KTP Associate /Senior Associate in Human-Computer Interaction - London

Salary (grades 6-7) £24,253-30,038 (inc. London weighting)

The post is an 18 month Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associateship, working for a Partnership between University College London and Paperstone.co.uk.

Paperstone is an online office supplies company looking to embrace changes in technology and be at the cutting edge of ecommerce. Paperstone has a wide and diverse product portfolio. Its website currently receives approximately 1700 visitors per day. The company aims to be genuinely innovative in search and navigation to maximize exposure of the 18,000 products they sell. Although the Associate will be an employee of UCL, the post is based at the company premises in central London.

The aim of the project is to use Human-Computer Interaction methods to increase revenue generated from the company’s website and to transfer usability and accessibility knowledge to the Paperstone team. The project will involve investigating which web analytic metrics can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of usability evaluation methods, and implementating recommended improvements to the existing website.

The Associate will work under the supervision of the company's IT Director and will also work closely with the university, having continuous support from a senior tutor at the UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC), and access to UCLIC and UCL facilities and resources. The package includes a technical and personal training allowance, the opportunity to register for a higher degree and enrolment on a management development course.

APPLICANT DETAILS
Applicants should have a good first degree (2:1 or above) in computer science, computing, information science, psychology, social science or another field related to human-computer interaction, and must have undertaken academic studies within the last 5 years. A post-graduate degree in Human-Computer Interaction would be an advantage.

Knowledge and experience of application of a range of existing usability evaluation methods is desirable. Knowledge of system and user interface design and implementation gained in either a commercial or academic environment is important. Real world experience of the design and implementation of websites and web applications is desirable, ideally with a knowledge of HTML and CSS.

The applicant must be interested in the commercial aspects of running an ecommerce business; and how HCI methods can contribute to the success of a website, ie offer a genuine return on investment. The candidate must have excellent team-working and communications skills in order to interact with staff, suppliers and customers, and the ability to manage their own activities effectively and develop project management skills. He/she must be flexible and able to function effectively in a small company environment.

Further information can be obtained from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/KTP/current%20vacancies.htm or by contacting Dr Anna Cox, anna.cox@ucl.ac.uk

TO APPLY
Applications should be made either by post to UCLIC Manager, MPEB 8th floor, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, or by email to r.m.young@ucl.ac.uk and should include:
- a covering letter
- a completed UCL Application form (available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/docs/download_forms/job_app.doc)
- a current CV
- any additional supporting material
- the names and contact details of two referees.

Please quote ref. KTP/Paperstone1 in all correspondence. Applicants should also visit http://www.paperstone.co.uk and http://www.uclic.ucl.ac.uk.

Closing date for applications is 11th July 2008. Interviews will be held on Monday 4th August at the offices of Paperstone in London W1.

FURTHER INFORMATION
There is a significant number of off-the-shelf usability techniques (inspection methods, empirical methods including user observations with verbal protocols, surveys, and eye-tracking studies, analytical methods, persona-based methods). The key challenge of this project will be to work out which combinations work best for a given situation. Existing advice about which methods to choose in which situations is based upon the number of problems each method identifies together with some measure of the importance of each of the problems. However, these measures of importance are simply ratings provided by evaluators and recent research suggests that valuing usability evaluation methods using problem identification as a measure is highly limited. The project will therefore aim to:
• identify which methods lead to the design solutions that have the greatest impact on the conversion rate metric (the proportion of visitors to the site who complete a purchase) and other metrics, such as cash margin and overall website turnover; and
• identify which of these, and other web-analytic metrics might be useful as ways to quantify the impact of changes suggested by evaluation methods.

The Associate will play a strategic role in this 18 month project and will contribute to the redesign and development of the website; he or she will provide the vision and impetus for a transformation in the overall user experience.

Associated Link: UCLIC

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