Director

We always knew there had to be a better way to buy used cars. One that would make the process easy and fun. So we created CarMax, and we've been changing the way America buys cars since we opened our first store in Richmond, Virginia in 1993.

Leadership and Stakeholder Management

• Create, articulate and champion the vision and standards for CarMax user experience
• Communicate a clear vision to senior executives and other stakeholders that simplifies complexity and generates excitement
• Gather and interpret stakeholder feedback to shape design solutions that meet both business and consumer needs
• Build strong relationships across the organization
• Represent the CarMax web team well across the organization and industry

User Experience Oversight and Practices

• Direct user research activities to understand consumer needs, opportunities and pain points and to continually inform an iterative design and discovery process
• Create (and direct the creation of) visual artifacts to articulate, inform and validate ideas (prototypes, wireframes, sketches, journey maps, personas, etc.)
• Stay current on all the tools, principles and practices in user-centered design and development, and advocate for continuous improvement that makes sense for CarMax
• Lead and facilitate meetings and brainstorming sessions that are organized and productive
• Partner with leaders in Product Management, Strategy and IT to establish and refine leaner, more iterative and collaborative processes across the full product development lifecycle

Team Leadership and Development

• Build and coach a team of talented associates to deliver on the vision and standards and to be strong collaborators, facilitators and communicators
• Attract, recruit and retain a strong bench of skilled and engaged associates
• Create clear role expectations and leverage industry standards to move the practices forward
• Develop associates to reach their full potential - understand their goals and needs, partner in their development, provide advice, feedback, training and advocacy
• Manage resourcing for product roadmap that aligns with business needs and associate growth goals

• Passion for technology and design, and the drive to stay on top of industry trends and best practices
• Persuasive communicator - able to explain complex or intangible concepts to stakeholders at all levels
• Good listener - weighs input from multiple perspectives when forming opinions and recommendations
• Collaborative and team oriented work approach
• Solid understanding of user-centered design processes and ability to balance customer needs with business goals in developing solutions.
• Experience facilitating brainstorming and product discovery sessions and getting consensus among a large, diverse group of stakeholders
• Experience leading user research
• Mastery of UX Design principles and deliverables, including rapid prototyping, site maps, information architecture, user personas, wireframes, flows, etc.
• Ability to convert ideas quickly into design artifacts
• Strong design aesthetic
• Ability to perform interface design critiques and supply objective feedback to designers
• Excellent critical thinking and analysis skills
• Experience managing, training and mentoring others in UX design methodologies and best practices.
• Experience designing solutions for web, mobile, and tablet applications. Responsive/adaptive design experience a plus.
• Proven success designing world class branded web experiences. E-commerce experience a plus.
• Experience with Agile development processes.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

• 10+ years experience within the field of user experience and interaction design/development
• 5+ years leading user experience teams
• BA/BS degree
• Portfolio or work samples showcasing UX prowess, creativity, and depth of thought coupled with fluency in best practices for Interaction Design, Visual Design and Front End Development