Organizational Design Lead

SF Organizational Design Lead

When organizations decide to do something they've never done before - develop a new offer, integrate emerging technology, reinvent their operating model, redefine leadership expectations, or shift long‑standing mindsets and norms - they rarely need more slides. They need the confidence to act that comes from a clear plan and shared momentum.

At IDEO, we help our clients navigate toward action when they’re doing something new. We work at the messy, high‑stakes intersection of ambition and reality – translating bold strategy into tangible structures, rituals, behaviors, and systems that actually work in the day‑to‑day.

As an Organizational Design Lead, you’ll help organizations activate their purpose, shift behaviors, and deliver meaningful results – from the boardroom to the break room to the front line. The right person for this role has led large‑scale transformation from within an organization, believes in fit‑for‑purpose organizational design and exceptional employee experiences as drivers of business impact, and can turn workforce insights and future signals into tangible organizational prototypes that spark real change.

They quickly understand what makes an organization unique – and know how to pull the right structural, cultural, and talent levers to make change real and successful.

This role is a rare blend of systems thinker, change catalyst, and grounded operator. You’ll help organizations redesign how work gets done – aligning strategy, structure, talent and culture so people can move forward with clarity, confidence, and shared purpose. You’ll do this as part of a deeply multidisciplinary team – partnering with experts in areas like design research, visual communication, experience design, and beyond – giving you creative leverage and problem‑solving range that simply isn’t possible elsewhere.

Organizational Designers help IDEO’s clients turn business ambition into organizational reality. We assess the gap between where an organization is today and the outcomes it aims to achieve – then design the necessary shifts in strategy, structure, processes, culture, incentives, and talent to close that gap. What makes IDEO different is that our work doesn’t end in a deck. We prototype the future with our clients – testing ideas in action, learning quickly, iterating deliberately, and building the confidence needed to scale change.

The following are examples of what this has looked like in the recent past:

• Identifying and testing key strategic assumptions in practice to validate and iterate before scaling
• Crafting tangible futures and implementation roadmaps that turn ambition into action
• Redefining how teams work together in the AI era
• Co‑creating operating models and ways of working aligned to new business realities
• Building onboarding and learning experiences that more quickly unlock new mindsets and skills
• Prototyping talent systems like new career pathways, innovation functions, and cross‑functional collaboration models
• Building a new innovation function from the ground up and measuring its success as innovation projects run through it

You’ll serve as a designer and consultant, fully deployed to lead multidisciplinary projects that deliver bold organizational outcomes. You’ll lead teams and clients through ambiguity with clarity, while holding a high bar for creative excellence.

Through the work, internal and external learning opportunities, and your own initiative, you’ll continue to grow your own and IDEO’s thought leadership on the next evolution of must‑have innovation capabilities and the future of creative teams and leadership.

Design Leads at IDEO frequently lead one client relationship and project at a time, steering interdisciplinary teams through all phases of work – from research and synthesis to prototyping and implementation. You’ll manage scope, timelines, budgets, and stakeholder relationships with transparency and rigor.

You’ll show up as a trusted advisor alongside other client…