NewHeights is positioned as a world leader in desktop telephony applications. The company's award-winning Desktop Assistant® communications management software offers a superior enduser interface to IP PBX and hosted IP Centrex Services. Our products are in demand by the world's foremost telecommunication equipment vendors and service providers.
Usability Engineer – Kanata, Ottawa
NewHeights Software is looking for a Usability Engineer whose primary responsibility will be to contribute to the improvement of usability of NewHeights products by participating in the design of the user interface for the products.
You will ensure that products are:
- Easy to learn to use
- Easy to use
- Efficient for highly skilled users
- Psychologically satisfying to use
- Build ROI models for usability effects on product uptake and down stream support / maintenance costs.
Your responsibilities include the following:
Design Consulting
- You will analyze the current design procedures and develop and propose the processes that will ensure that usability considerations are incorporated into product design. You will participate directly in the following activities:
- Assess the quality of the user interfaces of current product
- Provide recommendations on the quality specifications of new products
- Audit those products through the testing phase to ensure usability criteria have been met
- Develop performance measures for assessing the impact of design features on user productivity and satisfaction
- Provide design consulting through the development of documents outlining usability standards and guidelines for the user interface design
- Help design and participate in studies of target market segments to identify potential new products and specify usability objectives for those products
- Provide consulting on the design of user training programs and user documentation.
Education
- You will develop and conduct educational activities in NewHeights in order to educate and update designers, managers, and developers on the recent developments n the field of Usability Engineering. This includes giving presentations on various research topics, as well as contracting outside speakers to give seminars, and distributing relevant literature.
Library
- You will be responsible for consultation of the available literature on the problematic design issues that may occur. Since you will follow the current research and be familiar with articles in the relevant journals, you will review and analyze that data, and propose ways to apply it to products.
Basic Research
- You will plan, design, develop and conduct research activities to resolve design issues that may occur within a product lifecycle, but have not been addressed in the published literature. You will contribute to NewHeights image through the publication of research findings in relevant journals and trade magazines. You will also participate in the activities of professional societies.
Qualifications
- Ph.D. in Cognitive Science, Cognitive Psychology, Human Factors, or Human Computer Interaction, with a solid foundation in human information processing theories, experimental design, and behavioral statistics
- Advanced skills in Usability Engineering tasks
- At least 2 years of experience in the software industry
- Thorough knowledge of ISO standards pertaining to software development
- Familiarity with prototyping and drawing tools such as Visual Basic, Photoshop, Visio and Director
- Familiarity with database technologies, web services, or programming knowledge (Java, DHTML)
- Good communication skills
- Ability to work with others in a team
- Ability to work independently / with minimal supervision
- Awareness of industry developments and market needs
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Some travel required
Interested applicants should submit a body of work, along with their resume, that demonstrates:
- His/Her understanding of and passion for user-centered design and processes
- Experience with user-centered research processes and principles
- Experience with diverse applications
Please reference the position title when submitting your application to: [email protected] by closing Tuesday, March 14, 2006.
Please Note: Only applicants that are selected for an interview will be contacted. We appreciate your interest in NewHeights Software Corporation.