Design Strategy Lead

Design Strategy Lead

at Relish Works

Chicago | Full-time

____

We are Relish Works, an innovation hub focused on the future of the foodservice industry. Relish Works operates as an independent start-up working with a top wholesale food distributor to identify growth opportunities and create user-centered solutions for the industry.

We are a group of passionate practitioners looking to add a Design Strategy Lead to our Chicago-based innovation studio.

About the role:

The Design Strategy Lead will drive efforts to develop corporate growth strategies and create new solutions for the foodservice industry. You will facilitate strategic conversations with enterprise leaders and manage interdisciplinary teams of strategic thinkers and doers who have skills, experience and expertise across business strategy, user research, and experience design. 

This role is best for someone who is both a strategic, creative thinker and a resourceful, self-driven doer, with experience engaging executive teams in developing new growth strategies and a deep curiosity in applying their skills to solving many different types of strategic and creative problems. 

Your day to day could be a combination of any of the following: 

• Facilitating strategic conversations and workshops with senior leaders across the enterprise
• Conducting primary and secondary research to identify new growth opportunities in the food service industry
• Synthesizing and communicating research findings through compelling and engaging formats
• Developing new growth strategies and execution roadmaps for the wholesale food distribution business
• Driving the process, managing timelines, and collaborating with various teams (executive stakeholders, partners, consultants and contractors) to execute projects
• Identifying new ideas and emerging trends and framing/scoping projects to explore them
• Collaborating with talent and leveraging expertise across Relish functional areas (innovation, ventures, partnerships)
• Mentoring and managing teams of strategists, designers, and researchers (including contractors)

You should apply if you have:

• A bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree 
• 8-10 years of experience in corporate strategy and innovation (cross-industry consulting experience preferred)
• 3-4 years of leading projects and workstreams 
• Ability to frame problems and engage with an executive level audience
• Excellent facilitation and verbal communication skills 
• Strong written and visual communication skills
• Ability to drive a process and manage timelines 
• Comfort with ambiguity and ability to thrive in a self-directed culture
• Openness to learn from diverse perspectives and collaborate on multidisciplinary teams
• Motivation to solve end-user challenges, meet stakeholder needs, and deliver on business goals
• Desire to work on a lot of different types and sizes of projects 
• Aspiration to work in a startup environment where we move fast
• Willingness to ask questions
• A learner mindset - you are always interested in expanding your knowledge and perspective 

You will thrive if you align with our values:

• Our team is inclusive, passionate, resourceful, and dependable. We are a team of problem solvers who have super powers in strategy, research, design, and communication. We prioritize collaboration in our work and expect our team members to feel accountability for all parts of the business, not just their discipline.

This role is based out of Chicago - our offices are located in River North. You must be in the Chicago/Chicagoland area, or planning to relocate to the Chicago/Chicagoland area, to be considered for this position.