Senior Design Strategist (Global position)

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are looking for an experienced Senior Design Strategist, ideally based in Zambia or UK (accepting candidates from Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Ghana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Honduras) with existing right to work, with international work experience to join a team of designers, researchers and changemakers worldwide. Ideally, you are comfortable leading innovation projects, managing client relationships, and, most importantly, bringing innovation methodologies, ideas and ways of working to a broader team.

The current ten-person team at the iDE Innovation Lab have been working together for many years, so this is a rare opportunity to join a well-established team working on a broad range of projects with a social innovation focus in Africa.

WHO WILL YOU BE WORKING FOR?

You will be working with the in-house social lab of iDE called Innovation Lab, located in Asia and Africa, with a mission to champion an integrated approach to innovation that drives lasting impact for iDE’s multi-sectoral programs.

The iDE Innovation Lab also functions as a strategy and innovation consultancy in focus areas of water, sanitation & hygiene, climate change (clean energy, conservation), agriculture, and maternal health & nutrition. Over the years, we have worked with a portfolio of international development organisations such as Care International, Hellen Keller, USAID, UNICEF, World Bank Group, Plant and Food Research, Save the Children, and SNV.

We are on the mission of driving lasting, impactful change through a market systems approach and human-centred design methodologies, so we are looking for a world-class expert in design and innovation to join our multidisciplinary and multicultural team to solve development challenges.

iDE is a global non-profit organisation spanning offices in 14 countries, employing over 1,000 people directly and indirectly, enabling income and opportunities for our rural audience through market-based approaches across different sectors. Find out more about iDE here!

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING:

• Leading multiple end-to-end social innovation projects, which include:
  • Project & client management, collaborating and managing peers throughout the process
  • Building a project plan, meeting deadlines, and delegating tasks
  • Conducting desk research, expert interviews, designing research plans required to solve the design problem we want to tackle
  • Conducting ethnographic research in diverse contexts
  • Synthesising findings and presenting them in digestible and visual ways for the client
  • Coming up with strategies and action plans that are easy to operationalise for the client
  • Engaging with stakeholders, leading and facilitating alignment meetings and strategy workshops
  • Running fun and engaging co-creation/brainstorming workshops in the field and the office
  • Building and developing prototypes and testing loops that will inform the design of the final solution (strategy, product, digital product, businesses or services)
  • Making confident and timely decisions to move the project forward

• Coaching a global team on a diverse set of innovative methodologies and approaches

• Establishing and nurturing client relationships

• Writing proposals and creating exciting new business opportunities

• Willingness to travel to remote areas, mainly in Africa and Latin America, for research and testing

• Running fun and engaging co-creation/brainstorming workshops in the field and the office

• Developing a wide range of prototypes and running tests to validate prototypes in the field

Requirements

THE TYPE OF EXPERIENCE THAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

• At least 6 years of experience working for a design firm/innovation lab with ample experience in applying a Human-Centred Design methodology.

• Experienced working in different countries, across diverse cultural environments, or remote areas

• Experienced in applying various innovation methodologies to projects (human-centred design, behaviour change methodologies, behavioural economics, rapid prototyping and testing)

• Experienced in innovation management techniques (sprint/agile project management, lean, stage gates)

• Experienced in overseeing, managing and leading design projects (building a project plan, meeting deadlines, and delegating tasks)

• Strong skills and experience analysing, synthesing and coming up with Digestible Strategies and Action plans based on the design research effort

• Experienced in managing and coaching other team members

• Visual design or product design skills

• Experienced in developing creative strategies, interventions and communicating this effectively with a client and team

• Experienced in writing proposals and business development

• Experienced in facilitating workshops (HCD, co-creations, stakeholder alignments)

• Confident presenting in front of large audiences

• Skilled in using Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, Slack, Google Workplace, Clickup and other design and project management software

• High proficiency in English reading, writing and speaking

• High proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese reading, writing and speaking

BONUS POINTS IF YOU HAVE:

• A designer with a business/marketing background or experience working as an entrepreneur

• Experience working on digital solutions (UX Design, ICT tools)

IDEALLY, WE WOULD LOVE TO FIND SOMEONE THAT:

• Is optimistic, passionate, dynamic, and curious

• Is a fast learner and very hands on

• Is open and happy to share new methods and ideas with the team

• Is an autonomous problem-solver with a mind full of ideas ready to be tested

• Brings a positive attitude to the team and doesn’t take themselves too seriously

• Is driven by a social mission

• Has cultural sensitivity and respect towards unfamiliar contexts

• Has a flexible mindset, is agile and adaptive, and at the same time takes into account their capacity, deadlines and limitations

• Has excellent time and people management skills

• Can embrace uncertainty and manage stress

• Will challenge the status quo to create creative solutions

Benefits

We cover:

• Our intention is to pay our staff a competitive salary benchmarked with market pay scales, and commensurate with experience. In addition, we will cover both health and accident insurance.
  
  

The annual salary range for this position is $40,000 to $50,000.

Diversity Statement:

iDE takes pride in our talented and diverse workforce. Minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Hiring, promotion, and compensation of employees are conducted without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, or age.