Associate Director of Web Operations

Overview

As an international leader in bridal fashion, Essense of Australia has been making bridal dreams come true for more than 20 years. With offices in Lenexa, Kansas; Perth, Australia; and Zug, Switzerland, our designs are sold in over 1,200 retail stores across the globe, including our network of company-owned and franchise stores, True Society. Located in the US, Australia, and Europe,True Society is a collective of premier bridal shops that exclusively offers our designs and delivers the ultimate wedding dress shopping experience to brides of all styles, shapes, and sizes. Together, we are a dynamic company focused on innovation, excellence, drive, and collaboration.

About The Job

The Associate Director of Web Operations role at Essense of Australia serves as a critical piece of our overarching website strategy, seeking to build connections between website performance, user experience, technological feasibility and brand vision. This role is pivotal in the growth and expansion of our wholesale and retail web properties. This position will lead the Web Operations Team, as part of the greater Marketing Department, working directly alongside the Development and Digital Marketing Teams, to scale our web strategy for a growing international audience while staying aligned to best practices for website usability.

A skilled communicator, this role is heavily involved in working across multiple departments to “shape” new web projects, demo new functionality, regularly submit well-researched pitches for new website features, and lead the maintenance and updating of all digital properties. An innovator to the core, the Associate Director of Web Operations will create and maintain a product roadmap for our web properties focused on driving traffic, conversions and on-site engagement. A successful candidate for this position should have a diverse background in both technical and strategic roles related to web product management, UI/UX design, and web development and well as a strong background in content management. With many new projects and properties on the immediate horizon we plan to continue to expand this team, and this role will lead that expansion. In turn, this role will need to have a strong background in people management, team building, and process improvement.

Interested? Let’s dig in:

Responsibilities

About You

A successful candidate for this position should have a diverse background in both technical and strategic roles related to web product management, UI/UX design, development, and team management.

The ideal candidate for this role must exhibit exceptional leadership skills, including the ability to inspire and motivate a team of web product specialists and content managers toward achieving innovative and user-centric web solutions. They should possess strong strategic thinking capabilities to develop and implement forward-thinking web strategies that align with business objectives. They should be comfortable proactively pitching new ideas, leading others to do the same, backing recommendations up with data, and then guiding these ideas through the development process.

Effective communication is crucial, as they must bridge the gap between various stakeholders, including business analysts, designers, developers, and the Digital Team. Additionally, they should demonstrate adept problem-solving skills, fostering a collaborative environment where challenges are viewed as opportunities for creative solutions. A successful leader in this role will also be agile and adaptable, continuously seeking to improve processes and outcomes in a dynamic digital landscape.

Above all, they should be passionate about delivering excellent online user experiences that align with business goals and effectively communicating this vision throughout the organization. The day-to-day tasks of this role vary widely, and the candidate needs to be comfortable operating in a dynamic, ever-evolving environment. Equal parts user experience developer, digital strategist, technical project manager, vocal UX advocate, and team leader, the person well-suited for this role is passionate about creating excellent online user experiences that align with business goals and does what needs to be done to get these ideas out into the world.

Key Skill Qualities For This Role

• Leadership: Proven ability to lead and mentor a team, fostering collaboration and innovation.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and implement strategies that align with business goals and enhance the user experience.
• Technical Proficiency: Strong understanding of web technologies, development processes, and UI/UX design principles.
• Communication: Excellent communication skills to liaise effectively between business stakeholders, designers, developers, and other teams.
• Customer-Centric Approach: Deep understanding of customer journeys and the ability to translate user needs into functional web features.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to address challenges and find innovative solutions.
• Agile Methodologies: Familiarity with agile and scrum methodologies to manage projects and collaborate with development teams.
  
  

Qualifications

What We Are Looking For:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Computer Science, Information Technology, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.
• At least 7-10 years of experience in web product management, UI/UX design, or a related field, with a proven track record of successful projects in leadership roles.
• Strong working knowledge of website UX/UI best practices; experience building fat marker sketches, wireframes, user journeys and storyboarding.
• Minimum 3 years experience working within a CMS, preference for Wordpress.
• Experience with Agile methodology, Jira software and running scrum teams.
• Experience or exposure to the Shape Up method of product design
• Experience with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and reporting dashboards.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent analytical and project management skills.
• Team-focused with ability to work autonomously as needed.
• Ability to thrive in a challenging, dynamic environment where multi-tasking and adaptability are a requirement.
• Procedure and process oriented with the ability to work within departmental projects and timelines.
• Nielsen Norman, Google or other UX/UI certification not required, but strongly preferred.
  
  

What We Offer

Essense of Australia works hard to establish an inclusive, fun, and rewarding environment. As a global leader in our industry, our goal is to offer an inspirational and modern workplace that allows for talented individuals to thrive. As such, we provide competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package, with significant opportunity for exceptional team members to grow with us as we continue to expand.

If you have the skills and drive to help us further our growth, please go to https://www.essensedesigns.com/careers/ and follow the prompts to submit your resume and cover letter.