Design Researcher

We are Future Friendly (formerly Mentally Friendly) - a strategic design team that makes.

For 16 years, Future Friendly has launched, and invested in products and services that make a difference. We improve lives through the strategic design & development of everyday services across Government, Finance, Insurance, Education, Energy and Health. We are B Corp certified and are currently a team of 40 based in Sydney and Canberra.

The Strategy Team at Future Friendly collaborates with the Future Friendly Product Management, Design and Development teams and our clients, to deliver product visions, business cases and prototypes. You can find out more about us here -futurefriendly.team

**Design Research at Future Friendly**

Design researchers at FF are responsible for taking an outcomes-focused approach to research, measurement and evaluation - specifically, planning and conducting research, spotting significance in evidence, identifying opportunities, building business cases, aligning on outcomes and designing evaluation frameworks.

**Requirements**:
Key responsibilities

With some support from Strategy Partner and other senior team members, mid-weight Design researchers are able to perform the following key responsibilities:

- Design research plans including objectives, hypotheses and methodologies and effectively communicate that plan to internal teams and clients
- Plan and facilitate usability and concept testing - script writing, inclusive recruitment and execution
- Distil learning into simple, powerful insights and opportunities
- Build and collaborate on strategy narrative and business cases
- Identify project outcomes and indicators (using Theory of Change, MEL or similar frameworks)
- Confidently plan and facilitate workshops

Strategists are able to attend and contribute to the following key engagements:

- Client check-ins and demonstrations
- Team meetings, daily studio stand-ups and all agency meetings
- Studio learning sessions

Required skills / qualifications

2-4 years experience in any of the following:

- Human centred design, design research and/or measurement and evaluation frameworks
- The not-for-profit, university or government sectors, managing research or other programs
- Social or economic sciences or community development

**What we look for**:
An open and curious mind
- You have experience and opinions but you are open to being challenged and approach projects with a beginners mindset

Collaborative and autonomous
- You are self-driven and able to complete tasks autonomously, but also able to work in a team, respecting others voices, experiences and opinions.

Ethical and inclusive
- As a researcher and advocate of the customer, you are ethical in your approach to research and take correct measures to include diverse members of the community.

Balance of empathy and entrepreneurialism
- You are empathetic to the needs of customers. You also have an action bias and understand that empathy without action leads only to ideas, not outcomes.

**Benefits**

Our goal is to create a place where you can do the best work of your career every day. A sustainable and supporting workplace dedicated to the well-being, quality of life, and inclusivity of the team.

Some of our perks;
- Additional 5 wellbeing days a year — your mental health is important. We offer 5 paid additional days off you can use to recharge when you need.
- Parent-friendly workplace — we know what it's like to work and raise kids. In addition to parental leave for carers and partners, we can work around family commitments.
- Profit share — success is a shared effort, so we have a profit share scheme to recognise and reward everyone's contribution.
- Flexible working — While we love to work in person, we balance being together and working from home. Our flexible working policy is designed to support true work-life balance, whilst ensuring we can still make an impact.

You can see the full list of perks, and what it's like to work with us in our public employee handbook.

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