What are companies looking for in a UX Writer?

January 14, 2017 Kristina Bjoran

Lately, I've been kind of obsessed with this new role that's popping up everywhere - UX Writer. And I mean everywhere (at least here in Seattle). Google's looking. Amazon's looking. Agencies are looking. Even retail giant Nordstom is looking.

So I decided to write a little piece over on UX Booth (coming soon) about this role and what it means, what it entails, and what makes for a good candidate. And here, I'm posting a collection of sample job descriptions, as posted by a number of different companies. I'll add to it when I see others pop up, just to keep an eye on things.

"Why are you doing this, exactly?" you might ask, trying not to be rude (but failing, sheesh). Well, I think this role will be here to stay, and represents a world where UX is finally getting a bit more specific with its job titles. Companies are now getting a little pickier about the types of UXers they need, and they're finally communicating that need more effectively.

So here they are, mostly unedited, though I did take out some of the more salesy stuff. Just a list, just so you can get a sense of what "UX writer" means to different places.

(Oh, and I'm not linking to these because they're ephemeral, and also because I'm not trying to promote any of these roles or companies in particular.)

(last updated 2/5/2017)

Google’s UX Writing Description

UX Writers advocate for Google design and help shape product experiences by crafting copy that helps users complete the task at hand.

They set the tone for content and drive cohesive product narratives across multiple platforms and touchpoints. As our resident wordsmiths, they work with a variety of UX design-related jobs including researchers, product managers, engineers, marketing, and customer operations to help establish connective language and a unified voice.

Content Developer (Microsoft)

At Microsoft, we are pursuing artificial intelligence as the key ingredient to empowering every person and institution to solve the most pressing challenges of our individual lives, communities, and businesses. Cortana, is central to that vision. We believe that the digital personal assistant is the next platform, the new interface between people and technologies. And, we are looking for the right people to imagine, innovate, and help us create Cortana experiences that people cant do without, that give them more time for the important things, alleviating the stress of daily lives and bringing smiles to faces.

With Cortana, we take seriously our responsibility to build an inclusive user experience; building inclusive teams is fundamental to that. Above all, its an exciting time to be a part of the pushing the industry with one of Microsofts most unique products.

If you are passionate, creative, and want to thrive in the cutting edge of world of AI, then the Cortana team is where you need to be. As the ideal candidate for our Content Experience Developer role, you are exceptionally creative and passionate about technology. You have a passion for artificial intelligence and the future of what machine learning can bring to digital assistance. You thrive in collaborative cultures, yet are also disciplined, organized, able to deal with high volume requests, and successful with tight deadlines. You succeed in the ambiguous territory of a world in constant flux. As a writer, you are analytical with a rich understanding of how language and dialogue work. Quality is your lifeblood.

Responsibilities:

Develop and manage partner relationships across agile teams in Engineering, Design, Marketing, while owning and influencing UX requirements from a conversational platform perspective
Write creative and innovative conversational content designed to engage and delight customers, leveraging the uniqueness of agent/bot capabilities
Analyze and evaluate data around language and dialogue
Identify opportunities for content and strategic improvements, additions, and innovations for the product as a whole
Partner with team members and stakeholders to continue to shape and evolve the customer experience and the evolving perception of Cortanas personality

Requirements:

Experience with or passion for machine learning and other big data powered technologies
Experience in character development and writing dialogue (playwriting/screenwriting, joke writing, narrative design, exhibition/museum design, creative/fiction writing, etc.)
Track record of delivering highly creative experiences on tight deadlines
Confidence working in agile technical environments, in burgeoning technical systems & processes ambiguity and flux is an opportunity, not a burden
Ability to succeed with both repetitive tasks and diverse projects
Experience using multiple sources of customer data to inform content strategy as well as day-to-day optimizations
Portfolio of writing and content samples
BA/BS degree in Journalism, English, Communications, Creative Writing, Theatre, or other literary/communication subject

Additional Experience:

Growth Mindset as a north star
Life-long learner, particularly for modern, cutting-edge technology
Proficient with Microsoft products
Experience with using content management systems and data analysis tools

Content Developer 2 (Microsoft)

Microsoft Teams is a new team-focused communication and collaboration product that highlights integration with both first-party and third-party services. So, a key part of our story is getting such services to integrate through a broad, flexible, and inviting development platform, including bots and UI-rich integration canvases. At Microsoft Teams, writers and designers are responsible and accountable for delivering great and relevant products to market by collaborating with product managers to create new, innovative products and by working directly with engineering to build those products. Our design team is a group of user researchers, writers, and interaction and visual designers who utilize a highly collaborative user-centered design process. We value creativity, open idea sharing, keeping a sense of fun in our work.

The UX writer will guide tone of voice of Microsoft Teams throughout in-product, help, and marketing content. You will shape product experiences by writing useful and on-brand UX/UI copy across multiple platforms. We're looking for someone who understands traditional, character-driven storytelling and how characters can be used to enhance a conversation through interactive experience and personal expression.

The ideal candidate is someone with a creative background, experience in interaction design, and a general project manager to drive content development that is exceptionally engaging and delightful. Our mediums will include personal expression, bots and agents, short films, and third-party content adaptation to be part of an expressive palette for our millions of users worldwide.

Key Responsibilities

Guide the voice of our product by writing UI copy
Work with an agile product team comprised of product managers, engineers, designers, researchers, and to create and launch world-class content
Leveraging data to drive decisions about what content to acquire and license
Short-form storytelling in the form of personally expressive content
Short-form video content from conception to completion
First- and third-party bot character development
Advocate for best content practices within the product and marketing teams

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Strong management, communications, storytelling and writing skills are required for working with creative teams to bridge the gap between our interaction and third-party content.
A proven track record of delivering great in-product content.
Ability to interpret business requirements, technical limitations, and product strategy.
Experience working in user-focused design processes.
Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to deal with people at all levels.
Experience with the localization process and writing for a global audience.
Aware of trends in design and new technologies.
You possess the technical knowledge that enables you to understand the opportunities and constraints of central services used by mobile, desktop, web and large screen clients.
Degree in a relevant field (English, Communications, Computer Science, Marketing) or equivalent experience.
2-3 years of user experience and/or copywriting. Although not required, it is an advantage if you have experience in marketing, advertising, or scriptwriting.

Behaviors

You should understand how conversations and expression through characters can create a viral, engaging experience in chat apps.
You should also be able to drive projects from creating a brief to helping craft the actual scripted content ensuring the entertainment and experience goals are achieved through release and launch.
You have outstanding communication and presentation skills to tell explain your process to developers, management and third parties.
You are a passionate advocate of user centered writing. You are able to work well within a larger design team of interaction designers and visual designers, and also working as part of a team with other parts or the organization, such as development and product management.

Senior Digital Writer (Seed)

Create conversational and engaging user experience content that aligns with business goals and brand messaging

Work closely with the research to study the behaviors, emotions, and needs of customers
Then they unpack customer insights, and iterate on the content and the overall design to produce innovative products and features
Works with cross-functional team members, including interaction designers, visual designers, user researcher, product managers (owners)
The UX Writer understands the design principles and how content fits into the customer experience, while working with the team to solicit feedback that will improve content quality
Must be able to incorporate learning’s from analytics data into development of the content
Demonstrated experience of 4+ years of writing experience, specifically in the digital space
4 years of experience and Bachelor of Journalism/Communications or similar field- (REQUIRED)-

Content Strategist / UX Writer (Credit Karma)

Credit Karma is looking for a content strategist (who can also write) to join our team. We’re all about making the Credit Karma brand helpful, transparent and, most of all, human. If you’re a human who also loves writing clear, concise copy, you already have two points in your favor.

What You’ll Do:

Write copy for our site and app
Work with our product marketing, UX, design and product teams to create user-focused positioning for new and existing products
Identify opportunities to test copy and use research to understand what messages work with different audiences (and why)
Cut the jargon! Find ways to make credit and finance easier to understand
Ensure the Credit Karma voice always comes through
Work with our legal team to ensure copy doesn’t say anything too outrageous
Come to terms with the fact that we do not use the Oxford comma

What’s Great About It:

You’ll get to work with a bunch of different teams and have your hand in some major projects.
You’ll get to figure out how to fit a complex thought into a handful of words.
You’ll be on an awesome team of grammar nerds and word lovers.
We like collaborating! Can’t think of the right way to say something? Someone on the team will happily help out.

What We Expect:

3+ years of content strategy experience with a writing focus
Extra points if you’ve worked in a heavily regulated industry
A college degree that in some way relates to writing
The standards: attention to detail, motivation, good attitude, proactive
A strong grasp of English grammar that’s balanced by an even stronger grasp of how people actually talk
The ability to prioritize and then re-prioritize as needs change
A love of cheese is a bonus. An intolerance of cheesiness is a double bonus.

UX Writer (Creative Circle)

One of the Bay Area's best known search engine giants is seeking a UX Writer to assist their team.

Responsibilities:

Write clear, concise user-interface text for products.
Collaborate with designers, researchers, prototypers, product managers, and engineers to define requirements.
Develop concepts for early-stage products. Provide data-informed insights to improve existing experiences.

Experience with Technical Writing, Journalism and User Documentation is a huge bonus for this role.

UX Writer (Silver Search)

Looking for a UX Writer to write and edit content to drive towards simplicity to make every interaction and word count. The UX Writer will own and lead the voice and language within all products and dig deep into the designs, flows and refine the whole experience. As a UX Writer you will be responsible for, but not limited to:

Write and edit content and working on apps across multiple domains and develop and maintain content brand guidelines
Work closely with product owners, UX designers and scrum teams to learn product flows
Advocate for users while understanding product and business goals
Build and scale editorial processes & participate in research activities

The UX Writer must have:

3-6 years’ experience as a writer, specifically within UI/UX/product
Strong creative writing background including writing dialogue for plays/screenplays, entertainment etc
Experience with content strategy for responsive design
Ability to develop content for a range of digital touchpoints
Ability to work on multiple projects while juggling different writing demands
Experience working in a highly collaborative environment working with designers, engineers and product managers
Experience using analytics, landscape analysis and user research to drive content decisions
*Must have a portfolio of writing samples that include but not limited to: copy decks, inventories, tone & voice guidelines

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $95,000.00 /year

UX Writer (Synergis Creative)

As a UX Writer with our client, a leading digital media company, you will craft intuitive, inspiring text in graphical user interfaces across web and mobile platforms. You will also collaborate closely with product managers, designers, researchers, and others to imagine, design, test, and deliver products that are relied on by hundreds of millions of people around the globe.

Responsibilities

Write clear, concise user-interface text for products
Collaborate with designers, researchers, prototypers, product managers, and engineers to define content requirements
Develop concepts for early-stage products. Provide data-informed insights to improve existing experiences
Help coordinate translations, improve writing tools and processes, format documents, and generally lend a hand as needed to produce world-class software and hardware products

Required Skills

BS/BA Degree (manager is open to area of study)
5 years of relevant work experience, including experience with consumer-focused writing for computing platforms
Experience working closely with engineering and product management teams as part of the software development process
Ability to juggle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment
Knowledge of online technology (mobile apps) and related technology and products
Superb writing, editing, and project management skills
Previous experience in Technical Writing and/or User Documentation is preferred

MUST include relevant UX writing samples along with application to be considered

UX Writer (Dropbox)

Dropbox simplifies the way people work together. Hundreds of millions of people around the world use Dropbox to work the way they want, on any device, wherever they go. As we scale our global brand, there’s plenty of space for you to grow alongside us and simplify life for millions of people globally.

Our Design team crafts delightful experiences that make people’s lives easier. We're a close-knit, collaborative group, guided by a highly iterative design process.

Your role and impact

The Dropbox design team is looking for a UX writer to create copy that's straightforward, helpful, and human. You’ll join our small group of UX writers and add to each stage of the product development process—from exploration through implementation. On a typical day, you’ll give and get feedback in design and content critiques, observe user research, and iterate on interface copy.

Writers at Dropbox are always asking "could this be clearer?" and "could this be shorter?" We love working through complex problems and finding a way to get to simple. We’re constantly refining our craft and our process too, shaping the way we work together across disciplines to create a wonderful user experience.

Responsibilities

Write and edit UX copy in the Dropbox voice and tone
Advocate for users while understanding product and business goals
Provide feedback on writing and design
Maintain and develop Dropbox style guides
Build and scale editorial processes

Requirements

More than five years of professional experience as a writer, ideally with two years of UI/UX experience
A portfolio of relevant writing work (*please attach samples as a cover letter, or provide a link to your portfolio)
Experience working with designers, engineers, and product managers
A gift for giving and receiving feedback with clarity and empathy
Demonstrated ability to write in a company's voice in different contexts
Comfortable juggling multiple projects at the same time
Passionate about punctuation and partial to puns (affection for alliteration is optional)

UX Writer (PayPal)

At PayPal, we believe that great products can change people's lives. That's why we continue to innovate and design solutions that help our customers make billions of transactions across the globe.

We are looking for a UX Writer to create clear, consistent, and compelling content for interactive user experiences and to act as a customer advocate and subject matter expert for a product area.

Can you help us create products that make a difference in people's lives?

Responsibilities:

Plan and write content for web and mobile (interaction flows, emails, notifications).
Turn global product requirements into a clear and engaging story for our customers (across all touch points including micro-content, UI labels, and emails).
Present your work and articulate your approach to teammates, product owners and other stakeholders.
Collaborate with design partners to influence page layout, interactions and visual design.
Collaborate with globalization partners to create the source content used for all global product experiences.
Coordinate content with Brand, Marketing and Operations teams to ensure we create a consistent end-to-end experience.
Use data and research to evaluate your content's impact, and push for continuous improvement that shows real business results.
Maintain and evolve PayPal's content standards, tools, and methodology.

Requirements:

5 years of relevant work experience with at least 3+ years writing web or mobile content, preferably for interactive user experiences.
Excellent, highly creative communication and critical-thinking skills.
At ease managing multiple projects, setting stakeholder expectations, working individually and collaborating across teams.
Experience in financial services, payments, B2B or B2C e-commerce is preferred.
Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in English, Journalism, Communications, Marketing, HCI or related field.

Sr. UX Writer - Customer Service (Amazon)

You are a brilliantly talented Senior UX writer. You love the craft of creating overarching writing strategies and authoring best practices for how to best meet customers' needs. You gather and factor in customer and business requirements. You have an inventor’s spirit, highly refined aesthetic sensibilities and a fine-tuned ability to contextually communicate the right thing in the right place at the right time to customers.

As a member of the Customer Service UX team, you’ll collaborate with UX Researchers, UX Designers, along with Product Managers and Engineers to invent and iterate on product experiences that start and end with the customer. You will develop unique content strategies, write short and long form copy, craft headlines and collaborate on the end-to-end experience, whether it's for our retail customer service experience or our internal CRM tools. You will write innovative, stunning, memorable and effective copy, combining creative inspiration with creative leadership to introduce new ideas and experiences to the world. You will be expected to make your mark, to challenge and be challenged, to create, to innovate. We pride ourselves on safeguards of customer trust and empathetic to customer needs and we look for the same in our potential candidates.

The ideal candidate will be passionately customer-centric and have a deep portfolio that demonstrates versatility and excellence in bringing experiences to life.

What we’d like to see

Proven track record of taking ownership and driving initiatives to arrive at killer creative that meets business requirements.
You are obsessed about customer experience. You never settle for good enough, and continually inspire those around you to do better for the customer.
You are scrappy, agile and full of initiative. You regularly push your comfort zone to stretch and improve yourself and the team.
Unwavering attention to detail with an acute awareness that every word and detail in creative execution counts.
You love to dive into unknown territory and invent simple, elegant solutions to complex challenges, sometimes with no clear precedent in today’s world. You possess a relentless desire to innovate, balanced with business and user interaction priorities.
You are highly collaborative, with a proven track record for partnering closely with other teams to influence positive outcomes and propose well-informed new directions

Basic Qualifications

A portfolio of your work is required demonstrating finished projects with a high degree of sophistication and polish that clearly showcases your contributions and impact.
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Communications, English, HCI or equivalent.
5 years of experience as a copywriter, or similar role with interactive/ad agencies, design studios, retail or Internet companies
Professional experience driving compelling traditional and digital creative strategy and execution.
A high degree of attention to detail when managing multiple creative initiatives, variations and feedback from product owners.
Excellent at creating and maintaining cross-functional working relationships. Proven ability to work cross-team and synthesize feedback and input from others
Ability to influence others to set and achieve goals and deadlines.
Must be self-motivated and able to manage multiple parallel-path projects.
Highly organized, disciplined and methodical in your work processes.
Exceptional communication, collaboration and presentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Specialized training in the fields of UX and/or Psychology.
A blend of in-house and Advertising or creative agency experience preferred.
Demonstrated business acumen, including experience measuring and calibrating the impact of your work against key business and customer experience goals.
Self-motivated team player, with refined and assertive leadership skills.
Experience teaching and mentoring others.
Amazon is an Equal Opportunity-Affirmative Action Employer – Minority / Female / Disability /Veteran

Sr. UX Writer - Amazon Appstore (Amazon)

This role can be based in either our Irvine, CA or Seattle, WA locations.

You are a brilliantly talented Senior UX writer. You love the craft of creating overarching writing strategies and authoring best practices for how to best meet customers' needs. You gather and factor in customer and business requirements. You have an inventors spirit, highly refined aesthetic sensibilities and a fine-tuned ability to contextually communicate the right thing in the right place at the right time to customers.

As a member of the Amazon Appstore strategic design team, youll collaborate with Researchers and Designers, as well as Product Managers and Engineers, providing a language-centric perspective to help design web and mobile interface solutions that solve a variety of cross platform content discovery/engagement challenges. Youll help create an optimal and usable experience by providing consistent messaging and interface cues across our diverse services. You will have a significant impact on our business as you assist in developing our design standards, language/tone of voice and usability processes for our global ecosystem.

What wed like to see:

A proven track record of taking ownership. As the content owner, you represent the customer while keeping business needs in mind.
An obsession with customer experience. You never settle for good enough, and continually inspire those around you to do better for the customer.
Initiative and agility. You regularly push beyond your comfort zone to stretch yourself and the team
Creating personas, wireframes, process maps, data models, interaction models, and other artifacts to describe the intended optimal user experience.
Unwavering attention to detail. You have an acute awareness that every word and detail in design execution counts.
An adventurous spirit. You possess a relentless desire to innovate, balanced with business and user interaction priorities.
Craft user-centered copy and flows by considering market analysis, customer feedback, and usability findings
A flair for productive collaboration. You bring a proven ability to partner closely with other teams to influence positive outcomes and propose well-informed new directions.
Creating a product content and copy styleguide to evangelize best practices throughout Appstore design team and business groups.
A portfolio of your work is required, demonstrating finished projects with a high degree of sophistication and polish. Your contributions and their impact must be delineated.
Bachelors degree in a relevant field such as Communications, English, HCI, or equivalent.
5+ years of experience as a copywriter, or similar role with interactive/ad agencies, design studios, retail or Internet companies.
Exceptional communication, collaboration and presentation skills.
Professional experience driving compelling traditional and digital creative strategy and execution.
A proficiency for managing multiple creative initiatives, evaluating and incorporating feedback from product owners.
A strong history of cross-functional working relationships.
Ability to influence others to set and achieve goals, manage multiple parallel-path projects, often with competing deadlines and resource needs.
Work processes that are highly organized, disciplined and effective.
Specialized training in the field of UX design, best practices in adaptive/responsive design, mobile design and voice ui.
Demonstrated business acumen, including experience measuring the impact of your work against key business and customer experience goals.
Refined and assertive leadership skills w/ some experience teaching and mentoring others.
Use a combination of data analysis, user research, benchmarking, and content audits to identify high-impact opportunities for improvement across key customer engagement areas
Experience with a variety of design tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Keynote, Visio, OmniGraffle, Sketch and InVision.
Ability to prototype in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, or Flash

UX Writer - Alexa Skills (Amazon)

Alexa, find me a terrific writer!

You care about meaning and its impact. Meaning as expressed through words and content, and how they are arranged and presented. We on the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Tech team have a few things in common with you and wed love to talk.

Were looking for a strong contributor to help us create the tools and education that will empower Alexa developers to invent future ways of voice and multimodal experiences. Your expertise will include strong contextual writing abilities, envisioning end-to-end learning experiences, and knowing how to educate and inspire rather than dictate and tire. And if you also speak information architecture, well, lets just say well have happened onto a logical connection.

More specifically, you should be ready to:

Deliver clarity, brevity, and efficacy in content
Zoom between strategy and tactical delivery, full flows down to syllables
Differentiate between delivering text and meaning
Create and edit content to match developer education and workflow needs
Develop and maintain fundamental content taxonomies
Discover and develop information architecture within and across developer touchpoints
Work closely with product managers, content owners, designers, researchers, and engineers
Use principles and data to predict and analyze content impact and success metrics
Work at a fast pace across multiple projects
Develop scalable content approaches
Anticipate and adapt to new and changing content and customer needs
Bachelors degree in Technical Communication, Information Design, Instructional Design, or equivalent work experience
5+ years of strategic and tactical content creation and copywriting within an enterprise UX, digital marketing, or similar practice
Working knowledge of the history and latest effective practices in content strategy and writing for user interface
A portfolio of successful and innovative contextualized solutions
Masters degree or greater in Technical Communication, Information Design, Instructional Design, or equivalent work experience
8+ years of strategic and tactical content creation and copywriting within an enterprise UX, digital marketing, or similar practice
Leadership and influence in the content strategy and UI writing professional space
2+ years of information architecture or instructional design

Senior Content Strategist / UX Writer (OfferUp)

Are you a pro at distilling complex ideas into just a few words?

Do character limits jumpstart your creativity?

Can you pack big personality into short sentences?

Do you believe there’s a better way to buy and sell?

Awesome. Read on.

ABOUT OUR UX TEAM

We’re assembling a team of world-class UX experts that thrive on complex challenges. On our way to building the simplest, most trustworthy platform to buy and sell locally, the UX team is responsible for creating an environment where local buyers and sellers are set up for success.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The job of the Senior Content Strategist / UX Writer is to study the experience of the OfferUp community and give people the help and guidance they need when they need it. Along the way, you’ll build a neighborly rapport with users that reflects the voice and values of the brand and keeps them coming back.

This role reports to the Director of Design and requires a minimum of 5 years experience in a UX/UI writing, copywriting or content creation role. Please submit two short writing samples (less than 100 words) with your résumé.

What we’ll ask of you:

Evaluate and update content for mobile and web UX (including on-boarding and interaction flows, triggered emails, notifications and Help Center)
Partner with Design, Marketing, Product Management, Customer Experience, and Engineering teams to drive clarity and consistency across our UX content
Drive Customer Experience contact reduction by developing Help Center content with User Self-Service in mind
Use data and research to inform your work, continually testing and improving the UI to increase user understanding and engagement
Develop and maintain UX editorial guidelines
Present your work in design reviews and provide feedback on writing and design
Work with Marketing to champion the brand voice across touch points

Why you’ll excel:

You clearly and effectively position ideas in writing and successfully refine the writing of others
You have experience defining / applying the unique voice of a brand in technical contexts
You study the needs and mindsets of your audience and communicate accordingly
You are a strong leader who can confidently influence stakeholders and cross-disciplinary teams to meet a range of objectives
Consumer mobile experience a plus*