Innovation Designer

***Equal Opportunity Employer***

***Women and Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply.***

**City of Syracuse residency will be required. If you are not a resident, you have six (6) months from your date of hire to establish residency.**

THIS IS A COMPETITIVE CIVIL SERVICE POSITION. APPOINTMENT WILL BE MADE ON A PROVISIONAL BASIS UNTIL THE EXAM RESULTS ARE POSTED. YOU MUST BE REACHABLE FOR PERMANENT APPOINTMENT.

The City of Syracuse (Department of Accountability, Performance, and Innovation) is currently looking for qualified candidates for the position of Innovation Designer.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE POSITION:

The work involves leading cultural change toward human centered design of public facing solutions, planning and leading ideation and engagement sessions as part of the Office of Accountability, Performance and Innovation for the City of Syracuse. An employee in this class is responsible for developing and implementing specific project plans to enhance and advance City operations through the performance office and managing stakeholder relationships for policy initiatives. Work includes executing desk/field research, facilitating syntheses workshops, and guiding/teaching teams through iterative cycles of ideations, prototyping and testing pilot initiatives. Work also includes responsibility for branding and communications functions, including creative direction, media management, graphic design development, and website management. The employee is allowed the use of independent judgement and initiative under the general direction of the Director of Innovation. Does related work as required.

TYPICAL WORK ACTIVITIES:

· Manages service improvement projects from inception through implementation, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and Executive Order directives.

· Conducts usability tests and iterate based on stakeholder feedback and implementation requirements.

· Leads the human-centered design focus through research, synthesis, ideation, rapid prototyping, interaction and support.

· Motivates and inspires within City government, advocating for greater client experiences.

· Participates in interagency processes for accepting new challenges, ongoing idea generation, developing implementation plans, and managing progress towards defined targets.

· Develops solutions to operations with the end-user in mind.

· Employs design thinking-based approaches to identify the root causes of civic challenges and explores the perspectives of residents, government employees, and other community stakeholders.

· Synthesizes information gathered through design research to uncover root causes and generate corresponding design criteria and new solutions.

· Leads the development of detailed implementation plans for delivery on major initiates.

· Prepares workflow diagrams and structuring charts to define workflow processes.

· Ensures effective performance monitoring vehicles are in place and regularly monitors progress of initiatives and makes recommendations for correction.

· Plans, directs, and coordinates staff and activities to ensure that assigned initiative goals are accomplished within prescribed timeframes.

· Facilitates complex performance improvement activities.

· Reviews performance measures and targets.

· Facilitates idea generation and co-design sessions with internal and external stakeholders.

· Manages and maintains strong relationships with numerous city government officials and community stakeholders.

· Provides creative direction and insight.

· Illustrates team concepts by designing materials with art and copy.

· Oversees continuity in all creative elements including web, social media, print, and other media.

· Manages office website.

· Develops and manages creative assets (presentations, templates, web design assets, etc.).

· Ensures media from events, meetings, and other related functions are captured and archived.

· Represents the Innovation Team and the Mayor’s Office at meetings, as needed.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

· Graduation from a regionally accredited college or university or one accredited by the New York State Board of Regents to grant degrees with a Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Digital Media Design, Human Factor Engineering, Information Studies, or a closely related field AND one (1) year of work experience, or its part time equivalent, in project management, human centered design or user experience projects OR;

· Graduation from a regionally accredited college or university or one accredited by the New York State Board of Regents to grant degrees with a Bachelor’s degree in Design, Communications, Marketing, Public Administration, Policy, Government, Business, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Data Science, or a closely related field AND two (2) years of work experience, or its part time equivalent, in project management, human centered design, or user experience projects

The Affirmative Action Policy of the City of Syracuse is to provide equal employment opportunity for all individuals regardless of race, color, sex, religion, creed, age (18 and over), marital status, national origin, disability, veteran status, gender identity or gender expression, sexual or affectional preference or orientation, or any other classified group within the protected class. If you have a disability for which you wish special accommodation to be made, contact the Office of Human Resources, One Park Place, 300 S. State St., 7th FL at 315-448-8780 or Personnel@syr.gov.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $61,950.00 - $66,950.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• Are you a resident of the City of Syracuse? If not, you must establish residency within six (6) months of your date of hire.

Work Location: In person