Web Designer

Description of Job

The Web Designer will provide oversight of the Edgewood College external website including website governance, understanding client requests and ideas, and design pages that create a connection and action from our users, cultivating an awareness and effectively communicate the mission of Edgewood College and its academic programs and offerings. This role also assists with questions and training of individuals within departments, optimize page content, assess website navigation, usability, and mobile responsiveness. The Web Designer collaborates with Marketing and Strategic Communications and Enrollment Management teams and other College stakeholders to ideate and create, maintain, and ensure a healthy, user-friendly external website that will help drive the College's enrollment, fundraising, and awareness efforts.

Responsibilities

Visual Website Design

• Support the Edgewood College website with updated and optimized content, multi-media, and visual user-interface improvements.

• Create web and interface sketches, workflows, and wireframes to support the design of the website.

• Partner with internal clients to understand their design requests to streamline process with accuracy and on-time delivery.

• Support third-party partners/vendors with strategic initiatives.

• Design pages with content that is current, relevant, and enhances user engagement resulting in increased engagement.

• Collaborate with the marketing team and internal stakeholders to develop webpages that are reflective of brand, governance, and aimed at the target audience.

• Serve as resource for questions, training, and support for stakeholders to insure accurate and current information is found on the website.

• Collaborate with the Marketing Content Writer to produce new content and repurpose existing content that utilizes website best practices.

• Apply search engine optimization (SEO) knowledge to optimize web content, improve search with backlinks and other strategies to improve rank.

• Design visual imagery that is aligned with the Edgewood College brand.

Project Management

• Contribute to web project planning, strategy, governance, and ongoing maintenance/updates.

• Participate in planning sessions for key marketing programs and provide ideas on creative strategy, design, and production.

• Keep internal and external stakeholders informed of the status of current and upcoming projects.

• Create and maintain an annual master calendar for major updates, content review/refresh, and analytics.

Assessment and Improvement

• Conduct user research using formal and informal methods, interpret user needs, gather requirements by consulting stakeholders, analyze analytics, and plan for ongoing improvements.

• Align content strategy initiatives with user experience.

• Partner with marketing team on content, requirements, taxonomies, and metadata.

• Collaborate with College departments to ascertain the completeness, accuracy, relevance, data, and information on the EC website for audit and accreditation reviews.

• Test and improve the design of the website.

• Partner with Information Technology on web-related security issues.

Job Qualifications

Necessary Education or Work Experience

• Minimum Associate's degree, Bachelor's degree in Web Design preferred or comparable field of study, or equivalent work experience.

• Portfolio that demonstrates advanced website design proficiency.

• Experience in project management and assessment.

• Minimum of three years of experience in web design.

Required Knowledge and Skills

• Analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to discover and address root issues behind requests.

• Ability to excel in a deadline-driven, multiple-project environment.

• Excellent project management skills, organizational skills, and oral and written communication skills.

• Effective interpersonal skills, maturity, positive attitude, and the ability to develop productive relationships with clients, peers, students, consultants, and vendors.

Specialized Technology Skills:

• Proficiency in MAC system and knowledge of PC system

• Front-end development in WordPress.

• Knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other CMS programs (Slate, Jenzabar)

• Knowledge and understanding of user-experience, web design best practices, knowledge of both front- and back-end development.

• Solid understanding of web design.

Other Qualifications

Edgewood College, a Catholic college sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to academic excellence through diversity in its faculty, staff, and students. Candidates must demonstrate multicultural competence - the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to work with others who are culturally different from self in meaningful, relevant, and productive ways. Applicants from traditionally underrepresented populations including women and racial and ethnic minorities are especially encouraged to apply. The selected candidate must actively support the mission of the College by working with faculty, staff and students to share in our core values - truth, compassion, justice, partnership, and community.

To apply: Send a cover letter, resume, and references to:

Edgewood College

Human Resources - WBDR

1000 Edgewood College Drive

Madison, WI 53711

E-mail: humanresources@edgewood.edu

Equal Opportunity Employer