Lead Strategy Designer

Think Boldly, Work Collaboratively, Empower Others, Foster Impact

We are a creative team that is curious, embraces challenges, thinks outside the box, and seeks to catalyze those around us. Our optimism is known to be contagious, and we love sticky notes!

Are you passionate about building the innovative mindset and potential of others? Are you driven by impact, collaboration, bold thinking, and the continuous exploration of “What If…”? Are you looking to help public/private stakeholders cultivate bold new initiatives to enhance the lives of others? Do you seek to join a dynamic team and to work in one of the fastest growing and most collaborative cities in the US?

Do you see the natural connections between strategy, creativity, and innovation? Does leading teams and using design-based innovation approaches make your day?

Come join the City of Raleigh’s Office of Strategy & Innovation (aka Office of Yes, And!) as our new Lead Strategy Designer. We embrace the audacious goal of serving as a model for public innovation and achieving the seemingly impossible. Our team leads the Raleigh Impact Lab, a one-of-a-kind municipal government consulting lab that applies human centered design to understand shared needs, barriers to delivery, and opportunities for improvement, with goal to design policies and services that work for people.

Join our team and have the unique opportunity to catalyze public sector innovation, government transformation, and civic/public/private collaboration.

The Lead Strategy Designer will be part of a team responsible for deploying design-based innovation approaches to lead organization-wide innovation efforts and catalyze our renowned innovation ecosystem. Working closely with the Strategy & Innovation Manager, the Strategy & Innovation Officer, and other senior leadership, the Lead Strategy Designer will play a critical role in developing the Raleigh Impact Lab, designing and delivering innovation programs, building a team of internal consultants and continuous improvement leaders, and fostering public/private collaboration.

We are seeking a team member with a proven background in design methodology who will bring their strong relational, creative, outside-the-box thinking, analytical, and critical thinking skills, along with their passion and persistence for excellence, to contribute to our efforts. A successful Lead Strategy Designer has a demonstrated track record working with diverse stakeholders and will thrive in analyzing underlying business challenges, identifying solutions, developing approaches, working collaboratively, building internal and external partnerships, and getting others excited about what they do.

Ideally, they will also have experience in designing and delivering impactful public sector programs or services.

This position actively supports the City Strategic Plan and supports a wide range of staff across all City service areas to benefit our community of 500,000+ residents. This involves applying advanced technical expertise in strategy and innovation to provide strategic guidance, solve complex business challenges, and influence Citywide priorities, including fostering collaboration across departments and ensuring that our policies and projects align with broader objectives such as economic development, sustainability, and the quality of life of residents.

This position reports to the Strategy & Innovation Manager. This position offers teleworking for approximately 20% of the work week.

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the major duties and responsibilities performed by employees in this job. Employees may be requested to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.

• Designs and delivers strategy and innovation projects for the Raleigh Impact Lab, a one-of-a-kind municipal government consulting lab that applies human centered design to conduct fieldwork and oversee City/community teams to understand shared needs, barriers to delivery, and opportunities for improvement, with goal to design policies and services that work for people
• Serves as…