Job Description

This role may be based in any one of our three US studios: Cambridge, Chicago or San Francisco, or remotely anywhere in the US or Canada. You can note your location preference(s) in your application. We will begin reviewing applications on a rolling basis starting April 11th, and have an application deadline of Sunday, May 1st, 2022.

In a nutshell:

IDEO North America is seeking a leader who can support clients with leading edge physical product design. The ideal person for this role has the ability to cultivate client relationships, guide world class design work, and support the development of designers. They demonstrate a combination of business savvy, physical product design & product development expertise, acuity around digital/service/interaction design, and relationship building skills with both internal and external stakeholders.

Physical products today are part of larger connected systems and people working within them. The work we do is often transformative – helping catalyze change for clients within their organizations and markets. This is why we seek a leader who can support clients with leading edge product design, as well as situating that work with the shifts in their markets and demands on their organizations. We’d be excited if you integrate state-of-the-art, human-centered design, and interplay of physical and digital.

In this role, you will collaborate with other members of IDEO in a variety of capacities including business development, guiding client work, mentoring, creative direction, and craft excellence. You will spend your time in a few ways. One – developing new client business, actively building and managing a portfolio of work at the intersection of industrial design, engineering, interaction design, and software design. Two – shaping and guiding projects that take advantage of the full range of diverse disciplines and capabilities at IDEO, scoping work that highlights our unique capabilities and ensuring the creative excellence of that work. Three – supporting a community of product & industrial designers to grow professionally and do great design work.

Once here you will:

• Drive conversations with potential clients to understand their priorities, convey IDEO's process, and scope project proposals that ensure successful outcomes for both.
• Cultivate partnerships with existing clients to unlock new opportunities for collaboration and impact through design.
• Collaborate closely with other IDEO leaders to establish and contribute to portfolio strategic goal development and business objectives.
• Invest in the growth of our industrial design & physical product development capabilities by supporting the development and creative excellence of IDEO designers.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to our clients and project teams by providing strategic level guidance, coaching, and constructive critique in service of delivering world class product design.
• Represent IDEO externally through speaking engagements and other media opportunities to build the brand and tell IDEO stories.
• Build and maintain a strong internal and external network in service of building IDEO’s portfolio of client work.

Relevant experience and skills:

• 10+ years experience in design, 5+ years in a client-facing role, 5+ years in a leadership role.
• Experience in product development, industrial design, physical product design, business development, creative consulting, and a project management capacity.
• Ability to think about industrial design in the context of digital design, service design, and interaction design.
• Comfort within a role with accountability for the growth and excellence of IDEO North America Portfolio.
• Experience developing and leading client relationships and building lasting partnerships.
• Demonstrated creative direction, leadership skills, and expertise guiding teams to deliver excellent work and supporting the learning and development of individuals.
• Experience supporting organizations to shift or transform in order to build and deliver new experiences to market.

What does IDEO offer you?

IDEO is a place unlike any other. It’s a place where you can solve diverse challenges for our clients and the organization, alongside thoughtful individuals who lead with curiosity, empathy, and optimism. We encourage our community to bring their whole selves to work, respect the need for work-life balance, and allow for autonomy in the design process and your career.

IDEO is in an exciting culture to work within. We are also in a moment of growth that you will have the potential to influence and shape. We’re helping clients launch entirely new ventures, transforming their organizations to center creativity and design, and adding new disciplines and capabilities to our organization to expand the definition of what design is and what design can do.

Recent work:

The IDEO website contains many case studies that demonstrate the breadth and depth of our projects. These two projects are representative of the type of work you would sell, scope, and guide in this role.

• Designing the First All-In-One, Wearable Breast Pump
• Designing the Future Kitchen

Much of our recent work is under NDA as we work with our clients to bring it to market. Below are some more abstract descriptions of recent work happening across IDEO:

• Explored how autonomous capabilities will influence vehicle interiors and interactions by prototyping a full-scale vehicle experience
• Envisioned a new system to improve the lives of people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• Designed a large scale medical imaging device that reimagines the relationship between digital and physical controls and introduces an entirely new positioning system to help techs do their job with more accuracy

Application instructions:

Please apply with a resume, portfolio (URL or PDF), and cover letter (yes, we read them!) by May 1st, 2022 . In your portfolio, we’re interested to see a blend of contributions you’ve made. At the Director level, we do not expect that your portfolio overflows with heavy CAD you yourself have done in the last few years, so don’t hesitate to apply even if your recent experience hasn’t been as the individual contributor on the ID work directly. We’re equally interested to see the teams and work you’ve guided or influenced as a leader. In your cover letter, please tell us more about your interest in IDEO and in this role, notably where you see alignment between your experience and this opportunity.

Commitment to diversity

At IDEO, we are committed to the work of advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within our organization and in the world. Our purpose of having disproportionate, world-changing impact through design is directly connected to our ability to bring many different perspectives to the table. This applies to our candidates, the people we hire, the clients and customers we serve, and the communities we learn from in our research.

As a human-centered organization, we are committed to working with and designing for people of every race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, physical ability or attribute, religion, national origin, or political belief. We recognize that this commitment requires ongoing work and sustained attention, as well as adaptation to new insights and best practices. We keep our diversity data public for the sake of accountability and transparency. These commitments will also be part of your journey at IDEO, so please feel free to read more about them here .

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.