Associate Design Strategist

Location:

Application Requirements

Portfolio with up-to-date work that shows your design process and full workflow from end to end of a project.

ABOUT THE JOB (JOB BRIEF)

At KeyBank, we have grand ambitions to be the best regional bank, with Client and Employee experience being the backbone of that vision.

We are seeking a highly strategic and business-minded associate design strategist to join the Key Design Studio within the enterprise Client & Employee Experience team (CX+EX Team). The successful candidate will derive passion from working closely with business partners across the bank to develop and integrate transformative yet pragmatic strategies to elevate the overall client experience.

The associate design strategist will drive projects that turn client insights into action by generating ideas and plans to support the business’ strategic objectives. They will also work to ensure top business priorities are approached in a user-centric way.

This role will have mentorship from senior design strategists with a proven history of driving material results. We are a hybrid team, and we leverage virtual collaboration tools as well as in-person design thinking and human-centered design techniques.

We want someone who will think idealistically and push ideas beyond what the business may have initially considered, but also someone who can be pragmatic in finding ways to take those principles and make them achievable with a set of business constraints.

About the CX+EX Team

The CX+EX Team are passionate advocates for KeyBank’s clients and teammates. The CX+EX Team reports to the bank’s Chief of Staff. We combine transformational experience capabilities across research & analysis, experience strategy, design & development, and employee experience. These capabilities are used to collaborate across the bank to create relevant and differentiated experiences that drive client, teammate and business outcomes. We take feedback-based action and improve experiences to create effortless, meaningful, and emotional interactions that advance satisfaction and loyalty with KeyBank, ultimately driving better business performance.

The Key Design Studio specifically brings together strategists, service design, product design and UX writing skillets to improve or reimagine the experiences of KeyBank’s clients’ or teammates’ from concept to creation using a human-centered design 5-step framework of Discovery, Analysis, Ideation, Prototyping and Testing.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Elevate CX Strategy

• Develop and integrate strategies for optimal client experiences.
• Influence the product strategy and roadmap to ensure we are building with human-centered needs in mind
• Partner with product owners to determine experience metrics that align to business objectives
• Work closely with product designers, product owners and technology to set the direction for strategy for digital products, servicing and onboarding teams, and payments.
• Collaborate with KeyBank teams and capabilities such as analytics, experience design, technology, and commercial bank leadership to execute strategies that achieve and exceed business goals.
• Support growth of design strategy practice across KeyBank by bringing in new methods and techniques.

Design Research

• Conduct user-centered research for diverse product and servicing teams through the entire project journey
• Design, scope, and run user research including research planning, participant recruiting, data analysis, synthesis, and storytelling
• Make research findings relevant and impactful for product and design through crafted insights, decks, and stories.
• Define qualitative and quantitative research plans to develop personas, customer journeys, and service design blueprints, partnering with our Measurements & Insights team.

Storytelling and Client and Employee Advocacy

• Creatively articulate insights and stories with excellent visualization and communication skills to promote empathy and inspiration
• Facilitate workshops and working sessions with clients’ cross-functional teams (product, technology, customer service, and sales) to create alignment and buy-in
• Measure success and prioritization by impact to KeyBank clients

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 1-2 years of experience as a Design strategist, Design Researcher, or UX Designer role or equivalent.
• Bachelors or higher degree in Design, HCI, UX or related field.
• Strong demonstrated experience with design and user research methods techniques with both qualitative and quantitative focus.
• A history of execution and driving results leveraging highly collaborative approaches
• Demonstrated experience with facilitating workshops, collaborating with stakeholders, and building stakeholder relationships to align on design initiatives and decisions.
• Understanding of Service design and UX design.

Nice to have:

• Previous experience in financial services & banking.
• Experience working in an enterprise B2B or B2C environment.
• Experience building and shipping digital products for B2B or B2C clients.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

This position is eligible to earn a base salary in the range of $70,000 to $90,000 annually depending on job-related factors such as level of experience. Compensation for this role also includes eligibility for short-term incentive compensation and deferred incentive compensation subject to individual and company performance.

Please click here for a list of benefits for which this position is eligible.

Key has implemented a role-based Mobile by Design approach to our employee workspaces, dedicating space to those whose roles require specific workspaces, while providing flexible options for roles which are less dependent on assigned workspaces and can be performed effectively in a mobile environment. As a result, this role may be Mobile or Home-based, which means you may work primarily either at a home office or in a Key facility to perform your job duties.

KeyCorp is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or other protected category.

Qualified individuals with disabilities or disabled veterans who are unable or limited in their ability to apply on this site may request reasonable accommodations by emailing HR_Compliance@keybank.com.

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