Service Designer

A bit about the role

Though we have the backing of a multinational, our team operates with the ambition and pressure of a start-up, creating the need for this hybrid role. As design researcher, you will be responsible for conducting a range of research to help inform Agoro’s market entry and strategy in [insert geography], as well as to deeply understand our key stakeholders there. You will be responsible for adapting research techniques, goals and findings from elsewhere to your local context, as well as initiating new research. Being able to support business and strategic roles – for example with desk research, competitor benchmarking, etc. – will also be key. In keeping with our ambitions for speed and scale, agile research methodologies and ones that deliver fast insights are prioritized.

In addition to design research, you will lay the local foundations for delivering a customer-centric service, in your role as a service designer. Working within a framework of design and experience for all of Agoro, you will be responsible for the service experience of our local users: growers and their advisors. Leaning on insights from your research, you’ll identify and visualize that service ecosystem, enabling the team to make informed and strategic decisions that are fundamental to our success. You’ll work with a local design team to bring Agoro to life in your region, always serving as the champion for our end users, and documenting their experiences in the form of customer journeys and service blueprints.

What you will be doing

Design Research

• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to gain insights into local stakeholders, their practices, decision-making, pre-conceptions, etc.
• Create and execute research plans, or work with third party research agencies and/or freelancers where appropriate – to achieve results.
• Apply best practice when it comes to research governance processes, ethics, compliance, data protection and confidentiality agreements.
• Build and maintain a suite of research frameworks and methods that can be applied to research questions.
• Actively co-ordinate with Agoro’s other research activities (global and in other regions) to share learnings and techniques.
• Support value proposition development and experimentation through research

Service Design

• Specify the service experience at a holistic level, through e.g. customer journey mapping, and zoom into the detail through service blueprinting.
• Translate the findings and insights from design research and other research into tangible deliverables that create a shared understanding with the team and guide product development, e.g. personas and scenarios.
• Collaborate with other research teams in other countries to establish a toolkit of relevant service experience practice frameworks and practices, including co-creation workshops, prototyping, journey mapping etc.
• Closely co-ordinate design work with product owners, UX and interaction designers, as well as the wider Agoro team (engineers, agronomists, sales roles, content strategists, customer support, strategy/commercial, etc.) to ensure a multi-disciplinary approach.

What you will bring

• Significant demonstrable experience in planning, conducting, analyzing and communicating design research activities to digital teams and stakeholders.
• Real-world examples where you played the role of service designer, with experience across the spectrum from ‘discover’ to ‘deliver’. Start-up experience is a plus in this context.
• Experience thriving in high stakes product development industries, such as agriculture, health, or automotive, where product or service mistakes have dire social and financial consequences is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to think high level strategically on the long-term vision, while also be able to execute tactically and deliver continuous value.
• Strong written, illustrative and verbal communication skills. You are able to clearly convey research findings, but also convince people of the importance of adopting a customer informed approach. Excellent note-taking and synthesis skills, with the ability to translate findings into key learnings for the team.
• Spoken and written fluency in Portuguese and English.
• The ability and experience to conduct both (design) research and service design activities in remote conditions
• Business experience or a Masters degree in a business-related field is a plus.
• Experience working with start-ups or in innovation contexts is a plus.