Senior Strategic Designer

A bunch of friendly, like-minded people who enjoy working across public, private, and social sectors to tackle the big issues.
We care deeply about the work we do and we're passionate about using design to generate creative and innovative ways to solve complex problems.
You areWe're in search of a Senior Strategic Designer, ideally based in Sydney, to help lead Folk teams and clients through immersive, people-centered design processes.
Your expertise lies in understanding the intrinsic needs of both individuals and organisations, and crafting nuanced digital, product and service strategies that create meaningful change.
You're a designer dedicated to tackling complex challenges head-on, with a toolkit that spans human-centered and strategic design, enabling you to navigate diverse environments and sectors with confidence.
You enjoy helping individuals and organisations to thrive by uncovering insights and new opportunities.
What you'll do at Folk: Conduct user research and stakeholder consultation to bring together user findings and detailed business requirements to develop strategies and approaches to product, experience and service design.Have deep knowledge and understanding of human-centred design and UX research methodologies from a similar role in a consultancy or agency environment.Are experienced in analysing both qualitative and quantitative research and connecting the dots to draw out actionable insights.Can apply HCD and UX methodologies to large- and small-scale problems and budgets.Develop actionable roadmaps or plans to support implementation of strategies for clients.Translate strategy into detailed design through collaboration with UX and product designers, user interface designers and developers.Have knowledge of best-design practice, including content design, product design and service design, to inform strategies.Have good knowledge of industry trends and emerging technologies and how best to apply these to the design practice and strategic client work.Practice excellent written and verbal communication skills (and can demonstrate this with some recent examples) with a keen eye for detail - understanding the small stuff does matter.Can translate findings into key visual communication assets such as journey maps, personas, strategy visuals and other artefacts.Are excellent at building strong relationships with clients, presenting work and anticipating client expectations, challenges and needs.Are experienced in designing and facilitating client workshops both online and in-person, to create an engaging experience that produces clear results.Have excellent organisational skills with the ability to multi-task and work to deadlines.Are mature, confident, flexible and have an open mind, with a strong desire to collaborate and contribute to studio culture.Seniors at Folk are expected to: Excel at identifying, framing and assessing problems.Play a central role in projects – driving the work forward and working independently when required.
Collaborate with a diverse range of clients, colleagues and methods to understand the user needs, motivations, and pain points of a product or service.Communicate clearly with stakeholders, developers, and team members to present ideas, explain design decisions, and articulate user needs.Adapt quickly to new tools, trends, and feedback, always maintaining a focus on the user.Leverage technical skills and knowledge of design tools to create feasible, well-rounded solutions.Stay curious and continuously explore, ask questions, and seek to understand why things work the way they do.Prioritise and advocate for users in every design decision, always advocating for their needs and experiences.Lead by example, leveraging strong and clear communication and relationship-building skills to navigate client interactions with confidence.Push for innovative solutions and ultimately work towards creating exceptional outcomes on every engagement.A willingness to continuously learn and adapt to new design tools, trends, and methodologies.We'd love you to have: Strong systems thinking and service design skills and the ability to apply this to complex problems.Good understanding of ethnographic research approaches and how best to use these.Experience of planning and conducting co-design and design research with people with lived experience, and those from diverse and marginalised backgrounds.Experience of organisational change and large transformation projects.Good understanding of contemporary tech and platforms.Experience aligned with our impact areas (health and wellbeing, sustainability and climate, education, justice, government and aging).What it's like to work at Folk: Our company culture is as human-centred as our approach to design.
We're committed to nurturing a workplace where people feel valued and supported.
Some of the benefits our team enjoys are:
We work on projects with social purpose and impact.We work on big, complex challenges that impact real people.We have a hybrid flexible working model – work from home and come to the studio to connect and collaborate.We value the other important parts of your life as well – we offer flexibility for pick-ups and drop offs or sick children as well as anything else life throws at you.Our workplace culture encourages everyone's input and it's taken onboard.You are actively empowered to help shape the business; if you think something can be done better – tell someone.We want you to grow – we have a generous development budget that we encourage you to use to invest in building your skills and following your career ambitions.We love working with people who bring their personality, their experience, and their uniqueness to the team.We put the wellbeing of our staff before projects and profit – through regular check-ins and transparent communication we ensure that everyone feels safe and supported.How to apply: Please send us a link to your CV, LinkedIn profile or anything that demonstrates your experience – with a brief note that tells us what attracted you to the role and what excites you about the work we do to: ****** Folk is committed to building a diverse team.
We actively encourage candidates with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to join our team.
We're proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion.
We will never discriminate based on race, gender, age, ethnicity, citizenship, national origin of employees, religion, sexual orientation, marital status or disability.
We believe that a variety of perspectives and experiences leads to innovation and success. Acknowledgement of Country: Folk offices are located on Gadigal and Wangal Country.
We pay our respects to their cultures, and to their Elders — past, present, and emerging.
You must be legally able to work in Australia.
Only shortlisted applicants will be notified.
No agencies please.
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