Lead Strategy Designer

City of Raleigh; Raleigh (NC); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Raleigh’s Office of Strategy & Innovation is hiring a Lead Strategy Designer to drive design-based innovation across the organization. You will help deploy strategies, build a team of internal consultants, and foster public/private collaboration to advance Raleigh Impact Lab.

The role involves leading innovation programs, partnering with senior leaders, and shaping citywide initiatives with a human-centered approach, including training and mentoring staff.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 5–7 years teaching and facilitation for adult learners.
• Experience with strategy, innovation, and human-centered design methods.
• Certification in Human Centered Design or Strategic Design preferred.

Responsibilities

• Designs and delivers strategy and innovation projects for Raleigh Impact Lab.
• Serves as Senior Instructor for human-centered design trainings/workshops.
• Establishes partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to advance City initiatives.
• Guides colleagues through an innovation process from research to prototyping and testing.
• Plans research-driven activities, documents processes, and creates case studies.
• Leads Strategic Plan Key Focus Areas and supports city priorities.

Skills

Design thinking

Stakeholder engagement

Facilitation

Instructional design

Public sector experience

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Science, Design Studies, Psychology, Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Public Health, Public Administration, Urban Planning, or related field

Job description

Think Boldly, Work Collaboratively, Empower Others, Foster Impact

We are a creative team that is curious, embraces challenges, thinks outside the box, and seeks to catalyze those around us. Our optimism is known to be contagious, and we love sticky notes!

Are you passionate about building the innovative mindset and potential of others? Are you driven by impact, collaboration, bold thinking, and the continuous exploration of “What If…”? Are you looking to help public/private stakeholders cultivate bold new initiatives to enhance the lives of others? Do you seek to join a dynamic team and to work in one of the fastest growing and most collaborative cities in the US? Do you see the natural connections between strategy, creativity, and innovation? Does leading teams and using design-based innovation approaches make your day?

Come join the City of Raleigh’s Office of Strategy & Innovation (aka Office of Yes, And!) as our new Lead Strategy Designer. We embrace the audacious goal of serving as a model for public innovation and achieving the seemingly impossible. Our team leads the Raleigh Impact Lab, a one-of-a-kind municipal government consulting lab that applies human centered design to understand shared needs, barriers to delivery, and opportunities for improvement, with goal to design policies and services that work for people. Join our team and have the unique opportunity to catalyze public sector innovation, government transformation, and civic/public/private collaboration.

The Lead Strategy Designer will be part of a team responsible for deploying design-based innovation approaches to lead organization-wide innovation efforts and catalyze our renowned innovation ecosystem. Working closely with the Strategy & Innovation Manager, the Strategy & Innovation Officer, and other senior leadership, the Lead Strategy Designer will play a critical role in developing the Raleigh Impact Lab, designing and delivering innovation programs, building a team of internal consultants and continuous improvement leaders, and fostering public/private collaboration. We are seeking a team member with a proven background in design methodology who will bring their strong relational, creative, outside-the-box thinking, analytical, and critical thinking skills, along with their passion and persistence for excellence, to contribute to our efforts. A successful Lead Strategy Designer has a demonstrated track record working with diverse stakeholders and will thrive in analyzing underlying business challenges, identifying solutions, developing approaches, working collaboratively, building internal and external partnerships, and getting others excited about what they do. Ideally, they will also have experience in designing and delivering impactful public sector programs or services.

This position actively supports the City Strategic Plan and supports a wide range of staff across all City service areas to benefit our community of 500,000+ residents. This involves applying advanced technical expertise in strategy and innovation to provide strategic guidance, solve complex business challenges, and influence Citywide priorities, including fostering collaboration across departments and ensuring that our policies and projects align with broader objectives such as economic development, sustainability, and the quality of life of residents.

This position reports to the Strategy & Innovation Manager. This position offers teleworking for approximately 20% of the work week.

Duties and Responsibilities

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the major duties and responsibilities performed by employees in this job. Employees may be requested to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.

• Designs and delivers strategy and innovation projects for the Raleigh Impact Lab, a one-of-a-kind municipal government consulting lab that applies human centered design to conduct fieldwork and oversee City/community teams to understand shared needs, barriers to delivery, and opportunities for improvement, with goal to design policies and services that work for people
• Serves as Senior Instructor for the Raleigh Impact Lab, creating and facilitating engaging human-centered design and innovation trainings/ workshops rooted in best practices of instructional design for adult learners
• Establishes and catalyzes feasible, person-centered partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to advance City initiatives
• Manages the City’s Impact Partner Grant, including public outreach, processing contracts and administering funds, and coordinating programs/training for Impact Partner Grant awardees
• Guides colleagues through a rigorous innovation process, including research, synthesis and framework development, idea generation, prototyping, and testing, that leads to actionable solutions and measurable outcomes.
• Plans, schedules, and coordinates research-driven service project activities to meet deadlines, including documenting processes, guides, project plans, and case studies
• Leads two (2) Strategic Plan Key Focus Areas, providing leadership and strategic direction that encourage active participation and help groups build consensus or make decisions collectively to advance the City’s strategic priorities
• Delivers technical assistance and training to City teams, to help them design creative initiatives to enhance services, tackle city challenges, and apply approaches such as human-centered design, crowdsourcing, and behavioral science to deliver better results for residents
• Prepares reports and presentations for City leadership, staff, community stakeholders so they can make clear decisions that align with evidence and human need
• Serves as a visible participant and persuasive representative for City programs, which may involve non-traditional work hours at times
• Navigates ambiguity and challenges with creative problem-solving, a focus on generating solutions, and grace.
• Stays up to date with trends and apply emerging best practices in civic design, public innovation, and disruptive technologies
• Supervises Interns and contract employees
• Performs other duties as required

Typical Qualifications

Education and Experience:

Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Science, Design Studies, Psychology, Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Public Health, Public Administration, Urban Planning, or a related field; 5 to 7 years’ experience in advanced teaching and facilitation for adult-learners; application of strategy, innovation, and human centered design methods, tools, and frameworks; or a related field

OR

Any equivalent combination of training and/or experience that provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities may be substituted.

Licenses or Certifications:

• Human Centered Design Certification, Strategic Design Certification, or comparable certification

Preferred Qualifications:

• Graduate Degree in related field
• Licensing and Certifications: Human Centered Design certificates, Equity Certifications, Project Management, LEAN Six Sigma or other related qualifications.
• Demonstrated understanding of and ability to communicate stories about the impact of innovation on the public sector
• A clear understanding of the types of challenges municipal governments typically faces, either through direct experience working in government or in organizations that collaborate closely with governments.
• Demonstrated experience applying qualitative research methods, including interviews, surveys, workshop development, and data analysis.
• Demonstrated experience in working with people from diverse backgrounds and a commitment to engaging with a wide range of residents, subject-matter experts, and partners.
• Demonstrated experience applying equity-centered design frameworks to past projects