IDEO.org improves the lives of poor and vulnerable communities through design. To affect that change, we work directly with foundations, nonprofits, and social enterprises; create tools and resources that teach human-centered design; and influence the social sector with stories of human-centered design in action. IDEO.org works directly with organizations across a range of focus areas including health, financial services, gender equity, education, and agriculture.

IDEO.org is seeking a Service Designer to join us in San Francisco. In this role, you will work on IDEO.org’s Financial Health program to design systems at scale in the financial inclusion space. You’ll work with a multidisciplinary team of designers and experts to create solutions exist in the digital and physical realms. As an IDEO.org Service Designer, you’ll be a hands-on design expert, taking concepts forward and working hand-in-hand with partners to implement services in a variety of communities and settings. 

You are:

• You know the power of perfectly crafted design direction, and as a global citizen you see immense potential for change in the world.
• You have launched, run, or scaled a service or a business in a developing country - you can work in the field and in the boardroom.
• You have ideas about how to maintain the integrity of a product across distances and the best channels to communicate something new to an audience - think agents, third party businesses and franchise models.  
• You approach things systemically and are a natural at zooming out to see the big picture, then diving in to nail the important details. You get a lot of pleasure in seeing projects through.
• You’re passionate about growing people-first services. From value proposition to brand to customer experience to scale, you thrive in putting all of the pieces together.
• You’re passionate about social impact, financial services, and great design. You have experience designing and/or implementing solutions in resource-constrained environments. You love to travel and are comfortable navigating tough situations in the developing world. 
• You easily communicate and envision service concepts and ideas to team members, partners, and funders. You use diverse set of methods & tools that illustrate all the components and touch-points of the service.  
  
  

Key Responsibilities:

Design

• Champion Service Design within the Financial Health sector and work with partners to design and scale IDEO.org’s financial services for the impoverished.
• Design for both the target user’s experience and our partner organization’s ability to implement and scale. 
• Develop and deliver progress reports, requirements, documentation and presentations.
• Serve as an advisor to the greater IDEO.org team in developing services across agriculture, financial health, global health, etc. 

Team Facing

• Distill business, customer, and partner constraints into digestible components for the design team.
• Instill project teams with the confidence and discipline to explore innovative design solutions while respecting partner deadlines
• Be collaborative. Contribute to healthy team motivation and morale, offering emotional and logistical support.

Partner Facing

• Communicate the story of IDEO.org’s work with partners, funders, and stakeholders.
• Analyze and respond to partners in a timely manner; support IDEO.org’s partners to iterate, test and scale new service designs.
• Participate in the delivery of a range of projects, defining project scope, goals and deliverables in collaboration with key stakeholders.
• Establish relationships and liaise with key stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.
• Work with the Program Director to issue regular status reports and troubleshoot problem areas.
• Be the point person in collecting data that shows the impact through the solutions we bring to market.

You need:

• 5+ years of professional experience in a design consultancy or equivalent position 
• Proven designs and experience of launched services that have been implemented in the real world
• Deep expertise in design thinking/human-centered design
• In-depth knowledge and experience within a relevant service design discipline 
• (Systems Design, Business Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Interaction Design)
• Ability to work within a self-directed culture and navigate ambiguity
• Experience designing and/or implementing solutions in resource-constrained environments (Field experience in sub Saharan Africa is particularly desirable.)

Preferred Skills:

• Experience crafting a project vision, execution strategy and client relationship
• Experience with concepting, ideation, and iterative prototyping
• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with colleagues, clients, and key stakeholders

Please upload your résumé, cover letter, and relevant work samples. In your cover letter, please describe an example of service design that is inspirational to you, represents the future direction for service, leverages mobile and digital technology in non-traditional ways, opens up new types of incentives and business models, and serves customers and businesses in new and better ways. 

Equal Opportunity Employer

IDEO.org is an equal opportunity employer; applicants are considered for all roles without regard to race, color, religious creed, sex, national origin, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, marital, parental, veteran or military status, unfavorable military discharge, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law.