Job Description

In a nutshell:

IDEO Tokyo is in search of Japanese/English Bilingual Business Design Interns who love to craft and build new businesses and understands how (and why) designing products and services can drive strategic growth for our clients. We are looking for someone with a depth of experience in business model design, market analysis, and financial modeling and implementation.

This is a fully remote internship. We accept applicants from anywhere in the world but we expect interns to be available to join the project’s core hours (typically 3-4 hours in the 9AM-6PM JST window, Monday through Friday) and perform consistently with the expectations of the role. Business Design Internship at IDEO Tokyo is typically 12 weeks long. Start date and the length of the internship is flexible.

The application deadline for this position is Sunday, February 14th, 2021 at 11:59pm JST.

Why is this role important for IDEO’s work?

Business Designers make the biggest impact by generating new design opportunities by thinking creatively about financial impacts, risks, experiments, and data. Their skillset is critical to our work because they are passionate about trying new things rather than focusing on the best practices and they explore how approaches commonly adopted by start-ups might inform value creation for corporate clients. We count on them to inspire designers through business and entrepreneurial thinking.

Why IDEO Tokyo?

IDEO Tokyo’s mission is to help enable change in Japan through design and creativity. As part of a small studio that is growing, this person must demonstrate a collaborative working style, excellent communication skills, and the ability to flourish in a flexible environment of creativity and innovation.

More about IDEO Tokyo:

IDEO Tokyo website
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram

Once here you will:

• Act as a core team member working alongside your fellow designers to design and evolve clients’ products and services in ways that increase viability and drive strategic growth.
• Use business as a lens to inspire fellow designers about new possibilities by sharing innovative business models and product offerings with your teams.
• Collaborate with clients to understand their business challenges and growth opportunities.
• Use discovery-driven planning and financial modeling to explore the business model possibilities behind design concepts and to shape and influence their design.
• Identify key assumptions that need to be true for business success and design experiments to test those assumptions.
• Design and recommend new capabilities, organizational structures, strategic assets, and operating models to help our clients innovate.

Relevant experience and mindset:

• 3-5 years of industry experience in one of the following areas: product management, finance, business intelligence / analytics, retail, management consulting, consumer packaged goods, marketing (product or brand), hospitality, operations, or human capital.
• Experience taking an idea from theory and analysis into a market launch — either as an entrepreneur, member of a start-up team, or as an intrapreneur (e.g. product manager).
• Comfort with executive level clients or stakeholders, working as a collaborator and advisor, and the ability to confidently and credibly share your point of view and expertise.
• Ability to work in an ambiguous and dynamic environment and collaborate with multidisciplinary design teams in a non-hierarchical organization.
• Excellence in highlighting the financial potential of new offers or ventures through complex business model development, scenario planning, forecasting, and/or in-market experimentation, with a depth of experience using Excel as a baseline.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills in both Japanese and English (native-level Japanese is required for this position).

Pop quiz:

Please answer the following questions in addition to your cover letter and resume:

1. Tell us about a time in your career when you developed a new idea. What happened? What did you learn? (no more than 200 words)
2. What is the most interesting startup you’ve been exposed to recently? What did you find compelling? (no more than 200 words)

Application Process:

What you can expect from the process:

By the end of February we will notify candidates if they are moving forward in the process or not. Candidates who advance to a first round interview will have a 30 minute phone conversation with a member of our team about their background and their interest in the role. Candidates who advance to the second round will have an interview with our business design team which includes a mix of case interviews and behavioral interviews. Third round will be with the members of the IDEO Tokyo's leadership team.

This is a paid internship and compensation will be based on the applicant's qualifications.

Equal Opportunity Employer

IDEO 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.