Design Assistant

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You'll be working directly with the non-profit iDE Ethiopia. Your collaboration will involve:

• Working with the current Senior Designer
• Collaborating with other key team members
• Carrying out all steps and activities of the innovation process in each project
• Collaboration with the iDE Innovation Lab

You'll also work with the iDE Innovation Lab, which functions as a strategy and innovation consultancy focusing on:

• Water, sanitation & hygiene
• Climate change (clean energy, conservation)
• Agriculture
• Maternal health & nutrition

Over the years, the Lab has worked with a portfolio of international development organizations such as:

• Care International
• Hellen Keller
• USAID
• UNICEF
• World Bank Group
• Plant and Food Research
• Save the Children
• SNV

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Our Mission

We're on a mission to drive lasting, impactful change through a market systems approach and human-centered design methodologies. We're looking for a passionate designer and creative thinker to join our multidisciplinary and multicultural team to solve development challenges.

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What You'll Be Doing

Supporting all steps in the innovation process of each project:

• Conducting desk research, expert interviews, and designing research plans required to solve the design problem we want to tackle.
• Conducting ethnographic research in diverse contexts.
• Synthesizing findings and presenting them in digestible and visual ways for the client.
• Coming up with actionable ideas and strategies that are easy to operationalize for the client.
• Engaging with stakeholders, leading and facilitating alignment meetings and strategy workshops.
• Running fun and engaging co-creation/brainstorming workshops in the field and in the office.
• Building and developing prototypes and testing loops that will inform the design of the final solution (strategy, product, digital product, businesses, or services).
• Making confident and timely decisions in order to move the project forward.

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Your Experience Level

Someone with:

• At least 3 years of experience working for an international development organization, product design and marketing company, or design firm.
• Background in sociology/anthropology, design, product/industrial design, or business.
• Someone passionate about empathetic design.
• Someone driven by making meaningful solutions to solve complex development problems.
• Experience working across diverse cultural environments, or remote areas.
• Comfortable working with diverse teams and communities in rural areas of Ethiopia, as you'll facilitate research and collaborative design approaches.

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The Type of Experience That We're Looking For

• Experience in applying various innovation methodologies to projects (human-centered design, behavior change methodologies, behavioral economics, rapid prototyping, and testing).
• Experience with conducting ethnographic research in diverse contexts.
• Experience in synthesizing large amounts of qualitative data into a digestible and visual story.
• Experience in converting research findings into actionable strategies that are easy to operationalize.
• Visual design or product design skills.
• Experience in developing creative directions and communicating this effectively with a client and team.
• Experience in facilitating offline and online workshops (HCD, co-creations, stakeholder alignments).
• Experience in presenting in front of large audiences.
• Skilled in using Adobe Creative Suite and other design software like Mural.
• Skilled using project management tools like Clickup or Asana.
• High proficiency in English reading, writing, and speaking.

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Bonus Points If You Have

• A business/marketing background, or experience supporting entrepreneurs.
• Experience in product/service development.
• Experience working on digital solutions (UX Design, ICT tools).

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Ideally, We'd Love to Find Someone That

• Is highly professional, responsible, and accountable.
• Is passionate, positive, dynamic, curious, and caring.
• Is an autonomous problem-solver with a mind full of ideas ready to be tested.
• Is driven by a social mission.
• Has cultural sensitivity and respect towards unfamiliar contexts.
• Has a flexible mindset, is agile and adaptive, while considering their capacity, deadlines, and limitations.
• Has excellent time management skills.
• Can embrace uncertainty and manage stress.
• Is able to challenge the status quo to create creative solutions.

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Salary and Benefit Package

As per the scale of the Organization.

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How to Apply

Application Instructions:

Interested applicants who meet the above requirements are invited to send non-returnable copies of their applications, including:

• Letter of Application
• CV
• Credentials attached in one document

Please send your applications to the following address: E-mail: iderecruitethiopia@ideglobal.org

Important Notes

• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
• iDE is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
• All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age.