Senior Design Operations Consultant

MARS Solutions Group; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A consultancy firm seeking a Senior Design Operations Consultant to lead the refinement of design processes in an insurance client environment. The role requires strong analytical skills to define and document processes effectively, ensuring clarity and consistency amidst evolving operational needs. The consultant will act as a project lead for complex issues, offering actionable recommendations to leadership. Candidates should be comfortable working independently in ambiguous situations and possess strong judgment skills. This is a senior position with high autonomy.

Qualifications

• Senior role requiring strong analytical and judgment skills.
• Experience in design operations or related fields.
• Ability to document and reshape processes effectively.

Responsibilities

• Identify, document, and formalize core design processes.
• Support refinement of allocation and design governance.
• Serve as a special project lead for complex issues.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Judgment

Process documentation

Problem solving

Job description

Overview

MARS Solutions Group is looking for an experienced Senior Design Operations Consultant. Our client is an insurance firm looking for high-quality talent to make a difference. They are known to respect a traditional work week and often extend contracts for added job security and stability.

Role Summary Our client is seeking a Design Operations & Special Projects Lead to serve as a right-hand partner to the Assistant Director of Campus Design & Operations during a critical period of transition.

As the organization moves through Campus Moves and into a steady state operating environment, this role will help ensure that Design Operations can function with clarity, consistency, and resilience. Many core design and workspace allocation processes exist today but are informal, inconsistently applied, or dependent on individual institutional knowledge. In addition, evolving ways of working are expected to disrupt traditional assumptions about how space is allocated, governed, and supported.

This role will focus on defining, documenting, and reshaping design and allocation processes, so they are fit for the future—not simply preserving how work has been done in the past. In parallel, the role will act as a special projects problem solver, independently taking on ambiguous, high judgment issues and developing clear, actionable recommendations.

This is a senior, high autonomy role requiring strong judgment, analytical thinking, and comfort operating in environments where the future state is not yet fully defined.

Key Responsibilities

Design Operations & Process Definition

• Identify, document, and formalize core design and workspace allocation processes needed to support day-to-day operations.
• Focus on processes related to:
• Workspace allocation and reallocation
• Design intake and prioritization
• Design decisioning, exceptions, and escalations
• Handoffs between planning, design, and operations
• Translate institutional knowledge into clear, usable process documentation, decision frameworks, and playbooks.
• Partner closely with Design Operations leadership to ensure processes reflect how the organization should operate going forward, not just historical practice.

Process Evolution in an Ambiguous Environment

• Recognize that evolving business needs and ways of working may require revisiting or redesigning existing processes.
• Help evaluate when processes should be:
• Stabilized
• Revised
• Replaced entirely
• Work effectively in situations where requirements and constraints are still emerging, helping move the organization from ambiguity to workable operating models.
• Surface trade‑offs, implications, and risks associated with different process or governance approaches.

Allocation Governance & Decision Frameworks

• Support the refinement of allocation and design governance, including:
• Roles and responsibilities
• Decision rights
• Escalation paths
• Standards and guardrails
• Help ensure allocation and design decisions are consistent, defensible, and aligned to enterprise principles, even as conditions change.
• Develop reference materials that enable the team to apply standards with less reliance on leadership intervention.

Special Projects & Independent Problem Solving

• Serve as a special project lead for complex or loosely defined issues that exceed the current team’s capacity or experience.
• Take ambiguous problems and independently develop:
• Clear problem framing
• Options and implications
• Recommended paths forward
• Present concise, well reasoned recommendations that leadership can act on.
• Act as a pressure release valve for leadership when issues fall outside established processes or norms.

What Success Looks Like

• Core design and allocation processes are clearly defined, documented, and consistently applied.
• The Design team is less dependent on individual institutional knowledge to operate effectively.
• Leadership can confidently hand off ambiguous issues knowing they will be thoughtfully worked through.
• Design Operations is positioned to adapt as campus needs, and ways of working continue to evolve.