Designer Intern (May 2025 - 16 months)

Introduction
The IBM Canada Lab in Markham Ontario is one of the largest R&D facilities in Canada. As a Design intern at the IBM Canada Lab you would be part of a team that transforms our customer’s challenges into solutions.
The mission of IBM’s global software design organization is to empower users to do their best work through intuitive and visually engaging interfaces. As a Designer you’ll play a crucial role in creating end-to-end customer experiences.

Your Role and Responsibilities
This position resides in Markham ON and is a 16 month work term commencing in May 2025. It is mandatory that all applicants are enrolled in full-time studies at a post-secondary institution and returning to full-time studies upon completion of the work-term.

As an IBM Z Designer your focus will be on meeting individual and team objectives learning your craft contributing to the design of a product and learning about IBM and IBM Design practices. Generally your efforts may be concentrated around one or more products in your business area with guidance and feedback from a more senior designer or design leader. You will also contribute to the design community by supporting community activities sharing learning or maintaining a part of the community operation.
As designers we focus on ensuring the experiences we create meet the needs of our customers and end users and strive for design excellence in our work. You will apply a user-centered perspective to your design work and advocate for the customer / end user in all interactions with your teammates and colleagues. At times you may also engage with customers or other users of the product in the design process.

Key/Strategic Responsibilities

• Grow domain knowledge by learning the value proposition of your product its market position the basics of its technologies and how it’s used by our customers.
• Develop enough domain fluency to contribute ideas that differentiate the solution in the market.
• Attend and participate in design and product-oriented activities such as stand-ups Town Halls product demos or design critiques.
• Develop the ability to find and apply relevant industry references/trends.
• Identify improvement opportunities at the individual product level

Cross-Functional Responsibilities

• Attend client / sponsor user sessions; establish your own client relationships.
• Contribute to the design of a product by advocating for the user experience and value.
• Learn about the org structure and key stakeholders of your PM and dev teams
• Seek and provide feedback on outcomes to your entire team.
• Support advocacy of design thinking across the team.
• Communicate with other designers and your 3iab team about your project status.
• Attend and participate in design reviews and playbacks to share experience design and related artifacts.
• Understand how your work fits into the department mission strategy and vision.

Functional Responsibilities

• Contribute towards delivery of project needs such as research insights or user experience deliverables in alignment with timeline and roadmap milestones.
• Participate in concept ideation informed by an understanding of users clients and their desired outcomes.
• Adapt work and processes according to guidance and direction from design leads.
• Strengthen your craft skills in your discipline through learning mentorship and producing.
• Expand competencies across t-shape to better contribute to personal and team outcomes.
• Acquire Enterprise Design Thinking fluency and infuse practices into work.
• Develop foundational knowledge in the technologies needed for your product/org such as AI.
• Develop entry-level knowledge of IBM Experience Standards.
• Participate in internal and external design community activities.
• Familiarity with accessibility guidelines and principles (e.g. WCAG)

Required Technical and Professional Expertise

• UI Problem Solving: Ability to solve complex user problems through user interface design creating mock-ups prototypes and documenting interaction patterns.
• Design Tools Proficiency: Demonstrated experience with design tools such as Sketch InVision Adobe Creative Cloud etc.
• Visual Design Skills: Proficient in creating visually compelling artifacts icons high fidelity mock-ups and other graphical elements for user interfaces.
• Design Principles: Knowledge of design principles including typography layout imagery colour theory and creating efficiencies in visual design workflows.
• Communication Skills: Proven communication skills and the ability to understand and address customer requirements effectively.
• Dynamic Environment: Comfortable working in a dynamic team-based environment.
• Portfolio Presentation: Must have a portfolio showcasing previous design work.
• Must be eligible to work 12 months starting in January

Preferred Technical and Professional Expertise

• Design Trends Awareness: Understanding of modern design thinking and design trends including responsiveness and accessibility.
• Attention to Detail: Appreciation for detail ensuring every pixel and interaction is meticulously crafted.
• Workshop Facilitation: Knowledge in planning and moderating design thinking workshops.
• Registered in a formal co-op/internship program