OUR COMPANY BACKGROUND & CULTURE
UPP is the first pension plan of its kind in Ontario’s university sector, proudly serving over 41,000 members across five universities and fourteen sector organizations. Our purpose is to bring greater retirement peace of mind to the university sector by investing with integrity and serving members with care. As a sector-wide plan designed for growth, our doors are open to all Ontario universities.
Together, we’re a team of progressive thinkers and agile doers operating within a fast-paced culture of collaboration and respect. We believe in bringing smart and capable people together to create, solve, and grow with a clear shared vision and values of integrity, inclusivity, ingenuity, and impact. Our culture is intentionally welcoming and purposefully rooted in equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation (EDI&R). We believe diverse teams, perspectives, and lived experiences contribute to better decisions and a better workplace.
As a pension plan, UPP approaches investing through a long-term lens to generate and safeguard value. Our commitment to investing responsibly accounts for material risks that impact our investment portfolio to generate sufficient risk-adjusted returns to meet the pension needs of our members.
Join us in building a bright future for our members, our organization, and each other.
THE ROLE
We’re seeking a Senior Specialist, Web Experience to transform how members, employers, employees, and key stakeholders interact with our digital platforms.
Reporting to the Senior Director of Creative and Digital, the Senior Specialist, Web Experience (12-month contract) will help evolve both external and internal sites (including our public website and intranet) into intelligent, interactive, and educational environments.
This is a hands-on role at the intersection of design and development: you’ll design user experiences, technically implement and optimize them, and use analytics to continually refine digital journeys. You’ll translate complex user needs into intuitive flows, bring them to life through smart interactivity and clean technical execution, and ensure every touchpoint is both engaging and effective.
This role is based in downtown Toronto in a hybrid work environment, allowing employees the flexibility to work remotely and in-office (minimum two days per week in-office).
SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIES
Support the evolve UPP’s web platform
Contribute to the day-to-day performance, structure, and evolution of both UPP’s public-facing website and internal SharePoint/intranet sites
Scope, build, and optimize web experiences using development skills (HTML, CSS, JS, PHP) and no-code/low-code tools
Maintain a robust design system and reusable component library to support scalability, consistency, and accessibility
Develop content structures and page logic that align to audience segmentation, lifecycle stages, and strategic priorities
Partner cross-functionally to align platform capabilities with business objectives, and evolving web standards
Design and deliver audience-centric web experiences
Build responsive, user-friendly templates and interactive modules that support member education and reduce complexity in pension communications
Support intranet design and content logic to improve staff access to resources, reduce information silos, and enhance employee engagement
Create dynamic layouts and motion-enhanced visuals to improve clarity, guide focus, and reduce cognitive load
Ensure all builds meet modern accessibility (WCAG 2.0) and usability standards, with content presented in formats that reflect diverse learning styles
Continuously apply and refine SEO best practices to improve discoverability, structure metadata, and support content findability at scale
Optimize experiences and make data informed UX improvements
Optimize experiences, including applying SEO best practices to strengthen visibility and discoverability
Implement, configure, and maintain analytics tools (e.g., GA4, Tag Manager) to track user flows, engagement, and goals
Set up custom events, goals, and dashboards to monitor performance and drive prioritization of improvements
Use quantitative and qualitative insights (e.g., click paths, heatmaps) to inform content layout, page design, and navigation structure
Collaborate on journey mapping and usability testing to uncover barriers and design solutions rooted in user behavior
Continuously test and refine enhancements to ensure they align with user needs and overall site performance
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
5+ years’ experience in web design, front-end development, or digital experience delivery
Advanced WordPress and Elementor skills, with strong front-end development (HTML, CSS, JS); PHP/API integration a plus
Experience maintaining SharePoint and/or intranet platforms, including content structure, permissions, and site design
Strong eye for layout, typography, responsive design, and accessibility (WCAG)
Experience with design systems, modular content structures, and pattern libraries
Proficient in web analytics (GA4, Tag Manager) with a data-informed design mindset
Familiarity interaction design to enhance UX
Clear communicator with strong collaboration and task management skills
Background in member-based or regulated sectors is an asset
LIFE AT UPP
Do work that matters. We are duty-bound to serve our members’ interests, and it’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly. That’s why we’ve ingrained sustainability in our work from day one—to ensure our members have a resilient future to retire into, both today and for generations to come.
Stronger together. Collaboration is how UPP was born, and it’s how we work with each other and our partners day in, day out. No one at UPP is just a number (even if they are excellent at math) and every win is a shared win.
Grow every day. You’ll have the opportunity to work on unique, once-in-a-career projects that maximize your skill set and probably teach you some new ones—at any stage in your career.
Prioritize wellness. At UPP, wellness takes many forms. Ultimately, it’s about ensuring our people are cared for in the ways that matter to them. Check out some highlights of our inclusive employee-focused benefits program including:
Defined benefit pension plan
Flexible hybrid work model
Work from abroad up to eight weeks/year
Comprehensive group benefits including medical, dental, vision etc.
Extended paramedical and mental health service coverage
Health care and lifestyle spending accounts
Fertility treatments, paid parental leave, and gender affirmation coverage
Education Assistance program
UPP enthusiastically welcomes applications from all qualified applicants and especially invites people with lived experience as an Indigenous person, a person with a disability or as a member of another Human Rights Code protected group that faces barriers to employment to apply. Our goal is to create a barrier-free experience for every candidate throughout the recruitment process, so if you require accommodation at any point during the process, please let us know so that we can make the appropriate arrangements. It would be our honor to work with you to adapt our processes to ensure that you can meaningfully participate.
UPP respects your privacy. For information on how UPP handles the personal information you provide during the application process, please see our Job Applicant Privacy Statement.
