Microsoft Looking For Content Design Director at Bellevue, WA Full Time

We’re looking for a Content Design Director to head up our incredible group of end-user-focused UX Design Writers and Content Strategists for Microsoft Teams. You will inspire, define, articulate, and deliver a comprehensive and well-crafted content strategy for enterprise and consumer experiences. In short, you get to shape the direction of Teams – and the future of work and life for hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Teams Design is a highly collaborative group of creative people including user researchers, product designers, content designers, prototypers, illustrators, and more. We value creativity, open idea sharing, and having fun while we work. Most of all, we’re motivated by creating simple and delightful experiences for our users. We want them to love our products.

To continue our mission of helping every person and group to achieve more together, we need a well-rounded content design leader that can conceptualize the big picture as well as drive detailed content design development across a vast array of collaboration and communications user experiences.

Our content design work for Teams includes help and how-to, guidance and best practices, in-product contextual assistance and notifications, web sites, video scripts, first-run experiences, user interface text, and more. As the Content Design Director, you will work with other leaders across design, product management, and engineering to create forward-thinking content design strategy, develop user scenario-driven features, meet business goals, and advocate for content design as a growing discipline at Microsoft.

You should have a record of successful team leadership, innovative thinking, a history of using content design to drive new ideas, and the ability to help your team to make the right design decisions. You should revel in powering the growth and success of your team and have a passion for developing the careers of the people on your team.

You’ll love this role if:
You’re passionate about words, design, and technology.

You love to invest in the growth of those around you, especially in your own team.

You know the names of a few parts of speech.

You love a variety of writing challenges—from teeny mobile spaces to coherent cross-product flows to friendly how-to articles.

You dig digging into metrics and customer feedback.

You thrive in creative, collaborative cultures, yet are disciplined, organized, and able to independently manage the details of your work.

You’re a proactive communicator that takes feedback in stride.

You’re self-aware, growth-minded, and composed.

You understand the broader context of your work, and can always map your team’s activities to both customer needs and business goals.

Most of all, you care about the people who are using technology, and making their experiences better.

Join us!

This team supports our employees in all locations around the country. This job has the option to be remote or located in one of our hubs.

Responsibilities

Lead a group of writers and content strategists in delivering world-class content designs from initial concept through to shipping; grow their careers and serve as a mentor for the entire Teams Design studio.

Understand and evolve Teams’ content model, content types, and brand voice to better meet our customers’ needs.

Perform functional and editorial quality assurance on content as appropriate.

Use multiple sources of customer data to inform strategic content improvements.

Identify opportunities for content additions, improvements, and reuse/repackaging and effectively pitch those ideas to the team and stakeholders.

Guide your team in writing friendly, brilliantly clear UI text.

Work closely and constructively with Teams leadership to ensure overall business strategy is on track and delivery of designs is smooth.

Advocate for design in context of business and user goals.

Represent Teams Design and connect our product and features to other teams throughout Microsoft.

Qualifications

10+ years of experience in software content design

5+ years of experience in design leadership and management

Solid product design acumen and familiarity with major research practices.

Proficient in Microsoft Office, Figma and other industry-standard design and productivity tools

History of driving significant impact on products you have shipped

Aware of trends in mobile, communications, and collaboration.

Experience writing end-user facing content or copy (applications, web, social, ecommerce, etc.)

Experience writing for instructional, conversational, or entertainment purposes (education, instructional design, voice design, playwriting/screenwriting, narrative design, exhibition/museum design, creative/fiction writing, etc.)

Experience working with customer research

Experience with instructional video and visuals

Excellent interpersonal skills

North American English fluency

BA/BS degree in English, Communications, Creative Writing, Journalism, Theatre, or other literary/communication subject

Up-to-date portfolio and/or samples of writing and content across form factors, subject matter, and audiences

Behaviors

You can handle complex design problems and have a proven ability to create sophisticated and elegant solutions.

You delight in supporting your team, giving credit where credit is due and focusing on inspiring and cultivating talent.

You have outstanding communication/presentation skills to tell your stories to fellow designers, developers, product management, and C-level execs.

You are self-motivated and driven to get the details right.

You have strong stylistic intuition.

You work well with others and don’t have an ego that gets in the way.

You possess a good sense of humor.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.