HARMAN - Creative Director - Customer Experience (15-17 yrs)

DESCRIPTION & REQUIREMENTS:

About the Role:

- HARMAN DTS (Digital Transformation Solutions) is seeking a Creative Director with 15+ years of experience with at least 6 years of experience in a leadership or management role leading digital design/product teams.

- The candidate will manage interdisciplinary teams to deliver world class design solutions and will be responsible for creative leadership and quality.

- She/he will be leading a team that is responsible for designing, developing & productizing holistic experiences grounded in Design-Lead, User-Centric Design Processes to create memorable consumer experiences.

- We are looking for an adventurous, passionate, and accomplished individual with world-class design sensibility to lead Digital Design.

- With strategic vision and desire to lead and nurture talent, the ideal candidate will play a key role in building and mentoring a creative team in Harman's Design center in Bangalore, India.

- The ideal candidate will oversee the design activities of the cross-studio team.

- They will be assigned to multiple projects and be responsible to 1) lead by example to cultivate an environment which feeds design quality and excellence, 2) deliver creative design direction and team effectiveness, and 3) nurture and grow client relationships.

- We are looking for an active, hands-on creative leader with the drive and ambition to lead the design team to its highest creative potential as well as supporting the team as an individual contributor.

- They will be rolling up their sleeves and delivering everything from business development/GTM support, project scoping and design vision/proposal creation to concept development, refinement, and presentation, from client reviews and final design to collaborative transfer to design engineering and front-end development.

- We are looking for someone comfortable with ambiguity and flexible in dealing with change; someone to make sense of these and provide the creative leadership, of both the teams and the clients, to deliver amazing deigns and ultimately success for all.

- This Creative Director will work closely with business development to engage and land new clients for design projects, directly embedded into Harman's Digital Transformation Solutions offerings.

- We are looking for someone that understands best-in-class design and inspires it through the work they do and the team they lead.

- Extensive experience in full-cycle digital product design, including user product strategy, experience design, interface architecture design, visual design, prototyping and testing, and digital strategies paired with deep understanding of front-end-development and engineering integration to deliver market worthy digital design to end users.

- The Creative Director will take a collaborative approach to partnering internally with Consumer Insights, User Research, Branding and Marketing, Sales, and key stakeholders across all design disciplines and company divisions.

Your Team: 5 -7 direct reports managing and leading team of 40-50 Designers (User Experience, Interface Design, Interaction Design, Visual Design) across our India locations.

What You Will Do:

- Manage day-to-day team leadership, including hands-on creative guidance, direction, and priorities to ultimately ensure project success is defined and achieved

- Oversee simultaneous projects from inception to completion - scoping, reviewing project plans, designs, and through to deliverables

- Collaborate with other delivery experts and teams across HARMAN

- Result driven, personally responsible to ensure the highest quality of design direction, style, and methodology

- You are a constantly growing and learning to provide expert direction to the team, the clients, and as a thought leader to the industry

- Identify and drive process improvements to meet project and team needs

- Hands-on leadership to deliver with your team and best utilize the skillset to exceed client expectations and elevate client engagement

- Participate in recruiting and hiring a strong multidisciplinary design team

- Promote a culture of innovation and teamwork based in professionalism and quality

- Inspire your creative team with the energy, passion, and thought leadership to build a healthy, long-term organization

- Mentor and grow the careers of your direct reports

- Support Design-Lead go to market strategies, POVs, and training to empower sales

- Lead the creative role of business development to establish and nurture good client working relationships in new business development activities through to account leadership

- Effectively communicate, motivate, coach, and develop design excellence

- Personally lead and take full responsibility of top-tier clients

- Make, lead, and own decisions to further the team, the offerings, the disciplines and results

- Establish credibility throughout the organization as an effective leader

- Maintains a presence in the design industry and local design community by writing articles, contributing to publications, speaking at conferences, and/or sitting on panels

- Evangelize our design practice to internal and external stakeholders from designers to executive leadership

What You Need:

- 15+ years of experience with at least 6 years of experience in a leadership or management role leading digital design/product teams.

- Design focused Bachelor/Master's degree

- Business and design fluency in written and spoken English

- Consulting experience of creative offering

- Exposure to working across time zone and locations

- Portfolio samples of recent and relative work

- Proven experience managing, training and mentoring designers

- Proven experience in the fields of design for VR/AR, AI, Voice, Data Visualization in industries such as Healthcare, Industrial, Retail, Travel and/or Hospitality

- Strong understanding of Design-Lead Product Strategies and Human Centered Design

- Recent experience launching complex digital products

- Should be able to analyze and understand new domains quickly, become the "timely expert"

- Ability to maintain context on multiple assignments to contribute effectively on all

- Ability to spearhead stakeholder discussions

- Function as team's advocate, to the engineering, analytics, sales, and project management teams

- Strong leadership and people management skills

- Strong Knowledge of the design process and program management

- Ability to negotiate and coordinate across multiple groups, disciplines, and time zones

What Makes You Eligible:

- Be willing to travel up to 30%, domestic and international travel

- Successfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment.