Design Strategy & Research Lead (Financial Services)

Location: Chicago, IL; full-time, office-based role

Salary: $137,400–$233,600 USD per year

Company

hirify.global provides wealth management, asset servicing, asset management, and banking services to individuals, families, corporations, and institutions.

What you will do

• Lead Design Strategy and Research engagements from intake and problem framing through discovery, recommendations, delivery readiness, handoff, and organizational adoption.
• Apply human-centered design, research, strategy, facilitation, service design, product discovery, and transformation leadership according to project needs.
• Partner with business sponsors, product, technology, operations, risk, clients, subject matter experts, and Transformation Office leaders to define objectives and align decisions.
• Translate ambiguous business questions into research plans, learning agendas, opportunity frames, workshop designs, and executive-ready recommendations.
• Lead qualitative and mixed-method research, synthesis, sense-making, co-creation sessions, executive reviews, and stakeholder alignment activities.
• Develop journey maps, service blueprints, ecosystem maps, experience concepts, service models, strategic narratives, roadmaps, and decision frameworks.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in experience strategy, design research, service design, product strategy, innovation, consulting, transformation, or related human-centered design disciplines.
• Expertise in a combination of human-centered design, design thinking, qualitative and mixed-method research, service design, systems thinking, product discovery, or transformation strategy.
• Strong facilitation, stakeholder engagement, executive alignment, synthesis, critical thinking, storytelling, communication, and strategic narrative skills.
• Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives and multidisciplinary teams across business, design, research, product, technology, operations, risk, and transformation.
• Experience taking work from discovery through recommendations, delivery readiness, implementation planning, and organizational adoption.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future employment-based visa sponsorship.

Nice to have

• Enterprise transformation, financial services, consulting, or complex regulated-industry experience.
• Portfolio or case studies demonstrating process, outputs, decision-making, stakeholder leadership, and business or client impact.

Culture & Benefits

• Flexible and collaborative work culture within a financially stable organization.
• Retirement benefits including 401(k) and pension, health and welfare benefits, and spending accounts.
• Paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life and accident insurance, disability benefits, and well-being benefits.
• Discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
• Opportunities for internal movement, accessible senior leadership, inclusive workplace practices, and community philanthropy.

Hiring process

• Share work, process, and outputs during interviews, including problem framing, method selection, research, facilitation, evidence synthesis, recommendations, and influence on outcomes.