Principal Information Architect

Department: University Communications

Appointment Type and Duration: Regular, Ongoing

Salary: $110,000 - $125,000 per year

Compensation Band: OS-OA10-Fiscal Year 2025-2026

FTE: 1.0

Application Review Begins

June 8, 2026; position open until filled

Special Instructions to Applicants

To be considered for this position, applicants must submit a complete application. Complete applications must include a resume.

*Candidates who are selected for interview may be requested to provide a portfolio of relevant work.

We are interested in finding the best candidate for this position. We encourage you to apply, even if you don't think you meet every one of our preferred qualifications - use your application to let us know what is meaningful to you about the role and what transferable skills or other qualities you would bring to the position.

If you have questions about the application process or the position, please reach out to fass@uoregon.edu.

Department Summary

University Communications supports the University of Oregon's strategic goals through comprehensive communications and marketing programs. The division oversees brand and marketing strategy, news and content, earned media and issues management, digital strategy, social media, executive and internal communications, and licensing. Reporting to the president, the division supports key initiatives, manages and strengthens reputation, drives revenue through licensing, builds brand value, and oversees the universities major channels including social, web, paid and earned media and content products.

Position Summary

The Principal Information Architect (PIA) will lead the strategic organization of the university's web ecosystems. This is a high-level individual contributor role reporting to the Assistant Vice President for Digital Strategy. The PIA will make institution-wide decisions about how millions of users find, navigate, and understand information across UO's digital presence and will directly shape how the university presents itself to the world.

This role plays a key part in advancing the university's information architecture through the development of a phased subdomain strategy that guides progress from current to future state. The position designs scalable navigation systems across global, local, and contextual levels, and establishes taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and labeling systems to support consistent information organization. Through content inventories and audits, the role informs strategic decision-making and helps define guidelines for the appropriate placement of public versus internal content.

Working in partnership with stakeholders across academic and administrative units, this position provides consultation on information architecture best practices and contributes to the evolution of university web governance policies.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Five years of experience in information architecture or related field
• Experience designing information architecture for complex digital environments

Professional Competencies

• Ability to facilitate alignment among multiple stakeholders with competing priorities
• Proficiency in navigation design across multiple levels (global, local, contextual)
• Proficiency in sitemap development, documentation, and content inventory methodology
• Ability to map user journeys and task flows
• Skill in structural wireframing (distinct from visual/UI design)
• Ability to interpret analytics to inform architecture decisions
• Experience developing controlled vocabularies and labeling systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in information science, library science, or related field
• Experience with subdomain strategy in large organizations
• CMS experience, particularly Drupal
• Experience with user research methods, including card sorting and tree testing
• Accessibility expertise
• Experience with search strategy and findability optimization
• Experience synthesizing mental models and user research

FLSA Exempt: Yes