Advanced Specialist, Experience Design

Pearson•United States,

4d•$105,000 - $135,000•Remote

About The Position

Pearson Virtual Schools is seeking a Senior UX Designer to lead the design of AI-powered learning experiences for students, teachers, and families across our K–12 virtual school platforms. In this role, you will work end-to-end, from framing design problems and contributing to user research through prototyping and validating high-fidelity experiences that reach hundreds of thousands of learners. You will partner closely with Product Management, Engineering, Data Analytics, and UX Research to translate learner insights and business goals into intuitive, accessible, and engaging product experiences, including interfaces that make AI-driven features legible and trustworthy for students and educators. This is a role for someone who moves fluidly between ambiguity and precision: contributing to the research needed to frame a problem clearly, then execute with craft and rigor to solve it well. You will influence product strategy and roadmap decisions, contribute to our shared design system, and raise the quality bar for the team around you. We are looking for candidates who are excited by hard questions about how people learn, motivated by improving learning outcomes, and ready to design for a generation of learners whose expectations of digital experiences are higher than ever. This is a primarily remote role, with occasional travel for in-person collaboration with colleagues and customers.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in UX design or a closely related discipline, with a portfolio demonstrating end-to-end ownership of complex, shipped products and measurable impact on user outcomes.
Experience conducting usability tests and mixed-method research activities, gathering insights through interviews, contextual inquiry, and usability studies, and translating findings into actionable design decisions.
Experience designing for AI-powered product features, such as conversational interfaces, adaptive systems, generative content surfaces, or ML-driven recommendations.
A strong portfolio and track record matter most to us.
Experience working in Agile or Lean UX environments, collaborating closely with engineering and product throughout the delivery cycle.
Expert proficiency in Figma for design and prototyping; familiarity with research and testing tools such as User Testing or similar.
AI literacy, comfortable applying AI tools to design workflows and designing for AI-powered product experiences, including generative and adaptive interfaces.
Data fluency, comfortable working with product analytics platforms, interpreting A/B test results, and using quantitative signal to inform and validate design decisions.
Strong information architecture, user journey mapping, and interaction design skills, including interaction patterns, micro-interactions, and transitions, across web and mobile platforms.
Solid grasp of visual design fundamentals, including typography, color theory, and visual hierarchy, to create interfaces that are polished, legible, and build user trust.
Deep understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2 and Section 508) and inclusive design principles, with experience embedding both into the design process from the start, particularly for diverse and underserved learner populations.
Experience contributing to or maintaining a shared design system, with an understanding of component-level design consistency at scale.
Excellent communication and storytelling skills, able to present design rationale and research findings persuasively to audiences ranging from engineers to product leadership.
Demonstrated ability to navigate competing priorities, align cross-functional partners, and influence roadmap decisions with design rationale grounded in user insight.

Nice To Haves

A Bachelor’s degree in HCI, interaction design, cognitive science, or a related field is welcomed, but candidates from all educational backgrounds, including bootcamp graduates and self-taught designers, are equally encouraged to apply.
Experience in the K–12 education sector, with a working understanding of the needs of students, families, and educators.
Familiarity with AI-assisted design and research tooling, including prompt engineering for design workflows.
Background in mixed-methods research, including behavioral analytics and quantitative study design.
Understanding of pedagogy and instructional design principles, and how they inform the design of effective K–12 learning experiences.
Familiarity with learning management systems (LMS) and how students and educators interact with them in a virtual school environment.

Responsibilities

Conduct usability tests, structured interviews, and contextual observations to validate design decisions and uncover user needs throughout the design process.
Partner with Product and UX Research to contribute to study design, synthesize findings, and translate insights into clear design direction.
Interpret qualitative and quantitative signals, including product analytics, usability results, and A/B test outcomes, to inform and validate design decisions.
Identify usability and engagement gaps through prototype testing and ongoing user feedback, resolving issues before they reach production.
Stay current with evaluation methods and UX best practices, sharing relevant techniques that strengthen the team’s design process.
Own end-to-end product design, from user flows and rough concepts through wireframes, high-fidelity designs, and developer-ready specifications, driving an iterative process from first concept to final handoff.
Design AI-powered experiences including conversational interfaces, adaptive learning flows, generative content surfaces, and intelligent recommendation features, making complex AI and ML outputs intuitive and trustworthy for K–12 users.
Think in systems: design for all states, edge cases, error conditions, and empty states, not just the happy path, so every scenario a learner encounters has an intentional, considered response.
Deliver responsive designs across web and mobile, ensuring layouts and interactions hold up across devices, breakpoints, and screen sizes.
Use AI tools as design accelerants, including AI design tools, to iterate on more concepts faster and bring ideas to life earlier in the process.
Define and maintain interaction patterns, UX standards, and component contributions for the shared design system, ensuring consistency and quality across products.
Treat accessibility as a design foundation: ensure all work meets WCAG 2.2 standards from the start, not as a late-stage check.
Partner with Product Management, Engineering, and Data Analytics to shape product direction, influence roadmap prioritization, and support investment decisions with design rationale grounded in user insight.
Communicate research findings and design decisions in compelling, story-driven ways, tailoring the narrative for audiences ranging from engineers to product leadership to business stakeholders.
Balance user needs, business goals, and delivery constraints to advocate for decisions that move the product forward without compromising the learner experience.
Champion underserved user groups, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and students in under-resourced settings, as an active voice in every product conversation.
Serve as a mentor across the design team, sharing expertise in design craft, research methods, and decision-making to support the growth and quality of the team.
Contribute to team practices, design critique, workshop facilitation, shared documentation, and workflow improvements, that raise the efficiency and quality of the broader team.
Model a standard of curiosity, rigor, and craft that sets the bar others aspire to reach.