Systemic Designer

Enquire about this role

Application instructions follow the role description.

About this role

This role is intended for a person near the beginning of the career - we will invest in your development to build new skills in systems thinking, design, and visual communication while working on client-facing and internal projects. You’ll help our clients see and change the systems they are a part of.

As a Systemic Designer, you will work directly with our clients with support from senior team members. You will have input into the direction of projects, and work as a collaborative contributor with accountability for specific parcels of work where your skills and project needs align. 

Snowmelt’s language is systems - you must be comfortable seeing, representing and understanding them; as well as communicating them and their dynamics. Expect to use a range of design practices and language in this work; and in articulating the interventions as changes to systems.

Results often come from conversations - you will work with clients to understand their internal decision making processes; identify the information and formats required to engage audiences; and ultimately gather information, sensemake, build narratives and package outputs to enable the best possible conversations and decisions to be made.

Expect to take on delivery responsibilities on multiple projects as the Snowmelt team continues to grow.

We look forward to helping you build your network, and find opportunities for us to continue our client relationships within and beyond projects.

Core expectations

  • Building connections with current clients and understanding their organisation, operations and environment.
  • Working closely with senior team members on client project delivery (making sense of organisations and their environments through conversations, research, and sensemaking) and internal projects
  • Develop and utilise your understanding of system dynamics and their implications for individuals, teams, organisations and systems as a whole - including developing the hypotheses, plans and methods to change them within relevant constraints.
  • Contribute to our narrative-oriented outputs and artefacts - including storyboarding, high-level visual concepts, and conversation design.
  • Support the management of large & diverse stakeholder groups.
  • Working in the open with quick feedback cycles within the team (and often clients); using prototyping/sacrificial artefacts and collaborative tools.

Qualifications and experience

  • Undergraduate degree strongly preferred
  • 1-3 years working in collaborative, multidisciplinary teams in systems change and/or design practice

You should have some experience in:

  • Communicating complex ideas effectively - in person and in writing
  • Presenting to and working in group settings, including with clients (ideally with  management and leadership teams)
  • Facilitation of workshops (small- and large-format)
  • Systems thinking & design practices
  • System mapping and visualisation
  • Working across social-, commercial- and product/service- related problems 
  • Analysis of qualitative & quantitative research to identify trends & insights
  • Visual communication processes and norms
  • Relationship management, project leadership
  • Collaborative ways of working
  • Abductive reasoning and synthesis

You should be familiar with:

  • Complex problems with social, commercial and product/service challenges
  • Strategy development processes
  • Commercial decision making processes
  • Design thinking and processes
  • Organisational strategy
  • The distinct strategic, business & operating model patterns across industries and sectors
  • Organisational dynamics - operating models, commercial mindsets
  • Working across timezones, countries and cultures.

Working with us

This role is based in Sydney, Australia with an expectation of 3-4 days in the office each week. Accordingly, we require all applicants to have the right to work in Australia. Our work is collaborative and we benefit greatly from whiteboards and open, flowing conversations with each other and the team at large.

We are a small organisation that works on big problems: there are opportunities to take on work outside of your role to develop new skills and/or support the team.

We aim to create an environment for you to do your greatest work. This is what you can expect from us:

  • An open and collaborative culture - we work closely as a team and with our clients and partners. We value robust dialogue in everything we do.
  • A variety of meaningful work - with great client partners ranging from not-for-profits, purpose-led organisations to government institutions and investors, our clients have big ideas and are often well-positioned to make them happen.
  • Practices that enable your growth - We value education and learning as fundamental to our projects and potential outcomes. Our promise is to help you grow and leave us more confident, experienced and highly skilled than when you started.
  • Support for your personal purpose - Make systems change in your own domains. We do a number of low-bono engagements to serve the causes we care most about. We also recognise that work isn't everything, offering flexible working arrangements to meet your needs and ours.
  • Real ownership - We believe in creating value for people, not from people. All staff are invited to participate in Snowmelt’s Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP), so  you can benefit from your hard work and all of our future successes.

Snowmelt is an equal opportunity employer, and we continue to educate ourselves on how we can improve. People from all nationalities, race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientations and identity are welcome. We recognise and celebrate the power of diverse perspectives in building stronger teams and work environments.

To apply..

Send your CV/resume with a short note detailing your interest in Snowmelt and this role in particular to careers@snowmelt.io

Applications will close Monday 25 November.