Innovation Coach & Lead Facilitator

Could you train some of the world’s leading companies and organisations to use Design Thinking for innovation? You’ll be conceiving and running courses, coaching teams, and running workshops both online and face-to-face in the UK and internationally. You’ll also be hands-on designing new services and experiences for clients, making the role perfect for someone who enjoys both teaching and doing. Our projects are socially relevant and commercial, bringing service innovation to market across multiple industries.

We are a growing business, so you will have plenty of opportunity for expanding your skills and career development!

DK&A and the Design Thinkers Academy London

We are a design consultancy and training company, helping our clients to generate fresh ideas and turn these into new products and services around the needs of users. DK&A is the consultancy arm of the business and through the Design Thinkers Academy London, part of the global network Design Thinkers Group, we develop innovation capability within businesses, and offer a range of open enrolment innovation courses, in-person and online, for international professionals.

We’re a team of 14 people and work with an extended network of 40+ Associates. We are a mix of designers, researchers, strategists, and project managers. We have a flat organisational structure. Our clients are both from the private and public sector, from a broad range of industries including transport, environment, retail, technology, and healthcare.

Reporting to: Design Director

Main responsibilities of the role

• Programme Design & Delivery

• Innovation Coaching

• Knowledge Management

• Client & Project Management

• Consultancy Projects

PROGRAMME DESIGN & DELIVERY

• Delivering open enrolment, in-house, and bespoke client courses, as a lead facilitator;

• Planning and developing innovation courses, including designing agendas, content modules, activities, templates and other supporting materials;

• Helping to develop, maintain and evolve the library of course materials;

• Staying up-to-date with innovation methodologies, best practices, and frameworks;

• Working closely with our Head of Design to identify new course opportunities and develop our portfolio of innovation courses;

INNOVATION COACHING

• Supporting the hands-on implementation of Design Thinking within client businesses through one-on-one on-project coaching;

• Designing and coordinating the delivery of in-company Design Sprints, online and in-person.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

• Working together with our team of designers to lead our design knowledge management, so that our consultancy and training practices are informed by each other and a shared best practice;

• Run and host our Coaches’ Salon, a regular internal event, with our team and extended Associates network, for promoting networking, knowledge-sharing and inspiration;

• Playing an active role in the development of DK&A and Design Thinkers Academy London including contributing to strategy, knowledge management and practice.

CLIENT & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Building and maintaining strong client relationships;

• Managing your projects, including internal and external resources, time and budgets.

CONSULTANCY PROJECTS

• Supporting the execution of design projects to meet design briefs, which might include: contributing to ethnographic research, facilitating co-creation sessions, supporting concept development, prototyping and concept validation.

Skills & experience

ESSENTIAL

• A Bachelor or Masters Degree in Design Thinking, industrial design, service design, experience design, anthropology, or similar related studies;

• Proven ability to shape design briefs with clients and internal consultants;

• Experience delivering on Design Thinking projects for clients, on time and within budget;

• Experience in designing and facilitating training workshops (in-person or online), to teach Design Thinking and innovation skills;

• Experience in designing and facilitating on-project workshops (in-person or online) with clients, to develop impactful solutions for commercial projects;

• Excellent written and spoken English skills;

• Confidence to lead meetings and workshops with senior and C-suite stakeholders;

• Proven ability to design and facilitate in Miro/Mural or other equivalent software

On the above we would expect evidence of +3 years of experience.

Desirable

• Knowledge of Systems Thinking, Agile, Lean Start Up and other innovation methodologies and frameworks;

• Experience working within the technology sector;

• Interest in sustainability and circular design.

4. Remuneration & benefits

This is a full-time role with an annual salary based on experience.

Benefits include the following:

• Flexitime core studio hours 10:00 – 16:00 Monday – Friday

• 37.5-hour work week

• Hybrid work: 2 days in studio, 3 days remotely

• 25 days of paid annual leave

• 8 days of paid Bank Holidays

• Contributory pension scheme – DK&A to match employee contributions of up to 4%. The scheme is recommended but not compulsory

• The studio closes between Christmas and New Year and these days are additional paid leave, on top of the 25 days annual leave and 8 Bank holidays

• Attend any of Design Thinkers Academy open courses for free

• Vitality Healthcare insurance

• Life insurance and income protection

• Interest free loans for travel season tickets to work

• Cycle to Work Scheme

Location

Hybrid work, allowing you to work remotely for up to 3 days per week.

Two days a week you will be working with the rest of the team at our studio in London SW18 5JS, United Kingdom. The space is modern, attractive, and light with good facilities including a shower, bike parking, shared meeting rooms and communal kitchen.