Internal Transformation Services - Assistant Director - Design Thinking
EY · Kochi
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GDS Business Enablement -Internal Transformation Services - Strategy Design & Innovation – Assistant Director
We are hiring for Assistant Director, Strategy Design & Innovation to drive high-impact, domain-agnostic strategy engagements across domains
This role partners closely with senior leaders to solve complex business challenges, leveraging design thinking and innovation methodologies to shape strategy, unlock insights, and accelerate decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and deliver strategy engagements, identifying client’s unique competitive positioning and define strategic pathways
- Structure ambiguous problems and develop clear, hypothesis-driven strategic recommendations
- Apply design thinking principles to frame problem statements, drive cross-functional alignment, co-create strategic solutions with stakeholders and develop business cases, feasibility assessments, and strategic roadmaps
- Design and facilitate focused problem-solving workshops, sailing through ambiguities, unstructured and asynchronous problems
- End-to-end project management of sessions, leveraging experience of project management methodologies
- Ability to communicate smoothly with Senior Leaders and translate their insights into structured strategy outputs and implementation plans, like their reverse mentors
- Proven abilities to develop execution roadmaps aligned to strategic objectives, define operating models, initiatives, and transformation levers, across domains (not just technology)
- Own end-to-end engagement delivery, from understanding client challenges, problem framing, hypothesis building to final recommendation working closely with cross-functional stakeholders
- Support knowledge assets development, pitch decks, and industry POVs, frameworks, and innovation playbooks
- Analyze industry dynamics, market size, growth trends, and competitive landscape
Skills and Attributes for Success
- Strong ability to structure complex problems and develop actionable strategic recommendations
- Proven capability to lead strategy engagements with measurable business impact
- Strong analytical thinking, business acumen, and hypothesis-driven problem solving
- Ability to translate insights into clear strategies, roadmaps, and execution plans
- Ability to engage and influence senior stakeholders, with strong communication and storytelling skills
- Strong collaboration and ability to navigate organizational complexity and ambiguity
- Ability to apply design thinking and innovation methodologies as a problem-solving enabler
- Innovative mindset with focus on continuous improvement of tools, frameworks, and ways of working
To qualify for the role, you must have:
- 10+ years of overall professional experience for Assistant Director
- Strong exposure to Design Thinking ways of working and its application
- Strong consulting experience across strategy, innovation, transformation, or business advisory domains
- Experience working on strategy engagements such as: GTM, product, growth, or transformation design (domain agnostic)
- Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills
- Proven experience in fast-paced environments with ambiguity and shifting priorities, working with senior leaders
- Strong collaboration skills, with ability to work across teams, functions, and geographies
- Experience with tools such as PowerPoint, Excel, and collaboration platforms (e.g., Miro, Mural)
- Ability to manage ambiguity and the political aspects of change
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