Job Description

Job title: Lead Design Researcher & Strategist

Work Location: Chicago, IL

Role: Open to both Full-time or Contract

Division/Department: Delivery

Reports to: Director, Design Research & Strategy

Background

Highland is a digital product and innovation consultancy based in Chicago. We research, design, and build digital products and experiences for mission-driven organizations and customer-centric companies. Over 21 years, our team of researchers, strategists, designers, and developers has helped organizations launch over 260 digital products, turning their biggest uncertainties into opportunities for growth.

We often refer to what we design as Experiences that Matter: digital products and experiences that make the world a better place to live in. We primarily work with leaders of mid-market services companies and corporate innovation labs at large companies.

Our mission is rooted in Human Flourishinginspired by research conducted at Harvard Universitys Institute for Quantitative Social Science. We design our work to help human beings flourish, while allowing ourselves to flourish as well. For us, our valuesPeople First, Give a Damn, Be Curious, and Be Transparentare not just things to hang on the wall, but something we live by everyday and call each other out on.

The Design Research & Strategy (DRS) practice is led by David Whited and Amrita Kulkarni, nurturing a team with previous lives in music, theology, architecture, philosophy, industrial design, and many others. We read books together, challenge each other, question everything, rumble with vulnerability, and live humane everydays.

Project Context & Responsibilities

Highland serves clients at every stage in their journeyfrom early stage, generative research all the way to new product/experience launch. The Lead Design Researcher & Strategist plays a key role in many parts of that process:

Project-related Responsibilities

• Methods Mastery: Demonstrate written & verbal mastery over a range of Design Research methods and design original research for unique contexts.
• Research Execution: Lead teams to define & execute compelling Research Plans, Recruitment, Screeners, Discussion Guides, Deliverables, Reports, etc. as needed for projects.
• Synthesis Mastery: Define new methods of synthesizing research to fulfill client goals desirably, feasibly, and viably for design opportunities.
• Design Action: Connect the dots from research to ideation, taking responsibility for the teams translation of insights into ideas, concepts, and prototypes for user co-creation.
• Project Leadership: Lead project teams throughout the process, managing timelines, deliverables, & budgets.

Radiating & Framing Work

• Enabling Systemic Action: Capture systemic understanding through frameworks, exposing previously unknown dimensions at play, inspiring new ways for implementation across clients limitations & priorities.
• Framing New Work: Help frame and plan new projects with potential clients, skilfully advocating for Design Research methods and outcomes in environments new to Design Thinking.
• Advocating for Design Research: Articulate the nuance between what a client wants versus what the client needs, bringing an experienced point-of-view to the conversation.
• Evolving Methods/Practice: Continuously better and prototype new research & synthesis methods and processes internally.
• Mentorship: Devote time to guide and support the team/client through the value of Design Thinking approaches.
• Discerning: Able to communicate confidently and distinguish between generative, evaluative, & co-creation research, analysis & synthesis, market research & Design Research, expressed wants & unexpressed needs, problems & opportunities.

Participating in the Wider Dialogue

• Thought-leader: Known leader in the Design Research / Service Design / Design Strategy sphere, contributing across writing, podcasts, +other media.
• Teacher: Participant in formal/ informal Design Thinking teaching/critiques.
• Partner: Keen on building connections with and across other creative industry leaders who can benefit from the Design Thinking practice.
• Networker: Nurturing a growing network of mentors, peers, mentees, and other analogous creatives.
• Master Orator: Sharing reflections & experience with wider audiences through mastery in presentation skills across events, reading, networks, and other professional platforms.

Developing Yourself

• Empathic: Able to understand and feel others point of view seamlessly.
• Observant: Able to notice immediate surrounding and discern subtle behavioral cues, trends and patterns.
• Conceptual: Able to grasp and communicate intangible concepts
• Self-aware: Deep understanding of self, knowing ones own boundaries, dispositions, and tendencies.
• Associative: Able to successfully connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas from different fields
• Systemic: Able to think big picture, beyond immediate context and issue across work/other work contexts.
• Narrator: Master presenter of concepts, frameworks, insights, and takeaways relating to project work.
• Zealous: Able to keep pace with our clients and stay focused on goals.
• Attentive: Able to demonstrate a genuine concern for the well-being of other people you interact with.
• Nurturing: A tendency to coach team members, clients, and other Highlanders every step of the way,
• Critic: Able to offer critique and constructive feedback on a variety of work issues.

Environment

The Lead Design Researcher & Strategist embodies the Highland Values:

• People First: What we make and how we work should make it a little bit better to be alive: for us, our clients, and their customers.
• Be Curious: The big picture is everyone's responsibility. There is always more to learn. We are generous in teaching what we know.
• Be Open: We respond to problems with solutions, not blame. Vulnerability, while risky, leads to trust and understanding. We're accountable to our clients and to each other. Even when things aren't going well.
• Give a Damn: Our client's goals are our goals. We do work we can be proud of. Quality is non-negotiable.

Wed love to see:

• A commitment to be unabashedly human, bringing your whole self to work
• Self-awareness and knowledge of what you seek in your professional career
• An ask for forgiveness rather than permission mindset, ability to pivot quickly
• Restless desire to learn and ample energy to try new things
• Confident interpersonal skills and an impulse to co-create
• Ability to think visually and a tendency to forget whose idea it was
• Lack of fear to express opinions, question things, and suggest wild ideas
• Self-motivation, constantly finding ways to contribute, able to manage ambiguity
• Disposed to check-in with others frequently, willing to listen and learn from others
• Able to demonstrate genuine concern and thoughtfulness for the well-being of others around you
• Discerning and observant, able to connect the dots between seemingly unrelated worlds
• Express yourself through a range of personal/professional interests, hobbies, and passions
• Time-conscious and organized; able to inspire trust and confidence by meaning what you say

Education and Experience Requirements:

• Masters degree in Design, Architecture, Ethnography, or Humanities preferred.
  Other comparable training is acceptable.
• 9+ years of design work experience across diverse contexts/geographies/industries.
• At least 7 years of human-centered research or innovation consulting experience, managing clients, teams, & projects.
• Significant experience in coaching and mentoring on Design Thinking methods.
• Excellent written, visual, and verbal communication skills, with ability to communicate confidently and effectively.
• Skill in applied UX design and/or visual design is valued but not required.
• Must be able to converse fluently in English, with a preference for additional languages.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to safely and successfully perform the essential job functions consistent with the ADA, FMLA and other federal, state and local standards, including meeting qualitative and/or quantitative productivity standards.
• Ability to maintain regular, punctual attendance consistent with the ADA, FMLA and other federal, state and local standards.
• Must be able to lift and carry up to 50 lbs.
• Must be able to talk, listen and speak clearly on the telephone.

Compensation:

Full-time salary and benefits based on current market value.

Application Guidelines:

• Please attach a professional resume.
• Please share a PDF or website link of your portfolio giving us a detailed view of your process, team, responsibilities, decisions, and outcomes.
• Instead of a cover letter, please answer any 3 questions from the below list:
  • What are some of your favorite arguments about Design Research
  • Who has been your favorite manager at a job, and why
  • What would your work colleagues say is your most admirable quality
  • What are some unexpressed needs you see hidden in plain sight across your daily life
  • When you think about all of your academic experience, which was the most trajectory-setting course you ever took Why
  • What are two things within 10 feet of your laptop right now that tell a story about you
  • What has been the biggest learning/failure of your professional life
  • What has been the most favorite place youve ever lived Why
  • What object in your high school bedroom was the most foretelling of the person you would become