Associate Director, Product Design

<p>Material is a leading integrated marketing services company that leverages deep human understanding to help brands deliver material outcomes and experiences for their customers and the communities they serve. We build B2C and B2B brands from the insight out by providing a seamless journey that combines data and analytics, insights-led consulting, and experience activation into one integrated offering.</p>

Los Angeles; New York; Chicago; Philadelphia; San

Material

<strong>Material is a collaborative built from legendary practices across research, strategy, design, and brand building. Eleven pioneering companies united as one to solve wider, deeper, and more innovative challenges together.</strong><br /><br /><strong>We uncover what&rsquo;s important to people and create experiences that pull them in and open our worlds. We seek curious, experienced, and deeply empathetic humans to enrich our diverse teams of leaders and do-ers. Want in?</strong><br /> <h5>LRW | Kelton | T3 | Karma | Greenberg | Tonic | MotiveQuest | Salt Branding | Killer Visual Strategies | Strativity | Aruliden</h5> https://materialplus.io/

keywords: position summary,position details,about us,teamwork,design,management,organization,communication,represent,design,presentation,project management,degree,experience,knowledge

Full-Time

Overview: <p>Material is a global network of agencies that build transformative experiences driven by human insight and empathy. We come together within a vibrant hybrid working model to lead clients through business model innovation, launching products and platforms, identifying future state opportunities, and building relationships at scale. We&rsquo;re a collection of curious people who value building, radical collaboration, inclusive communities and heart. Working with us will empower you to embrace your ambition and drive impact for your team and your clients.&nbsp;</p> <p>Design at Material applies agile principles and our inclusive design framework to solve complex challenges across a range of human experiences. As an Associate Director, Product Design, you will provide leadership by growing Material&rsquo;s reputation, client services and people. You will participate in, and help guide interdisciplinary teams of designers, researchers, strategists and technologists across multiple clients. You'll be an advocate for high quality design in execution and outcome across every phase of the product development lifecycle. You will take the time to listen, understand and collaborate with your team, clients, and their customers.&nbsp;<br /><br /></p> <p><strong>About Us:</strong></p> <p>Material+ is an analytics-driven marketing services firm powered by sophisticated analytics and deep human understanding. Founded in 1973 and headquartered in LA, the company has grown consistently for nearly 50 years and currently has 1200 employees in 20 offices including NY, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, and London. Material has actively acquired a portfolio of businesses to build a unique, integrated marketing services business with key capabilities in analytics, intelligence and experience for an array of top tier clients in entertainment, tech, retail, healthcare, and packaged goods.</p>
Responsibilities: <ul> <li>Participate in, and help lead design for client engagements: from pitch to completion, including the definition of digital design systems, screen designs, usability, and delivery&nbsp;</li> <li>Persuasively and effectively communicate design decisions and rationale to clients and internal teams&nbsp;</li> <li>Motivate and help lead collaborative teams to deliver excellent, industry-leading digital experiences&nbsp;</li> <li>Represent and model an agile mindset and design thinking in practice to solve client business problems&nbsp;</li> <li>Participate in, and help lead iterative design sprints in collaboration with program management and technology leads, as the project design leader, directing the work of other sprint team members&nbsp;</li> <li>Contribute to product roadmaps to move clients from MVPs to fully featured experiences, helping to prioritize customer impact with business value&nbsp;</li> <li>Align design intent with technical feasibility, timelines, and budget parameters&nbsp;</li> <li>Provide point-of-view and thought leadership on digital design processes, tools, and methods&nbsp;</li> <li>Coach and mentor, senior and mid-level product designers (will directly manage 1 or more dependant on experience)&nbsp;</li> <li>Participate in new business development efforts for Product Design, as assigned, representing our mindset, methodology, and design ability to prospective clients&nbsp;</li> <li>Provide input on appropriate workflows for Product Design projects, including scoping and resource allocation&nbsp;</li> <li>Work to optimize our processes and tools continuously&nbsp;</li> </ul>
Requirements: <p><strong>What we want:</strong>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>An inclusive design advocate, who designs with empathy from a deep understanding of customer needs&nbsp;</li> <li>7+ years&rsquo; experience with enterprise-level product design, in-house or with an agency, in a team lead or manager role&nbsp;</li> <li>Philosophical alignment with the agile manifesto, design thinking, and design sprint methodology, demonstrable in project work&nbsp;</li> <li>Portfolio of design work showing diversity across web, app, and connected experiences and a clear, well-developed point-of-view&nbsp;</li> <li>Expertise across design research, UX, visual design, and product strategy, and knowledge of how to combine them to create optimal experiences for real people&nbsp;</li> <li>High degree of comfort collaborating directly with developers, navigating technical dependencies and constraints, and negotiating solutions in real time&nbsp;</li> <li>Strong presence and presentation skills&nbsp;</li> <li>Demonstrated proficiency/experience in modern technology and software tools, including Sketch, InVision, Figma, and Adobe XD, and workflow tools like Confluence and Jira&nbsp;</li> </ul>