Manager, Product Design

Application must be in submitted in English to be considered

WHAT MAKES US A GREAT PLACE TO WORK 

We are proud to be consistently recognized as one of the world’s best places to work. We are currently the top ranked consulting firm on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list and have earned the #1 overall spot a record seven times. 

Extraordinary teams are at the heart of our business strategy, but these don’t happen by chance. They require intentional focus on bringing together a broad set of backgrounds, cultures, experiences, perspectives, and skills in a supportive and inclusive work environment. We hire people with exceptional talent and create an environment in which every individual can thrive professionally and personally. 

WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH 

NextGen Software Solutions (NGSS) is an integrated team of technology experts that take new software products within Bain from zero to scale. We discover, build, and support applications around the company’s most important intellectual property and serve as the company’s internal subject experts on our own software. 

You will specifically support SIGNAL by Bain, a powerful, flexible, cloud-based program management tool that provides unmatched visibility over every aspect of your merger or divestiture. 

WHERE YOU’LL FIT WITHIN THE TEAM 

The Manager, Product Design, is a member of the Design team within NGSS, responsible for leading the creation and validation of design solutions that balance customer, business, and product/data needs, with the option to manage other designers. This role leads design thinking & strategy (e.g., product value prop, scoping, workshop facilitation, relationship management, metrics), research & discovery (e.g., user, business, product definitions and requirements, usability testing) and design & delivery (e.g., Figma prototypes, design system application, engineering handoff), often across multiple engagements.  

The Manager, Product Design, must apply deep functional/technical Design expertise to advise on strategic initiatives, and be proactive in driving, improving, and innovating on the process. They must be able to initiate and own workflows, collaboratively define goals and outcomes, and find innovative ways to communicate with stakeholders. The Manager, Product Design, is an emerging leadership role, an active mentor/coach, and is consistently in alignment with Bain’s Operating Principles. 

WHAT YOU’LL DO 

Design Thinking & Delivery (55%) 

• Partner with innovation management, stakeholders, and leadership to define, refine, and evolve overall strategy and positioning. Understand how products & innovations fit into the larger consulting practice/capability ecosystem and strategize cross-capability digital offerings. 
• Lead and/or support the strategical selection of discovery activities, and effectively facilitate workshops.  
• Respond strategically to stakeholder reactions, building and expanding relationships. Evolve product and design strategy, scope, and roadmap based on feedback, metrics, and funding. 
• Support cross-team Figma needs, champion design system adoption, onboarding, and maintenance, and create high-fidelity mocks/prototypes.  
• Actively participate in and be able to run, if needed, Scrum ceremonies (e.g., sprint planning, demo, etc.) and develop/influence additional operational strategy, championing best agile practices. 

Research & Discovery (30%) 

• Lead research strategy to most effectively inform design direction (i.e., heuristic analysis, surveys, usability testing) 
• Lead/perform research tactics: elicit business requirements, create participant profiles, write recruitment messaging, take notes, write discussion guides/scripts, facilitate interviews 
• Synthesize user and product discovery and inform stakeholders of your insights and recommendations, driving towards refined requirements and roadmap definition, and collaborate with engineering to ensure technical feasibility 

Design Advocacy & Team Development (15%) 

• Support recruitment, new team member onboarding and provide mentoring/managerial support 
• Organize and lead design critiques, setting best practices with fellow product designers. Connect design initiatives and people across projects. 
• Specialize in specific product design services and support best practices, including asset creation 
• Promote product strategy & positioning and cultivate relationships across Bain 

ABOUT YOU 

Education  

• Associate's/Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience 

5-8 Years of experience in the following: 

• Leading design strategy on B2B enterprise software portfolios in an agile environment with cross-functional teams and leadership  
• Scaling product development processes within complex organization structures (hybrid internal/external teams, geographically distributed teams, etc.) 
• Digital product design, visual communication design and/or human-computer interaction 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities 

• Ability to deliver high-impact results in a fast-paced, evolving environment across multiple engagements 
• Cuts through ambiguity by synthesizing and drawing conclusions from available information 
• Demonstrates influential interpersonal, collaborative, and presentation skills and ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels throughout the organization 
• Guides team members in their assigned work process, helping to prioritize and provide input where needed 
• Active and positive influence on culture and morale across broader function 
• Design principles and tooling expertise (Figma, Miro, front-end feasibility) and data visualization/storytelling knowledge