- The Design Manager will provide strategic direction and hands-on leadership across design, research, and operational aspects of our design vertical
- The ideal candidate will have a strong background in design research and project management, with a passion for social impact
- They will develop design-led programs with existing and new stakeholders around Good Business Lab s key research areas and work closely with a growing team of experts
Qualification & Experience:
(The areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most for this role)
Essential Qualifications:
- Passionate about tackling complex social and organizational challenges.
- Hands-on experience with product and service design and development.
- A graduate (minimum 6 years of work experience) or postgraduate (minimum 4 years of work experience) degree in design.
- Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, Miro, and other relevant design tools.
- Proficient in using project management tools like Asana, Jira, Notion etc.
- A portfolio demonstrating your work and design research skills.
- Comfortable working with a wide range of stakeholders, including groups with little or no background about design.
- Excellent interpersonal and written, visual, and verbal communication skills.
Desired Qualifications:
- 4+ years of experience in leadership positions within Design/Social Innovation.
- Experience in Design Operations within fast-paced environments.
- Active participation in the Design community, both locally and globally.
- Proven experience in public speaking and maintaining a social media presence.
- Strong stakeholder management skills across technical and non-technical domains.
- Interest or proven experience in areas such as AI, genAI, communications apps, edtech, language learning, or gamified apps.
Roles & Responsibilities:
(Areas that will play to your strength and all the responsibilities we will trust you with)
- Lead the design research process using human-centered design, systems thinking, and service design to uncover insights and develop impactful solutions.
- Formulate and implement multiple projects/workstreams end-to-end, ensuring alignment with organizational goals, context, and strategy.
- Collaborate with other verticals, to translate research findings into actionable design strategies.
- Manage resource allocation and budgets for design projects.
- Develop design case studies, research, and publications, and disseminate them to a global community of development practitioners.
- Design, develop, and test interventions for impact evaluation projects.
- Manage staffing and budgets.
- Mentor a rapidly growing multidisciplinary design team.
- Create pitches and write funding applications for design projects.
- Lead internal design capacity-building sessions through design sprints and workshops.
- Formulate research plans, manage quality and timelines across team members, and take responsibility for work output.
- Create field research plans and conduct user research in accordance with ethical research guidelines and standards.
- Represent the organization at external forums with a good understanding of the industry and context.
Qualities that are important to us:
- Committed to GBL s mission and our values + operating principles.
- Able to disagree in a respectful manner and work towards a solution even when you disagree.
- Good at asynchronous communication
- An effective and responsible communicator. An active listener.
- Self motivated and proactive
- Able to manage and lead in the face of ambiguity and complexity
- Curious and committed to learn
What should you be comfortable with
- A dynamic environment with competing priorities.
- Working in a team with shared responsibilities.
- Independently coordinating with coworkers to accomplish goals.
- Being resourceful in new environments and scenarios.
- Problem-solving in high-pressure environments.
- Adapting your approach, being focused on the problem and not being stuck to one idea or way of solving a problem.
