Common Job Titles
This guide will list some common Job Titles that may be relevant in your job search after completed the Google UX Design Course.
You can also view the complete guide here.
Roles in bold are those that the Google UX Design Professional certificate has most prepared you for; the other roles listed are more specialized job functions
UX Designer UX Design Specialist UX Intern Human Centered Designer Product Designer Interaction Designer Visual Designer UI Designer Interface Specialist UX/UI Designer UX Researcher Usability Researcher Information Architect UX Writer VR/AR Designer Spatial Designer UX Project/Program Manager | NOTE: It is also helpful to use additional title terms to denote the “level” of the role, such as:
As you continue to grow in your career, you may be equipped for more advanced “levels”; for example:
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UX Designer
UX Designer
UX (user experience) Designers measure and optimize web-based applications to improve ease of use (usability), and create the best user experience by exploring many different approaches to solve end-users’ problems. One way that a UX designer might do this is by conducting in-person user tests to observe behavior. They then refine and tweak apps, software and websites to create products that people like and find easy to use.
Typical duties include:
Considering existing applications and evaluating their UX (user experience) effectiveness
Considering the human interaction element of a design
Running user testing
Defining interaction models, user task flows, and specifications
Communicating scenarios (hypothetical users), end-to-end experiences, interaction models, and screen designs to other people working on a product
Working with creative directors and visual designers to incorporate a visual or brand identity into the finished product
Developing and maintaining design wireframes (basic mock-ups of applications) and specifications
Titles with Similar Responsibilities: UX Design Specialist; UX Intern; UX/UI Designer; Human Centered Designer*; Product Designer
(*usually requires UX, UI, coding, and product management skills)
Interaction Designer
Interaction Designer
Interaction Designers focus on designing the experience of a product and how it functions. They strive to understand the user flow, or the path, that a typical user takes to complete a task on an app, website, or other platform. At Google and many other companies, interaction designers are a specialized type of UX designer. An interaction designer's work answers questions like: What should happen if a user taps on this button? How do we make this action easier for users to complete? And, how are the design elements within the website laid out? Interaction designers focus less on how the product looks and instead strive to make the product easy to navigate and simple for users to interact with.
Typical duties include:
Following the full design process, from conducting market research to conceptualizing and designing a product for the company
Analyzing consumer behavior to gain user insights and identify opportunities to optimize the usability of a product
Identifying any defects or points of improvement during the product testing phase
Working with the product development team to ensure the product meets both management and consumer objectives
Providing feedback to the design team regarding the product's usability, value, and benefit
Engaging with customers to gauge how the product is being received
Keeping up to date with the market and industry to better implement the latest technologies in the design process
Visual Designer
Visual Designer
Visual Designers focus on how a product or technology looks. They are often responsible for designing logos, illustrations, and icons, as well as deciding on font color, size, and placement. Visual designers focus on the layout of each page or screen and make all of the design elements fit together in a visually appealing way. At Google and many other companies, visual designers are a specialized type of UX designer. The role of a visual designer is to answer questions like: What kind of visual style should icons have, in order to fit the product's branding? Or, which color and font should we use for this button? The goal of a visual designer is to delight users with designs that inspire, engage, and excite them.
Typical duties include:
Consulting with the project team and determining visual design preferences and expectations
Researching company history and current company offerings to create a reflective brand identity
Designing production assets, infographics, logos and other items using creative software
Designing original graphics with unique colors, shapes, and typography fonts
Refining the output of paint and hand-draw applications by using visual design software
Enhancing digital images, including the application of contrasts and gradients
Collaborating with IT developers in aligning visual designs with website functionalities
Developing prototypes to uniformly integrate logos and brand images to other products and platforms, including social media
UI Designer
UI Designer
UI (user interface) Designers work closely with user experience (UX) designers and other design specialists. Their focus is on the visual touchpoints that allow users to interact with a product (i.e., typography, color palettes, buttons, animations, and imagery). As such, UI Designers have an eye for clear, artful designs and can translate high-level requirements into interaction flows and artifacts, making them beautiful, intuitive, and functional. Unlike UX designers, since UI designers are responsible for making UX designers’ visions a reality, many UI designers have a good understanding of front-end development and some coding skills.
Typical duties include:
Collaborating with product management and engineering to define and implement innovative solutions for the product direction, visuals and experience
Executing all visual design stages from concept to final hand-off to engineering
Conceptualizing original ideas that bring simplicity and user friendliness to complex design roadblocks
Creating wireframes, storyboards, user flows, process flows and site maps to effectively communicate interaction and design ideas
Presenting and defend designs and key milestone deliverables to peers and executive level stakeholders
Conducting user research and evaluate user feedback
Establishing and promote design guidelines, best practices and standards
Having proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for rapid prototyping
Titles with Similar Responsibilities: Interface Specialist
Information Architect
Information Architect
An Information Architect’s job is to help discover and articulate the “why” of a project. In essence, an Information Architect needs to understand a client’s website requirements inside and out, and be able to organize content in such a way that will anticipate the end user’s experience needs. They will work directly with clients to ensure consistency and continuity in project design and execution and are responsible for website/user interface design and development, including layout, navigation, and flow, as well as developing IA documentation (site maps, navigation models, content models).
Typical duties include:
Meeting with relevant stakeholders to determine project requirements and details
Identifying key areas of enhancement and improvement in information architecture designs
Formulating prospective informational designs and templates for further development
Designing prototypes for informational architecture flows and experiences
Developing draft information architectures for final products to be used by the company
Evaluating the performance of information architectures through analysis and research
Enhancing existing information architectures to be more interactive and digitally friendly
Working with other members of the creative team on UX and UI design tasks
Updating team members on information architecture design principles and developments
Improving information architectures for products and services in both digital and print mediums
UX Researcher
UX Researcher
UX researchers conduct studies or interviews that examine how people use a product. UX researchers often identify pain points that users are experiencing and explore how products can help solve those problems. They also explore the usability of existing products, by asking users to complete tasks in an app or website, for example. UX researchers answer questions like: What problems are users facing? Is the design of this product easy to use? And, would people be interested in this new design feature? The goal of UX researchers is often to understand how a product can provide a solution to a real problem users are having.
Typical duties include:
Leveraging a human-centered design process to deliver an easy-to-use user interface and user experience
Work with stakeholders to identify requirements
Researching customers, competitors, and products, designing for accessibility standards
Developing personas, scenarios, and user stories
Sketching, prototyping, and user testing, before passing the design onto the development team
Understanding and enacting qualitative research methods
Ensuring products are tested with customers and validated against business goals
Titles with Similar Responsibilities: Usability Researcher, Quantitative UX Design Researcher; Qualitative UX Design Researcher; Mixed Methods UX Design Researcher
UX Writer
UX Writer
UX writers think about how to make the language within a product clearer so that the user experience is more intuitive. UX writers also help define a brand’s voice and personality. The work of UX writers often includes writing labels for buttons and determining the tone of language used within an app or website. UX writers focus on answering questions like: What words should be used to communicate this idea clearly? Should the tone for this app be friendly or technical? And, what should the language on this button label say? UX writers often become subject matter experts in order to present content that’s easy to understand for all users.
Typical duties include:
Planning, writing and executing product copy with the aim of improving the user interface
Maintaining consistency with our brands tone of voice
Serving as the first point of contact for any inconsistencies or improvement ideas for product copy
Supporting the marketing team with copy for marketing projects like banners and brochures
Coordinating with Graphic Designers to create illustrations and graphics for product features
Conducting in-depth research about the product and the market
Updating and improving product descriptions
Working with editors, copywriters, and content creators to develop engaging copy and strategies
VR/AR Designer
VR/AR Designer
Note: VR/AR Design roles and Spatial Design roles are more advanced roles that you may consider specializing in down the road, after you’ve gained more UX Design experience. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) designers create products that provide users with immersive experiences, unbounded by the limits of the physical world. Virtual reality involves a wearable headset that takes over a user’s vision; it blocks out their physical surroundings and immerses them in a completely virtual world. On the other hand, augmented reality uses the physical world as a backdrop and adds virtual elements on top of it. Users are still contextually aware of their surroundings, but their reality is augmented, or enhanced, by adding elements through a screen. A VR or AR designer’s work answers questions like: How do we create a user experience that leverages 3D space? Or, will this action cause a user motion sickness? To ensure users are comfortable immersing in a VR or AR experience, designers need to carefully consider everything from sound to lighting.
Typical duties include:
Sketch concepts and ideas for the virtual reality world
Map out the places and tasks a user will encounter as they progress through the immersive experience
Use computer-aided design (CAD) to convert drawings into 3D models
Provide guidance to the product development team and software development team regarding architectural and spatial design. Develop algorithms and rules for room size, space layout, flow, user experience, view preservation, timeless, and sustainable design.
Develop exterior and interior finish palettes.
Coordinate with and consult other team members on product design, layout, detail components, and systems and resolve design or other problems
Work with developers to make sure your designs can be translated into code
Titles with Similar Responsibilities: Spatial Designer
UX Project/Program Manager
UX Project/Program Manager
Note: this could be a great “foot in the door” role for someone familiar with/interested in UX but whose primary focus is more on organizational skills and UX team coordination. UX program managers ensure clear and timely communication, so that the process of building a useful product moves smoothly from start to finish. This might include setting goals, writing project plans, and allocating team resources. UX program managers answer questions like: What are the overall goals for this project, and what’s the plan to achieve them? And, how can we create and improve processes within the team? UX program managers work across departments to make sure that UX is involved throughout a project lifecycle.
Typical duties include:
Ensuring a product fits a company’s business needs
Planning projects, defining milestones, assigning resources, assessing risks, and meeting deadlines
Manage product-related communications
Understanding the lifecycle of a product, including UX Design processes and procedures