Head of Design & Strategy

WHO WE ARE:  

PALO IT is a global innovation and software development company dedicated to helping organizations craft tech as a force for good. We work with clients to rapidly launch products and services, create new business models, and prepare leadership and culture for the future. We are a community of innovators, designers and technologists across 16 offices and five continents (France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Spain and the United States).   

We're committed to helping businesses transform to better our world. We're proud to be a World Economic Forum (WEF) New Champion, and a B Corp-certified company in Singapore, Hong Kong and Mexico, currently working towards certification across all other locations.   

YOUR ROLE:  

We are looking for an entrepreneurially minded individual to lead our design and strategy consulting practice. We are looking for someone with a proven track record of designing innovative and impactful products and helping businesses formulate new product strategy. 

As the Head of Design and Strategy, you will be responsible for the strategic direction of our consulting offering as well as the leadership and overall management of our team of design consultants.  

As our most senior design consultant, you will also lead our most strategic and client opportunities, bringing your experience and expertise to understand client needs and deliver exceptional solutions for clients that go above and beyond the client brief. 

You will be part of our executive leadership team, where you will work in close collaboration with other cross functional leads to steer the direction of the organisation, helping to elevate our business development and consulting practices to achieve our business KPI’s. 

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Lead the design and strategy practice 

• Build and implement the vision and strategy for the design practice e.g. enhancing and evolving the core consulting offering in line with client needs, initiating training initiatives to improve consultant capabilities, managing project staffing and hiring strategy 
• Mentor and manage senior design consultants 
• Coach and inspire the design consulting team and creating an environment and culture to support their professional development 
• Evolve and enhance design consulting strategic offerings in line with current and emergent client needs 
• Accountability for P&L for the activities of the design and strategy practice 

Project management & delivery 

• Lead on our most strategic client engagements – applying design thinking, user experience strategy and coaching methods to help clients create new business models, value propositions and product strategies  
• Oversee and advise on design projects from inception to completion, ensuring the delivery of high-quality design solutions that meet client expectations, project timelines, and budgetary constraints.  

Business development 

•  Work alongside business development and engineering to propose, evaluate new client requests and craft pre-sales proposals for new client opportunities 
• Build persuasive client proposals to clearly articulate and sell design approaches and solutions to c-level clients 

Design and product thought leadership  

• Consult on product strategies for our clients based on strong understanding of market and competitive forces, customer needs/behaviours and client business capabilities 
• Advocate for positive impact human-centered practice, culture, mindsets in product development across the organisation 
• Define design principles, guidelines, and best practices with design consultants to ensure consistent and high-quality design outcomes.
   

WHO YOU ARE: 

• 15+ years of experience in the fields of UX/UI design, design thinking, UX research, product strategy, new product innovation, service design or business design. 
• 5+ years of experience in leading and managing design and or product teams 
• You have a Master or Bachelor degree in Design, Multimedia, Human Computer Interaction, Computer Science or related field 
• You are passionate about new technologies, digital innovation and design.  
• You have experience as a senior or lead consultant working in technology consultancy, management consultancy, or digital agencies. 
• You have experience delivering design work in agile product and engineering teams 
• You are an exceptional communicator (written and verbal)   
• Strong business acumen with the ability to understand and analyze market dynamics, competitive landscapes, and customer behaviours. 
• A track record of success in delivering products in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. 
• A collaborative and servant leader who inspires and supports colleagues at all levels to achieve their best performance 
• Strong product intuition, able to take into account the competitive landscape, consumer wants, and anticipate future consumer needs to build innovative products that surprise and delight customers.  
• You have insights and experience into applications, trends in web3 and emerging artificial intelligence technologies and solution and how to apply them to different industries 
• You have worked in multiple domains and industries, and have in building digital product in mobile/web, e-commerce, B2B, B2C. 
• Outstanding communication, presentation and workshop facilitation skills 
• You have an entrepreneurial/wild spirit combined with corporate know-how. 
• You have a great sense of humor, fun to work with and can call yourself a digital guru!