MAYA

Director of Engineering

We are seeking a candidate to fill the roles of Director, Engineering and Senior Practitioner. You will be leading the engineering discipline made up of a team of computer scientists, mechanical and electrical engineers, mathematicians, and developers at a world-class multidisciplinary design firm. Duties include sourcing internal and external engineering resources from research to production level; prioritizing and scheduling tasks and assignments; managing the engineering budget; dealing with performance and personnel issues; contributing to business development including proposal writing. You will also lead project relationships and be a practitioner/team member on projects. The role includes facilitating continuous improvement of our engineering process. You will spend 1/3 of your time managing and growing the discipline of engineering within MAYA and 2/3s of your time as a hands-on practitioner.

Candidates should possess a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field, advanced degree a plus. 10+ years experience in design engineering. 5+ years experience managing engineers. Expert skills with current technologies and programming languages will be important (C/C++, Java, Python, PHP, DHTML, XML, Perl, ASP.NET, Java Script, Windows/Mac, UNIX/Linux environments).

Interaction Designer / Researcher

MAYA has a rich mix of clients and projects needing user research, product, experience & interaction design, and innovation assistance. We were assembled by our founders over 20 years ago to be incurable advocates of multidisciplinary, iterative design.

We want someone whose mission in life is to build the future where people have tamed the complexity of the connected world of pervasive computing; where we humans become super-humans because technology acts as a natural extension of our senses, not a source of angst.

For this position, we’re looking for someone who is equally adept and comfortable with design and research: who is able to plan, execute, and analyze user research at all stages of a project; a capable designer to create information architecture diagrams, navigation maps, wireframes, and prototypes for an exciting and broad array of products and devices.

We are involved in design praxis every day, but also in business development, project management, client relationship management, and questioning our own methods & theory.

You might be right for this job if:
• You have an advanced degree in human-computer interaction, anthropology, ethnography, human factors engineering, cognitive psychology, or other HCI-related field, plus a healthy skepticism about said education.
• You have a strong knowledge of research methods, user interface standards, tools, and industry guidelines; you reference best practices and design patterns, yet also relish solving complex problems and novel interface challenges.
• You posses a deep understanding of the principles and best practices of human centered design, but propensity, judgment & courage to question convention when appropriate.
• You have a passion for outside work; a dangerous hobby; you’re a maker or experimenter.
• You are prepared to defend pencil and paper as an ideation and prototyping tool.

You might earn extra credit if:
• You end up teaching us something new during the interview process.
• You get a standing ovation at the end of your portfolio presentation, in addition to a round of handshakes.
• You are ready to pick a favorite card from this deck: http://www.maya.com/cards/ (or you have a favorite quote that you’re convinced should be included and have an interesting reason why).

Send us your resume (or: figure out a way — networking? social engineering? — to get it to the top of the pile). We look forward to hearing from you.

Mobile App Designer/Developer

Software Engineering background who has been drawn into the mobile device world and has taken it by storm. You will be responsible for incorporating your knowledge of the mobile space into MAYA’s interdisciplinary approach by building mobile applications from design to production including prototypes, testing, and maintenance, across multiple platforms.

Position Requirements

• BS is Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering or equivalent
• 4 or more years of practical experience ( ideally at least the last two were focused more on the mobile world )
• Broad understanding of software technologies in and out of the mobile space ( Objective C, Java, C/C++, Python, iPhone/iPad SDK, Android SDK, Blackberry SDK, HTML, Javascript, Flash/Flex Actionscript 3, OS X/Linux/Windows environments )
• 2 or more mobile apps that you can point to on the web either in the Apple App Store, Android Marketplace, or equivalent
• Ability and desire to learn new technologies quickly
• Strong programming and information design skills
• Experience and understanding of the various mobile platform UI design guidelines
• Excellent communication skills, and background of working in interdisciplinary teams

Senior Game Designer

MAYA is looking for a few brave individuals to help us change the world. The person should dream in game mechanics, shout stories from the rooftops, eat ideas, and poop prototypes (bonus points for resisting scatological references in your reply while being able to prove that you do in fact make doodles, atoms, and even the occasional bits.)

If you can’t not make things, don’t not consider not passing up this call to arms! If you can’t not draw (even crappy little doodles), don’t not call. If you take serious gaming seriously enough to want to actually go farther than cutting ropes and tending crops, if you can take classic game design skills beyond the traditional gaming medium, if you want to work over there on the next mountain, the one that is trillions of devices high and billions of parsecs wide (rather than the sad little mountain of mobile apps and cloud bursts, and trivial little doomed sunsets of web crap everyone is trapped on today) than maybe you should talk to us. If you’re ready to put your skills to use building gaming into the fabric of reality and saving humanity from the children’s crusade of the complexity industries, if you want to learn about what nature can teach us about computing ecologies, if you can lead by serving rather than talking, if you want to help us set the direction for our practice when it comes to behavior, motivation, rewards, and community, if you are the best kind of designer instead of the worst kind of artist (hint: if you can adopt your client’s agenda and bring your creativity to the challenge while subverting your solipsistic gaze in the mirror of your own agenda), if you are humble and confident and have already done the impossible once or twice before. If you cry when you see or learn something new or experience something created by someone else that is truly the mark of a virtuoso and strive to become more than you are, to help people live richer and more healthy lives, I really do beg you to contact us because we are few and hidden and lonely on this windy pass and need fellow travelers to help us find our way. Send us something inspiring and let’s talk.

Content to be treated like Foie gras in the cages of yet another game farm hoping your precious pixels will someday see the light of day in the reflection of some poor sucker’s eyes as they search endlessly for more bread and circuses? Good luck to you my friend we were there and almost didn’t look away. You will always have a home and safety and never have to worry your pretty little head over the fate of humanity or treating sick people before we all become borgified by the one more thing/do no evil/open source is god hegemony. Stick with cosmetic face lifts and glory in the 15 minutes of warholian fame and resist commenting about this to anyone for it will only bring shame and ruin.

Questions? No we don’t want you to even apply if you don’t have a relevant degree (BFA, BS, MFA, MS) or experience or if you aren’t fun to play with. No we don’t care if you can use all the fancy new tools and platforms and software but we do care if you can learn any tool you need to make your idea. Yes we’re more interested in makers of jigs than crafters of folk art (but you knew that right?) Yes we spun out of Carnegie Mellon University 20 odd years ago and proudly call Pittsburgh home, we did indeed form as an interdisciplinary research lab made up of cognitive psychologists, computer scientists, and designers, no we have never taken any outside funding or debt, and have been successful one way or the other for all twenty of those years (though I won’t say we didn’t fight tooth and nail to survive a few of those while the world reeled from dotbomb to default swap madness), and yes we’ve spun out multiple companies, worked with tribes in the rainforest, and saved countless lives from roadside bombs.

Senior Software Design Engineer

Lead interdisciplinary design teams from project conception to client signoff. You’ll be a technical lead as well as a get-your-hands-dirty practitioner in all phases of the design process. MAYA’s work is leading to major changes in how people will interact with information. You need the vision and skills to make that new and better future happen.

Position requirements

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or equivalent
• Seven plus years of practical industry experience
• Excellent software design and information modeling skills
• Broad knowledge of computing technologies and programming languages (C/C++, Java, Python, PHP, DHTML, XML, Perl, ASP.NET, JavaScript, Windows/Mac/UNIX/Linux environments)
• Exceptional problem-solving expertise and attention to detail
• Excellent self-management skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Aptitude for documentation, innovation, and process improvement
• Passion for elegant designs

Visual Designer

Rare opening for a versatile, entry/mid-level visual designer. We’re seeking candidates with proven narrative, conceptual and aesthetic talent. The Visual Designer must be equally comfortable designing UIs for multiple devices, crafting compelling brand narratives, and visualizing information across a wide range of domains.

MAYA is a technology design and innovation lab. Our work ranges from taming the complexity of existing technology products, to designing new connected experiences, to teaching our clients how to be more innovative within their own teams. We believe you can tame complexity only at the intersection of how technology works, how people think, and how to give the solution form and function. As a result , we have an even balance of our three core disciplines — visual designers, engineers and human scientists. At heart, we’re designers who have an intense desire to turn human experiences with technology products into positive, fruitful interactions.

Desired qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in communication design, human-computer interaction, or related discipline

Required skills for visual designers

• Balance of thoughts: 1/12 bad, 2/3 good or great, 1/12 mildly unsettling, 1/6 world changing
• Ability to rapidly prototype using time and motion, and across media, including paper, foam, pixels, light, sound, touch, culture
• Ability to craft templates, jigs, and frameworks out of your ideas
• Ability to work well as a member of interdisciplinary teams of engineers and human scientists (and our clients)
• Communication/Product/Experience design expertise, with emphasis in human/information interaction
• Desire, ability, and experience in interface design and Web development