Principal Information Architect

University of Oregon•Eugene, OR

About The Position

The Principal Information Architect (PIA) will lead the strategic organization of the university’s web ecosystems. This is a high-level individual contributor role reporting to the Assistant Vice President for Digital Strategy. The PIA will make institution-wide decisions about how millions of users find, navigate, and understand information across UO’s digital presence and will directly shape how the university presents itself to the world. This role plays a key part in advancing the university’s information architecture through the development of a phased subdomain strategy that guides progress from current to future state. The position designs scalable navigation systems across global, local, and contextual levels, and establishes taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and labeling systems to support consistent information organization. Through content inventories and audits, the role informs strategic decision-making and helps define guidelines for the appropriate placement of public versus internal content. Working in partnership with stakeholders across academic and administrative units, this position provides consultation on information architecture best practices and contributes to the evolution of university web governance policies.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience
Five years of experience in information architecture or related field
Experience designing information architecture for complex digital environments
Ability to facilitate alignment among multiple stakeholders with competing priorities
Proficiency in navigation design across multiple levels (global, local, contextual)
Proficiency in sitemap development, documentation, and content inventory methodology
Ability to map user journeys and task flows
Skill in structural wireframing (distinct from visual/UI design)
Ability to interpret analytics to inform architecture decisions
Experience developing controlled vocabularies and labeling systems

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in information science, library science, or related field
Experience with subdomain strategy in large organizations
CMS experience, particularly Drupal
Experience with user research methods, including card sorting and tree testing
Accessibility expertise
Experience with search strategy and findability optimization
Experience synthesizing mental models and user research

Responsibilities

Lead the strategic organization of the university’s web ecosystems.
Make institution-wide decisions about how millions of users find, navigate, and understand information across UO’s digital presence.
Directly shape how the university presents itself to the world.
Advance the university’s information architecture through the development of a phased subdomain strategy.
Design scalable navigation systems across global, local, and contextual levels.
Establish taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and labeling systems to support consistent information organization.
Conduct content inventories and audits to inform strategic decision-making.
Help define guidelines for the appropriate placement of public versus internal content.
Provide consultation on information architecture best practices to stakeholders across academic and administrative units.
Contribute to the evolution of university web governance policies.