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Pomona College

Pomona College is hiring: Experience Designer in Claremont

Pomona College, Claremont, CA, United States, 91711


Job Posting Location:

Claremont, CA

Job Posting Title:
Experience Designer

Job Description:

Experience Designer, Sontag Center

ABOUT POMONA COLLEGE: Located near Los Angeles, California, Pomona College is widely regarded as one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges. Established in 1887, Pomona College is known for small classes, a challenging curriculum, close relationships between students and faculty, and a range of student research and leadership opportunities. Pomona is a member of The Claremont Colleges.

POSITION SUMMARY: Thank you for your interest in the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (the Hive). The Hive is an interdisciplinary, intercollegiate creativity and innovation center for students at all seven Claremont Colleges. The Hive's work is focused on cultivating creative capacity, collaborative skills, and enhancing the educational experience of diverse students.

The Experience Designer is an entry-level position at the Hive who works to inspire creative confidence and enhance the creative capacity of students, faculty, staff, and visitors across The Claremont Colleges. Working directly with full time staff of the Hive, the Experience Designer supports the management and maintenance of the Hive space and operations, mentors junior student staff, designs and executes programming events, contributes to a culture of creativity and design, creates a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for all guests, and promotes the Hive's mission to the community.

CORE OPERATIONS AND DUTIES

The Experience Designer role is hands-on, in-person, and highly collaborative. No two days are the same. You will wear many hats and share a number of responsibilities. As an Experience Designer, you will steward:
  • An Inclusive Atmosphere: Welcoming students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the Hive, including conducting tours, and sharing information about resources and programs.
  • Relationships + Community-Building: Developing relationships and collaborating with students, faculty, and staff of the 7Cs to create new opportunities and programs and connect communities.
  • Student Staff Supervision: Create a bridge between student staff and senior staff to deliver a meaningful user experience and meet Hive goals. This includes effective mentoring and management of student employees; establishing and communicating clear expectations; coaching student staff on tasks, projects, schedules, and timekeeping.
  • Instructor Support: Assisting instructors of courses and workshops sponsored by the Hive, including workshop design, technology support, space set-up, and course materials.
  • Space Management: Monitor, maintain, and improve Hive spaces including assessing equipment needs, supplies, and developing procedures and processes for effective operation.
  • Project Management: Design, lead, and execute workload for both collaborative and independent projects, including managing timelines, budgets, delegation, and task prioritization.
  • Facilitation: Facilitating activities and select workshops, which may include students, faculty, staff, and community members.
  • Communication: Effective and timely communication internally and externally, both in person and digitally.
SPECIALIZED OPERATIONS AND DUTIES

The Hive employs 3 Experience Designers who cover a variety of responsibility areas. This year we seek a candidate who can take ownership of the following:

Co-curricular programming
  • Co-leading the development of the program of events each semester with Hive staff and event facilitators.
  • Creating physical programming calendar and event flyers for display, posting, and distribution.
  • Communicate with event facilitators and Communications team to execute effective outreach.
  • Lead the planning and execution of at least 2 program events per semester.
Making spaces facilitation and supervision

The Hive has several making spaces: the ToolBox, Sewing Shed, Print Lab, and SoundBox. Each Experience Designer is responsible for leading the craft, management, and supervision of 1-2 of these spaces. Responsibilities include:
  • Developing and maintaining making spaces processes, procedures, and schedules with supervisor.
  • Proctoring the space and conducting workshops, skill shares, and events to introduce and familiarize Hive users to prototyping and making spaces activities, equipment, and safe practices.
  • Supervising, scheduling, training, and mentoring student staff maker teams, including providing ongoing feedback and taking corrective action as needed.
  • Manage the ongoing maintenance of the Hive calendar of workshops, making space events, and meetings. Answer and field requests for space use; ensure public-facing registration systems are accessible and up to date.
  • Maintenance and control of supplies, furniture, tools, and fixtures; repair or arranging the repair of broken equipment and tools in an expedient manner.
  • Organization, inventory tracking, ordering, and restocking of materials.
Operations and space management
  • Co-coordinating and co-staffing adequate coverage of common spaces to welcome and assist guests.
  • Maintaining and resetting making spaces, classrooms, and meeting spaces, including the overall care, safety, and appearance of the Hive for workshops, classes, and activities.
  • Maintaining, organizing, and restocking of making spaces, prototyping carts, and classroom materials and supplies.
  • Leading and supervising student staff to manage spaces, workshops, and ensure a valuable experience for all users at the Hive.
  • Supporting in the maintenance, repair, organization, and resetting of classrooms, prototyping carts, makerspaces, study/lounge areas, and supplies.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

We are seeking candidates who can demonstrate professional, educational, or service experience to successfully achieve the job description above. Our ideal candidate will also possess the following qualities and skillsets:

Qualities of a Successful Experience Designer
  • Genuine desire to support and welcome diverse populations at the Hive with patience, good judgment, hospitality, empathy, and helpfulness
  • An understanding and interest in design thinking and human-centered design
  • Ability to function as a self-starter
  • A team/collaborative mindset
  • Reliability, timeliness, and commitment to following through on responsibilities
  • Clear communicator with a strong attention to detail
  • Desire for learning new skills
  • Tolerance for ambiguity and complex situations that are often fluid
Additional Required Knowledge and Skills
  • Familiarity with the Hive, its mission, and what it offers The Claremont Colleges.
  • Demonstrated knowledge leading teams and teaching in group settings.
  • Possess strong organizational, time, and calendar management skills to prioritize and perform multiple projects and tasks, meet deadlines and timelines, and respond to others in a timely manner with a high standard of accuracy, attention to detail, and ethics.
  • Be proactive about creating and developing new projects, as well as building new relationships across campuses and the wider community.
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office (especially Word, and Outlook email and calendar), Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Adobe Creative Cloud, Slack, Mailchimp, Airtable, and Wordpress. Confidence in learning and teaching others new technology, as well as being resourceful in fixing issues.
  • Highly desired: Strong experience in human-centered design or design thinking, either through coursework, professional work, or personal experience.


QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's degree and recent graduate.

REQUIRED HOURS: This is an in-person, full-time position with 40 hours per week, 5 days per week. Working hours are between 9a-9p (Hive open hours) and will be agreed upon with manager. Occasional overtime, holiday, weekend, and evening work hours are required.

ADDITIONAL POSITION DETAILS: Temporary, full-time, benefits eligible, non-exempt position. The hourly rate for this role is between $24.00-$25.00. The specific factors that the organization will consider when offering a salary to an individual will include education, training, prior experience, and performance in prior role.

All staff positions are ineligible for visa or permanent resident card sponsorship. As a California employer, Pomona College requires all employees to be residents of California.

TO APPLY: Please submit 1) cover letter, 2) resume, and 3) portfolio/work samples by January 22nd, 2025. Portfolio/work samples can be submitted in PDF, Word, or web link format, and may include design, art, making, event production, or facilitation materials. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

POMONA COLLEGE REWARDS: Pomona College offers a wide variety of benefits and perks including health, dental, and vision plan options; paid time off; flexible spending accounts; retirement benefits; tuition assistance; fitness and wellness programs; rideshare incentives; and so much more!

Pomona College prides itself in being an open, competitive, and equal opportunity employer.