Senior Business Designer

About the role

At IDEO, we help clients move forward when the path isn’t clear — whether driven by ambition, responding to disruption, or breaking out of entrenched ways of working.

Responsibilities

• Creatively problem-solve by generating new ideas, viable business models, value propositions and go-to-market strategies for new products, services, and ventures, exploring unconventional or hidden solutions in a business context
• Build an understanding of IDEO’s client organizations, and partner with clients to drive change and innovation within their teams and organizations
• Conduct market, competitive, and financial analysis to identify new and emerging opportunities, inform decisions, shape business cases, and build conviction for new ideas
• Synthesize research, data, and insights into clear narratives that guide decision-making and align stakeholders
• Translate complexity into action by developing and leading experiments or pilots that produce insights to help create innovation roadmaps to scale recommendations in real-world contexts
• Collaborate in multidisciplinary teams with designers across all creative and technical disciplines (design research, interaction design, data science, communication design, etc.)
• Facilitate client workshops and conversations that drive alignment, momentum, and strategic decisions
• Continuously grow with, as well as upskill, the Business Design craft through knowledge sharing and bringing unique perspectives to the greater IDEO community

Requirements

• A minimum of 4 years of full-time working experience – in a past life, you may have worked in strategy consulting, venture design, product strategy, product management, product innovation, corporate strategy, business insights, business analytics, business planning, go-to market, and/or growth strategy
• Strong business acumen; i.e., broad knowledge or exposure to strategy, marketing, finance, operations, product development, organizational design, etc — MBA beneficial but not required
• Experience in business design, strategy, product management, venture building, or innovation roles
• Ability to creatively problem-solve in a business context, i.e. generate multiple alternative ways to address feasibility, viability, and desirability, including ways that are not obvious
• Comfort working in ambiguous situations with limited direction, independently shaping problem definitions and approaches
• Ability to interpret and communicate complex business ideas to different audiences, through text, visual, and verbal communications
• Experience working across stakeholders and influencing decisions in complex organization
• Track record in making ideas real and tangible, from concept to execution roadmap, as an entrepreneur and/or intrapreneur, and bringing others along with you
• Strength in synthesizing qualitative and quantitative data into clear insights, recommendations and narratives, supporting decision making across options and making potential impact clear
• Strong storytelling and strategic narrative-building skills

Qualifications

• Direct experience applying human-centered design approaches, or signals of this skillset
• Leadership in bringing a new product or venture to market (0→1)
• Familiarity with tools (including AI) to accelerate thinking and workflow
• Client centricity (direct experience or signals of this skillset)
• Experience with venture building, incubation, innovation labs or product/service development
• Experience in relevant industries (financial services, healthcare, technology, manufacturing), with an understanding of complex environments such as regulation, risk, and product innovation

Skills

• Strong business acumen
• Ability to creatively problem-solve in a business context
• Comfort working in ambiguous situations
• Ability to interpret and communicate complex business ideas
• Experience working across stakeholders
• Track record in making ideas real and tangible
• Strength in synthesizing qualitative and quantitative data
• Strong storytelling and strategic narrative-building skills

Benefits

• Health Benefits: Vision, Dental, Healthcare
• Financial Benefits: 401K matching
• Family & Caregiving: Parental Leave, Adoption Assistance, Fertility Assistance, Transgender Medical Assistance, Breastmilk shipment, Back-up/Dependent Care, Pet Insurance
• Other Benefits: Flexible Work, Flexible Time Off, Paid Holidays, Annual Education Stipend, Home Office Stipend

Payscale & Benefits

IDEO is committed to paying its employees equitably, regardless of gender identity or race/ethnicity/cultural identity. We support the holistic well-being of our community by providing a thoughtfully designed benefits package.

The salary range for this role is $100,000-120,000 USD. This range is influenced by a wide range of factors considered in compensation decisions at IDEO. This includes, but is not limited to: skills, industry knowledge, and experience. Final offers may vary from the amount listed based on geography, candidate experience & expertise, and other factors.