Strategic Designer (AI)

Location: New York, NY or San Francisco, CA. Hybrid work requires a minimum of three days per week in person at a client location or Bain home office; regional travel is required, with travel stated as approximately 30% and 50% in the posting.

Annual full-time salary: $142,551, plus annual discretionary performance bonus and other potential discretionary compensation.

Company

Bain & Company is a consulting firm with a digital capabilities practice spanning AI, analytics, engineering, product management, design, and research.

What you will do

• Lead the end-to-end strategic design process from framing and research through experimentation and delivery.
• Conduct qualitative research and synthesize insights into personas, customer journeys, opportunity maps, and other artifacts.
• Co-lead ideation and conceptualize new experiences and business models with case teams, consultants, and clients.
• Build storytelling assets and prototypes, and run lightweight experiments to test desirability, feasibility, and viability.
• Collaborate with client stakeholders, demonstrate design leadership, and adapt methods to project goals.
• Contribute to the design community through coaching, recruiting, intellectual property development, and cultural initiatives.

Requirements

• 1–2 years of hands-on experience in digital product, service, or venture design.
• Ability to navigate strategic ambiguity and co-create direction in complex, fast-changing contexts.
• Strong grounding in design thinking, human-centered design, and agile ways of working.
• Fluency with Figma, Miro, and Adobe Creative Suite, plus working comfort with GenAI tools for design research, ideation, prototyping, and storytelling.
• Intellectual curiosity and a consulting mindset, including interest in case context, business strategy, and design rationale.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with designers and non-designers.
• Advanced proficiency in English.
• Comfort with approximately 30% travel for client work; the role also states 50% required regional travel away from the primary working location.

Nice to have

• Experience in consulting or client-facing roles.
• Familiarity with product management concepts and feasibility and viability discussions.
• Working Spanish skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative, inclusive, and supportive environment focused on creativity, continuous learning, and multidisciplinary teamwork.
• Permanent full-time employment with hybrid in-person collaboration requirements and client travel.
• Annual discretionary performance bonus and a 4.5% 401(k) company contribution that increases after three years of service.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage with 100% of individual employee premiums paid, plus life and long-term disability insurance.
• Paid time off, parental leave, sick leave, and paid holidays.

Hiring process

• Submit a portfolio and CV to be considered.