Senior UX Designer - Digital Learning - UTK

Digital Learning at University of Tennessee, Knoxville is seeking a Senior UX Designer to lead the design, optimization and discoverability for volsonline.utk.edu. This role will support the marketing department's recruitment and enrollment goals for online students. Reporting to the Director of UX & Experience Design, this position will independently translate user needs, business objectives, and behavioral data into intuitive, accessible, high-converting designs that follow the University's brand guidelines.

The Senior UX Designer will lead projects from discovery and analysis through information architecture, wireframing, prototyping, high-fidelity designs, testing and QA, implementation, and post-launch optimization. The position requires a strong visual and interaction design skillset combined with the ability to independently analyze quantitative and qualitative data, identify opportunities and areas of friction, develop evidence-based recommendations, and communicate findings to stakeholders. This position will also advance Vols Online digital discoverability across traditional search engines and emerging AI-powered search and answer experiences. The Senior UX Designer will apply user-centered design, content structure, information architecture, and search optimization principles to help ensure digital experiences are accessible, understandable, and discoverable by prospective students and the technologies they use to find information. This includes supporting Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and broader AI Optimization (AIO) initiatives in collaboration with marketing, content, and technical partners.

Working closely with UX leadership, developers, marketing, enrollment, content, and other campus partners, this role will help continuously improve the Vols Online digital experience and other Digital Learning initiatives. The Senior UX Designer will contribute to and maintain scalable design systems, champion accessibility and mobile-first design practices, and use analytics, usability research,  A/B testing, and search performance insights to measure and improve user experience and conversion performance.

**UX, Interaction & Visual Design**

• Lead UX design projects from discovery and concept development through wireframes, prototypes, visual design, implementation, and optimization.

• Translate user needs, behavioral data, business objectives, enrollment goals into intuitive, visually compelling, data-driven designs.

• Develop information architecture, user flows, site maps, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity interface designs.

• Create responsive, mobile-first experiences across program pages, landing pages, forms, search and exploration experiences, and other conversion-focused digital touchpoints.

• Apply strong visual design principles including typography, hierarchy, layout, imagery, interaction design, and content presentation.

• Develop, maintain, and evolve reusable components and design systems that improve consistency, accessibility, scalability, and development efficiency.

• Partner with developers throughout implementation to ensure design intent, usability, responsiveness, and accessibility are maintained.

• Evaluate front-end implementations and communicate actionable recommendations for semantic markup, accessibility, responsive behavior, and design fidelity.

• Ensure digital experiences adhere to university brand standards and accessibility requirements, including appropriate semantic structure, accessible interactive elements, and responsive design practices.

**UX Research, Analytics & Performance Optimization**

• Independently analyze quantitative and qualitative user data to identify behavioral patterns, friction points, conversion barriers, and opportunities for experience improvement.

• Manage tools such as GA4, Looker Studio, SEMRush, Crazy Egg or similar analytics and behavioral-analysis platforms to evaluate user journeys, traffic patterns, engagement, conversion performance, and interaction behavior.

• Proactively identify opportunities for optimization rather than relying solely on assigned research or design requests.

• Develop recurring UX performance reporting that translates data into clear findings, recommendations, and prioritized opportunities for improvement.

• Establish appropriate UX success measures and KPIs for projects and evaluate performance before and after implementation.

• Conduct and synthesize usability testing, user interviews, surveys, heatmaps, session recordings, and other research methods as appropriate.

• Develop hypotheses and support A/B or multivariate testing to evaluate design and content decisions.

• Present findings to UX leadership and cross-functional stakeholders in a clear, actionable format.

**Collaboration, Communication & UX Strategy**

• Collaborate with UX leadership, developers, marketing, enrollment, and content teams to define problems, requirements, priorities, and measures of success.

• Clearly communicate the rationale behind design recommendations using user research, analytics, accessibility standards, UX principles, and business objectives.

• Present concepts, findings, prototypes, and recommendations to stakeholders at varying levels of UX and technical expertise.

• Facilitate productive conversations around competing user, technical, and business requirements and recommend appropriate solutions.

• Partner closely with developers throughout implementation and participate in design QA.

• Contribute to UX planning and prioritization by identifying high-impact opportunities and recommending next steps.

• Build productive relationships with campus partners while advocating for user needs and established UX standards.

**UX Standards, Training & Professional Development**

• Stay up-to-date on design systems, trends, and technologies in user experience design and discoverability

• Complete mandatory trainings and continuing education requirements set forth by the university.

• Train and educate co-workers, staff and student workers on UX guidelines and design patterns

**Required Qualifications**

**Education:** Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing & Communications, Graphic Design, UI/UX Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, and/or Web Design

**Experience**:

* Minimum 4 years of professional UX/UI, product design, digital experience design, or closely related experience.
* Expert knowledge of UX design principles
* Demonstrated portfolio showing strong visual design, responsive interface design, information architecture, user flows, wireframing, prototyping, and completed digital experiences.
* Demonstrated experience using analytics and/or behavioral data to inform UX decisions and evaluate outcomes.

**Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:**

* Expert skill in UX/UI and interaction design, including responsive/mobile-first interface design.
* Strong visual design skill in typography, hierarchy, layout, imagery, and interface composition.
* Advanced skill with Figma, including components, libraries, prototyping, and design systems.
* Demonstrated ability to analyze web and user-behavior data and translate findings into actionable UX recommendations.
* Working knowledge of GA4 and digital measurement concepts including events, conversions, funnels, engagement, segmentation, and user journeys.
* Ability to create and communicate recurring UX performance reports and data-informed recommendations.
* Ability to conduct usability testing and other qualitative UX research, identify patterns in user feedback, and translate findings into actionable design recommendations.
* Ability to define measurable success criteria for UX initiatives and evaluate results after implementation.
* Knowledge of WCAG/accessibility standards.
* Ability to independently identify, prioritize, and advance UX opportunities.
* Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects while communicating status, risks, dependencies, and changing priorities.
* Excellent written, verbal communication, and interpersonal relationship building skills
* Excellent content organizational skills

***Sponsorship Not Available***

***Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.***

**Preferred Qualifications**

**Education**: Master’s Degree in Marketing & Communications, Graphic Design, UI/UX Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, and/or Web Design

**Experience**: 

* 6+ years FTE as UX Designer
* 2-3 years higher education experience

**Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:**

* Working Knowledge of front-end development (html, SCSS, JS)
* Higher education, enrollment, marketing, or similarly complex customer-journey experience.
* Experience with hosting focus groups and preforming usability tests
* Experience developing dashboards or recurring UX performance reports.
* Ability to design motion graphics, animation and video editing
* Ability to design for email and other digital touchpoints
* Experience working with  SEMRush, GA4, CrazyEgg, Wordpress or similar platforms

**Work Location**

* Location: Knoxville, TN
* Onsite and Hybrid

**Compensation and Benefits**

* **UT market range: MR 10**
* **Anticipated hiring range: $70-$75k**
* Find more information on the UT Market Range structure [here](https://hr.tennessee.edu/pay/market-ranges/)
* Find more information on UT Benefits [here](https://hr.tennessee.edu/benefits/)

 

**Application Instructions**

To express interest and for full consideration, please apply with the noted below attachments:

 

* Resume
* Cover Letter
* Sample portfolio of your work. The portfolio could include PDFs, hyperlinks, and/or image files. When uploading images or work samples, please include clear labeling that includes your first and last name.

**About The College/Department/Division**

Digital Learning at UT, is a unit charged