Senior Director of Insights & Strategy

Delve is actively seeking talented, driven, and inspiring Senior Director of Insights & Strategy to lead our curious and passionate team. In this role, you will lead a team of researchers and strategists across our multiple studios who are focusing on front-end, generative research and strategic exploration to understand needs and define opportunities of the world today, tomorrow, and many years from now. Your focus will stretch across multiple industries within the medical device, consumer, and commercial product space.    

As the Senior Director, you will work closely with departmental leadership (Directors, Managers, Team Leads) to define processes and best practices, scope projects, manage project expectations, empower staff, and provide direction. Above all, you are excited to continue growing and defining the capabilities of the team.  

The ideal candidate would live in proximity to one of our four studios (Boston, San Francisco, Madison, or Philadelphia) and have a willingness to travel to the other studios and clients as needed. 

Responsibilities 

• Inspire and unify the Insights & Strategy team around a bold vision for the department that delivers world-class client experience, fosters personal and professional growth within the team, and drives notable business value for Delve. 

• Expertly lead with a positive client-centric attitude. Drive high-quality research and strategy outcomes and deliverables on projects.  

• Mentor and manage the team to elevate our practice. Identify opportunities for growth for each of your team members and support and inspire them in achieving their career development goals.  

• Manage project staffing plans for the department, driving employee satisfaction, impactful outcomes for clients and teams, and utilization targets.  

• Identify hiring needs and make hiring decisions as we pursue world-class insights and design strategy talent.  

• Serve as an advisor on projects to support technical teams, and our clients, in navigating projects within diverse product categories (consumer, medical, digital, physical, etc.) 

• Collaborate with the leadership team to develop a pro-active and actionable growth strategy in line with the overall company strategy.  

• Support the sales process while building relationships with strategically important clients, and a professional network in support of business development. 

• Advise the sales team on ways to describe, promote, and sell the benefits of insights and design strategy through the sales process. 

• Initiate, create, and support sales proposals and provide presentation support for client sales meetings. Includes quoting programs / multi-disciplinary projects (with input from other departments.  

• Serve as a thought leader to the department, company, and our clients. Promote new ideas, methods, technologies, and solutions.  

• Foster collaboration across departments, practice areas, and studios to enhance the design and development process. 

• Uphold Delve’s values of Ingenuity, Pride of Craft, Collaboration and Inclusivity 

Requirements 

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in design, business, human-computer interaction, anthropology, sociology, psychology, architecture, marketing, engineering, or other similar fields 

• 15+ years' experience of hands-on, professional experience in design strategy, product management, new product development (physical, digital, and/or service), innovation, management consulting, entrepreneurship, or related fields.  

• 8+ years’ leading mentoring and managing research and strategy teams 

• 5+ years’ experience in a consulting environment 

• Strong user-centered design process experience, including multiple years working with multi-disciplinary teams 

• Ability to travel (up to 25%) to support Sales or active project work 

Preferred Experience  

• You are passionate about innovation, new product development, user experience, design research, and design as evidenced by your career. 

• You have significant experience as a practitioner and leader. You offer a fresh and unique point of view that will naturally challenge the way Delve does things. You have a pulse on new tools and methods, and the macro- and micro-trends shaping our world and our behaviors inside and outside the walls of Delve so we can reinforce a strong and relevant approach as the world continues to change.  

• You bring a multi-disciplinary focus to product design and development, and keenly understand and value the power of a highly collaborative team with diverse backgrounds, training, experiences, and viewpoints.  

• You have a proven track record of translating research and strategy projects into design and development opportunities. 

• You have an ability to sell your ideas, yourself, your team, and services in a way that is natural, engaging and effortlessly integrates the language of design research and strategy. 

• You have a credible and nuanced communication style that commands a room, inspires, and ultimately makes clients and teammates feel confident in you as a leader.  

• You are a natural collaborator who can build, manage, and inspire a team across departments and studio locations. 

• Your leadership style is naturally one of mentoring. You enjoy delegating and providing people with the proper level of responsibility to help them grow.  

• You act with an inclusive mindset and model these behaviors for the organization.

• You are motivated by change and see meaningful opportunities to adapt how we design and collaborate, and what we deliver.

Be Inspired. Be Inspiring. Be yourself.

Delve embraces difference because creativity, curiosity, and diversity drive innovation. We nurture a supportive and inclusive environment. Be yourself and create a future that improves lives. We encourage applicants of color and those with diverse lived experiences to apply.

About Delve  

Delve is a multidisciplinary product innovation firm that brings bold ideas to market, guiding clients through the complexities of innovation, delivering better, faster, and more sustainable success. For over 55 years, Delve has mobilized the best experts and technologies for its clients, completing over 10,000 client projects, producing over 1,500 patents, and winning over 200 design awards.  

Delve serves ambitious start-ups to Fortune 500 clients in the healthcare, consumer, and commercial industries, delivering innovation through advanced expertise in research, strategy, design, and engineering. Delve has placed innovation studios in Boston, Madison, Philadelphia, and San Francisco to attract forward- thinking leaders to solve complex product challenges through human-centered design.