Design Strategist, Assistant Manager, Innovation & Ventures, Strategy & Business Design

Within Deloitte’s Innovation & Ventures team, we address complex, multifaceted, and often ambiguous challenges across diverse industries. Imagine exploring questions like ‘What could an open museum in the desert look like?’, ‘How might we create a metaverse concert to launch a whiskey NFT?’, or ‘How might we reimagine cancer screening in the UK?’ We are a dynamic team of designers, researchers, and strategists with roots in the design‑led innovation consultancy Doblin and Monitor Deloitte’s lean start‑up consulting team. Guided by our ethos of being creative, entrepreneurial and bold, our toolset combines strategy development, human‑centred design, and Lean Start Up methodologies to develop new ventures and innovate across product, service, and business model.

Role Overview

Our Assistant Manager, Design Strategist, brings their curiosity, empathy and human centred design skills to all aspects of our work. They work directly with senior clients to frame innovation challenges, create compelling narratives, build deliverables, and coach junior team members.

Key Responsibilities

• Advocate for design: collaborate with non-designers, both internally and at client organisations, to champion the value of design.
• Shape project strategy: understand the core client challenges to align appropriate design methodologies and approaches for project structuring.
• Assist project management: effectively communicate with clients and team members (junior and senior) to coordinate project deadlines.
• Conduct design research: detect unmet and emerging customer needs, behaviours and expectations through qualitative research methods (e.g. ethnography, customer panels, behavioural approaches) and quantitative methods (e.g. demographic and large‑scale surveys).
• Prototype and test: define and develop prototypes of new offerings and experiences to test and refine concepts in‑market.
• Design and run workshops: collaboratively create and deliver immersive working sessions that engage and empower leaders to act.
• Shape deliverables: utilise strong critical thinking, storytelling, structuring and deductive reasoning skills to produce end‑to‑end high‑quality client ready deliverables.
• Communicate effectively: distil research findings into meaningful insights and confidently articulate insights and challenges to clients.
• Supporting bids and pitching to clients: develop winning responses to client requests for proposals; from crafting win themes to structuring project plans and timelines.

Qualifications & Experience

• Please include an attachment/link to your portfolio.
• A passion for learning about the world, human behaviour, and the motivations that lie beneath the surface.
• The practised ability to tie observations from research to recommendations and actions.
• Comfort with ambiguity and experimentation.
• An interest in multiple disciplines and approaches, and a demonstrated ability to wear multiple hats – being directive or hands‑on when required.
• Flexibility to adapt to and master Monitor Deloitte methods (e.g. Choice Structuring, Venture Path and Doblin Innovation).
• Compelling written and spoken communication.
• Strong planning, organisation and documentation skills.

Location & Working Arrangements

You’ll be based in London with hybrid working.