Human Centered Design Phd Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Location: We are actively hiring in the Charleston, SC area.

About the Opportunity

LINK is actively seeking a Senior Design Strategist to join our dynamic team, where we leverage strong partnerships and a robust portfolio of clients across diverse industries. You will be responsible for leading and executing innovative design strategies, collaborating with both internal teams and executive-level clients, and driving impactful visual storytelling to meet client objectives.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced professional to bring a combination of creative and strategic expertise to elevate LINK's business growth and deliver high-quality, human-centered design solutions. You will work closely with clients to understand their challenges, develop compelling narratives, and implement design strategies that align with their mission, goals, and brand identity. Ideal candidates will have a proven track record of designing impactful visual experiences, utilizing data-driven insights, and collaborating cross-functionally to deliver exceptional client results.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Communication, Sociology, Psychology, Human-Centered Design, or a related field. 
• 10+ years of experience in design strategy, service design, user experience, research, consulting, communications, or a related field. 
• Current TS/SCI clearance level required.
• Strong expertise in human-centered design, design thinking, systems thinking, facilitation, and strategic storytelling. 
• Well-versed in a variety of design strategy disciplines and able to select the appropriate approach for a given challenge. 
• Experience designing and facilitating workshops, stakeholder engagements, and collaborative working sessions that drive alignment and informed decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex research efforts and translate findings into actionable insights, strategic recommendations, and organizational outcomes. 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with clients and cross-functional teams. 
• Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity and guide stakeholders through complex challenges and decision-making processes. 
• Demonstrated ability to balance multiple priorities and deadlines while maintaining high standards of quality and client service. 
• Capable of mentoring and coaching others. 
• Approaches work with optimism, openness to new ideas, and a collaborative mindset.
• Portfolio that demonstrates both design execution and strategic decision-making

Responsibilities

Client Partnership & Design Strategy Leadership

• Serves as a trusted advisor to clients by framing complex challenges, identifying opportunities, and applying human-centered design approaches to inform strategic decision-making.
• Partners directly with client stakeholders to understand organizational priorities, user needs, operational constraints, and desired outcomes.
• Leads the development of design strategy approaches that align stakeholder needs, business objectives, and mission requirements.
• Guides cross-functional teams through ambiguity, helping stakeholders build alignment and make informed decisions.
• Identifies opportunities to create tangible business value and support long-term client success.

Research, Insight Development & Systems Thinking

• Leads mixed-method research efforts, including stakeholder interviews, contextual inquiry, observations, journey mapping, ecosystem analysis, and systems mapping activities.
• Synthesizes qualitative and quantitative findings into actionable insights, opportunity areas, strategic recommendations, and design directions.
• Applies systems thinking to identify patterns, dependencies, root causes, and opportunities across complex organizational environments.
• Translates technical, operational, and policy-focused challenges into human-centered insights and strategic considerations.
• Guides research activities that inform organizational transformation, service design, experience design, and strategic planning efforts.

Strategic Visualization & Storytelling

• Develops compelling visual frameworks, journey maps, service blueprints, ecosystem maps, decision-support tools, and strategic narratives that communicate complex information clearly.
• Shapes storytelling approaches that help stakeholders understand challenges, opportunities, tradeoffs, and future-state possibilities.
• Collaborates with information designers and strategists to develop executive-level deliverables that support alignment and decision-making.
• Establishes quality standards for design strategy deliverables and provides guidance that improves consistency across engagements.
• Ensures visual outputs effectively communicate research findings, strategic recommendations, and organizational priorities.

Workshop Facilitation & Stakeholder Alignment

• Designs and facilitates workshops, design sprints, stakeholder engagements, and co-creation activities that advance strategic objectives and drive organizational alignment.
• Develops facilitation approaches, agendas, exercises, and collaborative experiences that enable productive dialogue and structured problem-solving.
• Synthesizes workshop outputs into actionable findings, recommendations, and implementation considerations.
• Helps stakeholders navigate competing priorities, organizational complexity, and change initiatives through structured facilitation and engagement.
• Guides teams in applying human-centered design methods throughout project lifecycles.

Team Development & Leadership

• Mentors teammates through coaching, knowledge sharing, and constructive feedback.
• Models LINK values and contributes to a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team culture.
• Shares tools, methods, frameworks, and lessons learned that improve the quality and consistency of work across engagements.
• Supports development of emerging practitioners by providing guidance on research, facilitation, synthesis, and visual storytelling approaches.
• Contributes to the continued evolution of LINK's design strategy practice through innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning.

Work Schedule

• Hybrid onsite presence 3-5 days per week may be required for client meetings, presentations, or working sessions.
• Full time, 40 hours per week
• Some travel required to attend relevant events and conferences, and participate in LINK team events

Salary: LINK is committed to offering competitive compensation. While the salary range for this position is $112,000 - $151,000, your final offer may be adjusted based on factors such as experience and location.