HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN / SYSTEMS DESIGN / SERVICE DESIGNER at FINANCE CAREERS | Accounting & Finance Placement Specialists

WHO IS FINAL MILE? 

Final Mile is a global behavioral science led design strategy firm. We specialize in the application of decision and behavioral sciences and human centred design to address complex behavioral problems in the development/social sector. Our focus lies in the areas of HIV, Infectious diseases, Reproductive maternal & child health, Sanitation, Financial Inclusion to name a few. 

Some of our work involves understanding HIV prevention decision making amongst adolescents in South Africa, mapping the vulnerability context of young women & mothers in Kenya & India and supporting communities with HCD capacity building to assist their problem solving efforts in Kenya & Eswatini. More recently, we are involved in designing systems and structures to improve overall public health outcomes. We have three offices: Chicago, Mumbai and Johannesburg. 

The team consists of members from diverse expertise and discipline such as behavioural economics, Social cognition, game theory, public health, communication design, design strategy, and service design. The team is largely flat, with cross-geography collaboration, mix of remote and in-person work

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A SENIOR DESIGN ASSOCIATE AT FINAL MILE 

Work across the entire spectrum of project phases: 

• Integrate and apply behavioral science and human centered design principles and 
methods to the research and design process overall. 

• Collaborate with client-side project leadership to define the business context, 
systemic and behavioral challenge to address 

• Identify key descriptive hypotheses, and approach to research, that will build 
understanding of context and actors’ behavior within that context, and speculate on 
prescriptive hypotheses to test as prototypes 

• Lead & collaborate on planning, execution, analysis/ synthesis on a variety of research efforts; ranging from quick/ tactical to deep/ strategic 

• Moderate user interviews to identify underlying motivations, values, mental models 
and emotions 

• Synthesize research findings into concise, actionable insights and visual frameworks 
that provoke client teams to think differently about the problem/ opportunity space 

• Lead co-design workshops with internal teams, global stakeholders and beneficiaries 
to build consensus, ideate new solutions and iterate on existing behavioral 
interventions. 

• Deliver behavior change and business outcomes 


WHAT KINDS OF EXPERIENCE DO I NEED? 

• You have a postgraduate degree in human centered design, service design or systems design methods and have a deep understanding of how to use these to address problems in different contexts. 

• You have 4+ years of work experience in previous design research/ strategy positions applying human centered design, service design or systems design methods in one or more contexts. 

• You will have an edge if you have experience working within the public health and international development sector and / or have some education in or familiarity with social and behavioral sciences. 

 

HOW MIGHT I HAVE COME UPON THESE SKILLS/ THIS EXPERIENCE?

Most likely, you’ve come to this package of skills through a combination of school, some internship experiences and several years in one kind of design business (or business unit) or another. There’s no one path to development of hard and soft skills. You’ve most likely spent some time in a variety of business contexts: large or small creative agencies, small start-ups, or large and/ or mid-sized corporations. You probably have an undergraduate degree in a design/ engineering related field or social/ psychological science. 


 

DESIRED TRAITS & OTHER CONSIDERATIONS 

•   A passion for continuous learning, including interest in reading and synthesizing research papers and books pertaining to the practice, and the ability to translate them into behavioral interventions 

•   Comfort with extreme ambiguity 

•   Adaptable to different business contexts, team structures, & project phases 

•   Desire to take ownership and judgment 

•   Uncanny ability to visualize and package your thinking, as well as the thinking of 
others 

•   Ability/ Desire to synthesize vast quantities of qualitative data points into meaningful 
and digestible bites 

•   Willingness and comfort in building rapport with clients (at all levels of their 
organization), throughout the various project phases 

•   Pragmatic optimism 

•   Understand that thinking evolves through making (and making through thinking) 

•   Humble and sincere confidence 

•   Desire to argue in support of a vision, and the ability to do so respectfully while 
keeping the team’s collective objectives at the fore 

•   20-30% travel annually expected 

 

WHAT KINDS OF PROJECTS MIGHT I BE WORKING ON? 


Final Mile works extensively in the public health and international development sector, primarily in Africa and India. Learn more about Final Mile’s work at https://www.thefinalmile.com/ & https://www.behaviorarchitecture.com/ 


WHY MIGHT I BE MAKING THE SHIFT TO FINAL MILE? 

•   You want to work in a consulting firm that specialises in the application of behavioral sciences and human centered design to unique social and behavioral challenges. 

•   You thrive on learning and variety, and aren’t getting enough in your current work.

•   You want to be involved in the sense-making process, from end-to-end, instead of only playing one small part in the overall process. 

•   You want to be a part of a team that is diverse, driven, dynamic, multicultural and multiple disciplinary.


WHAT MIGHT I EXPECT AS A PATH TO GROWTH? 

While it is a small team, we have managed to create a well-structured grade levels with clearly defined roles, expectations, pay-scales, reporting structure and bi-annual performance appraisals which are personalized and responsive. As you go up the grade levels, they can expect to take full ownership of project execution, teams, client relationships, business development and strategic steering of business.

Compensation to be negotiated, commensurate with experience.