and learning.
- Nurture leadership skills throughout the department; providing training and guidance to develop communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution skills for team leaders and giving staff opportunities to take on leadership roles.
- Experience building and growing team capabilities.
- Foster a collaborative and results-driven culture, promoting innovation and continuous improvement.
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in communications or related field required.
- Master's or Master of Business Administration preferred.
- User experience (UX) certification or UX experience preferred.
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred.
Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Minimum of 8 years of Customer Experience (CX) research and design leadership.
- Minimum of 8 years of comprehensive communication experience.
- Advanced knowledge in leading Customer Experience (CX) initiatives across various channels.
- Advanced skills in design improvements that enhance user experiences.
- Innovative thinker with a track record of moving strategy into action plans with measurable results.
- Strong connections/relationships with media outlets and key industry press partners.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and develop a high-performing and collaborative team.
- Exceptional writing and editing communication skills with the ability to deliver clear and effective messages to various audiences in verbal, print, and online formats.
- Proven collaboration style while also demonstrating strong leadership and initiative.
- Strong team player, excellent relationship, and project management skills, self-motivated, and responsible.
Travel: Remote-first – working primarily from home and other locations rather than from a specific APS office. Primary residence/location within the United States is required. Some travel is required to attend publishing and marketing events—additional travel as assigned.
Salary:
The salary range for this role considers the factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, and other business and organizational needs. APS's Compensation Philosophy is to manage salaries at the midpoint of the market. Therefore, it is the practice to hire within the entry - midpoint range.
Full Range: $144,000k/year - $216,000k/year (USD)
Target Range: $144,000k/year - $180,000k/year (USD)
This is Us:
Help us achieve our mission of advancing and diffusing the knowledge of physics for the benefit of humanity, promote physics, and serve the broader physics community.
At APS, we:
- Provide a welcoming and supportive professional home for an active, engaged, and diverse membership
- Advance scientific discovery and research dissemination
- Advocate for physics and physicists, and amplify the voice for science
- Share the excitement of physics and communicate the essential role physics plays in the modern world
- Promote effective physics education for all
Core Values:
Core values are essential to shaping the culture of an organization. They provide the structure and guidance for how we conduct ourselves in our day-to-day interactions. Every employee has a responsibility for upholding these values. The behaviors and actions associated with demonstrating competency in these Core Values are described in a separate document.
Our Core Values:
- The Scientific Method
- Truth and Integrity
- Diversity, Inclusion, and Respect
- Partnering, Cooperation, and Open Collaboration
- Speaking Out
- Education and Learning
Amazing 2023 Benefit Offerings:
- Flexible schedules and ability to work remotely
- 8% employer-paid retirement contribution
- Investment advisement services: 100% employer paid
- Medical benefits: PPO or HDHP option
- Employer contribution to FSA or HSA account, eligibility based on medical plan enrollment
- Lifestyle Spending benefit up to $2000.00 (USD) - 100% employer paid
- Dental benefits: individual coverage 100% employer paid
- Vision benefits: individual and dependent coverage 100% employer paid
- Basic Life & Accident insurance: employee coverage 100% employer paid
- Supplemental Life & Accident insurance, including spouse & dependent child(ren) coverage
- Disability insurance: employee coverage 100% employer paid
- Voluntary Accident & Critical Illness insurance
- Healthcare, Commuter & Dependent care flexible spending accounts
- Vacation: 15 days annually
- Generous holiday leave: 17 paid days of significance; includes one week closure at the end of December
- Personal leave: 4 days annually
- Volunteer leave: 1 day annually
- Sick leave: 10 days annually
- Bereavement & Compassion leave: 2 -15 days based on loss
- 12 weeks employer-paid family leave
- College tuition reimbursement plan
- Job related seminar & continuing education
- Professional Certification/Recertification 100% employer paid
- Training and professional development; access to LinkedIn Learning on-demand courses
- Employee Assistance Program
- Mindfulness Meditation: live and on-demand classes
- APS does not offer relocation assistance/costs
The American Physical Society is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of American Physical Society not to discriminate or allow the harassment of employees or applicants on the basis of race, religious creed, immigration status, alienage or citizenship, religion, color, ethnicity, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, protected veteran status, protected military status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, predisposing genetic characteristics, ancestry, domestic violence victim status or any other characteristic protected by law with regard to any employment practices, including recruitment, advertising, job application procedures, hiring, upgrading, training, promotion, transfer, compensation, job assignments, benefits and/or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, provided the individual is qualified, with or without reasonable accommodations, to perform the essential functions of the job. This policy applies to all jobs at APS. The American Physical Society is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request a reasonable accommodation, please contact APS Human Resources at
[email protected]. The “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal'' poster, prepared by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), provides an overview of several laws that protect you from discrimination on the job, and several rights are afforded to you by these laws. The “Pay Transparency Non Discrimination Provision,” prepared by the U.S. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), provides an overview of several protections implemented to protect individuals working under federal contracts from discrimination when inquiring about or discussing compensation; these protections apply to all employees and applicants. The APS has a "remote first" concept that promotes equal treatment and equal access, independent of physical work location, with a majority of staff working primarily from remote work locations.
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