Design & Innovation Manager (Education)

Location: The Hague, Netherlands; hybrid working with 1 day per week in the office

Salary: Up to €90,000, negotiable depending on experience

Company

hirify.global provides educational services to more than 6,000 schools across 160 countries and is undertaking a major digital transformation for K-12 learners.

What you will do

• Lead discovery, co-creation, prototyping and testing workstreams from strategic intent to concepts, pilots and recommendations.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research with internal and external stakeholders and translate findings into actionable insights.
• Develop concepts, service journeys, experience maps, prototypes, pilots and minimum viable products to validate assumptions and reduce delivery risk.
• Design and facilitate workshops, ideation sessions and feedback loops with diverse cross-functional stakeholders.
• Support application of the Digital Blueprint and strengthen design thinking, experimentation and innovation practices through training, toolkits, playbooks and coaching.
• Track progress, document learning, maintain quality standards, provide improvement recommendations, and mentor junior colleagues and contrhirify.globalutors.

Requirements

• 5–7 years of experience in design-led innovation, service design, product design, user research or a related role.
• Experience delivering design thinking workshops, co-creation sessions and structured problem-solving activities with cross-functional teams.
• Experience translating user research and stakeholder insights into practical concepts, service improvements, prototypes or pilots.
• Strong knowledge of design thinking, service design, systems thinking and structured experimentation methods.
• Skills in qualitative and quantitative user research, synthesis, insight generation and opportunity framing.
• Proficiency in journey mapping, service blueprinting, concept development and visualizing complex processes.
• Expert knowledge of digital product and service design tools, including Figma or equivalent design, prototyping and collaboration platforms.
• Hands-on experience building, testing and iterating prototypes, pilots or minimum viable products, with sound project management skills.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, adaptability, collaboration, relationship-building and the ability to guide groups through ambiguity and influence diverse stakeholders.
• Passion for emerging technologies, design trends and innovation methodologies.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time, permanent employment with an initial 12-month contract followed by an indefinite contract.
• Flexhirify.globalle working with core hours from 10:00 to 15:30 and a 40-hour working week.
• Relocation support and work permit sponsorship are available.
• 25 days of annual leave plus public holidays, with the option to purchase up to 5 additional days annually.
• Flexhirify.globalle benefits allowance equal to 1.5% of annual salary, pension, life and disability insurance, health insurance allowance, bicycle scheme, and travel and work-from-home allowance.
• Continuous professional development and an inclusive workplace built around respect, diversity and compassion.

Hiring process

• Provide a link to a portfolio or examples of relevant work demonstrating experience in design, innovation and delivering projects from concept through implementation.