Web and UX Specialist

As a member of the Web and Performance Marketing team within the Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC) department, the Web and UX Specialist is responsible for shaping the digital user experience across Pepperdine’s public-facing websites.

This position ensures that digital experiences are intuitive, accessible, and user-centered, advancing the University’s mission by helping prospective students, current students, faculty, alumni, and external stakeholders easily find and engage with University information and services.

They will utilize skills in content strategy, user experience, design, and web development to improve clarity, usability, consistency, and the overall digital experience through user-centered design and execution on our websites. The Web and UX Specialist also collaborates with the University’s SEO and AI Search initiatives to ensure Pepperdine’s websites are optimized for both human users and AI-powered search experiences.

This position supports our mission by standardizing digital experiences that promote the “brand” to our audiences and drives some of our essential recruitment and affinity web presences.

Duties

• Collaboration and Consultation:
  • Meet and work with stakeholders and content owners about their website.
  • Help them organize and execute the best display of content for their users, utilizing brand guidelines and available website features within the Content Management System (CMS).
  • Present design, research, and ideas professionally to teams and stakeholders.
• Research, Analytics, and User Flows:
  • Provide quantitative and qualitative research, analyze and interpret data, and draw and present meaningful insights to make data-driven recommendations for experience enhancements and conversion rate optimization.
  • Help identify areas for improvement based on the website's performance metrics, analytics, heatmaps, and other UX tools.
  • Regularly audit user flows, information architectures, and pages for issues, identifying areas for improvement, and implement changes that will enhance user experience.
  • Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices for UX and web.
• UX Design:
  • Advise others and execute the creative process for Pepperdine webpages within brand and web structures to help departments and school programs best achieve their objectives and reach their target audiences.
  • Define user pain points and needs, and generate ideas for design solutions. Create low-fidelity wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes to communicate ideas and shape a better web experience.
• UX Web Development:
  • Create mobile-responsive webpages for testing and production environments utilizing the CMS.
  • Implement front-end design, page structure, images, and content hierarchy that aligns with brand, UX, accessibility, SEO, and AI-driven discovery best practices to ensure optimal visibility, performance, and conversion of webpages.
• Optimization and Strategy:
  • Contribute to web optimization projects, enhancing overall website functionality and maximizing visibility across search engines and AI-driven content discovery platforms.
  • Collaborate with team members to align with overall website strategy and goals, and to provide a seamless user experience for website visitors to meet business needs.
  • Contribute to Pepperdine's user experience strategy and enhance consistency across all public-facing websites.
• Other Duties as Assigned:
  • Provide additional support to the Integrated Marketing Communications department and other University initiatives as needed.
• Uphold University Mission Through Work Performed:
  • Contribute to Pepperdine's mission and community through all responsibilities and interpersonal interactions, reflecting a culture of excellence, service, and hospitality.

The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Skills and Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in User Experience, Graphic Design, Web Design, Front-end development, or related field.
• Minimum of three years of experience in UX/UI design.
• Experience conducting user research and usability testing on websites.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating user-centered design work.
• Experience editing and collaborating with developers on CMS-based websites.
• Proficiency in design and prototyping tools (Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch).
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG level AA) and inclusive design practices.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively across multiple projects.
• Adobe XD, Google Analytics (GA4), Accessibility testing tools (e.g., WAVE, Axe)

Preferred:

• Experience working in higher education or non-profit environments.
• Familiarity with content strategy and SEO as they relate to UX.
• Familiarity with how front-end UX and design decisions influence SEO and AI-powered search visibility.
• Experience developing user personas.
• Experience writing content for digital platforms.
• Experience training student workers or staff in design/UX best practices.
• Familiarity with Modern Campus CMS or other enterprise CMS platforms.
• Knowledge of front-end development principles (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
• Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, Omnigraffle, Siteimprove, Semrush, Modern Campus CMS

This is a Regular, Nonexempt, 40 hour per week position.

Expected Pay Range: $34.61 - $39.42 per hour

The above pay range reflects what Pepperdine University reasonably expects to pay for this position at time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on relevant factors such as work experience, market conditions, education/training, and skill level. In addition to base pay, Pepperdine offers a robust and highly competitive benefits package.

Pepperdine is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of any status or condition protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Pepperdine is committed to providing a work environment free from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment. Engaging in unlawful discrimination or harassment will result in appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal from the University.

Pepperdine is religiously affiliated with the Churches of Christ. It is the purpose of Pepperdine to pursue the very highest employment and academic standards within a context that celebrates and extends the spiritual and ethical ideals of the Christian faith. While students, faculty, and staff represent many religious backgrounds, Pepperdine is permitted under applicable law and reserves the right to seek, hire, and promote persons who support the goals and mission of the institution, including the right to prefer co-religionists who support Pepperdine's Christian mission.

Qualified individuals should be able to show respect for workplace differences, and have the ability to work effectively with individuals from different backgrounds.

Offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of a criminal, education, and employment screening. The University conducts such screenings in compliance with applicable laws and with the objectives of evaluating risk and supporting a safe environment for students, faculty, staff, and guests; safeguarding key University assets including people, property, information, and the University’s reputation; and providing comprehensive job-related information to University leaders to enable them to make prudent hiring decisions. Individuals will be required to disclose any criminal convictions on a designated form after receiving a conditional offer of employment; failure to disclose accurate information may result in withdrawal of the offer or termination of employment. Qualified individuals with criminal histories will be considered for employment in compliance with applicable laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance.