Manager – Service Design at MTN South Africa

The Service Design Manager supports the Senior Manager of Design & Innovation to help realise our creative vision & strategies through the delivery of compelling & innovative experiences for our customers. 
Oversees their team to conceptualise the service design frameworks, with a view to tailor the design of online channel services to be user-friendly & relevant to MTN customers (while being sustainable & competitive for MTN).

Operational Implementation

•   User Need Definition
•   Engage with business owners & customers to understand their priorities, agendas & pain points.
•   Apply research methodologies to create & iterate service prototypes.
•   Coordinate the conduct of primary research (qualitative & quantitative) necessary to formulate hypotheses based on insights (from primary research) & intuition (experience) related to pain-points & expectancy gaps in the customer experience.
•  Coordinate the identification of customer dissatisfaction around services & apply methods to solve these.

Analytics

•   Coordinate the aggregation of market insights, NPS analyses, churn surveys to inform priorities.
•   Coordinate the delivery of customer interaction analyses for Call-Centre, Sales & Distribution & Digital channels.
•   Consolidate the findings of the analyses & lead the communication of research findings by highlighting critical customer improvement areas.
•   Conduct follow up assessment of the customer journey, incorporating feedback from the customer point-of-view.

Solution Design

•  Embed service design as a way of working throughout the business to align to MTN’s BRIGHT strategy. 
•  Provide service design input & guidance to support strategic initiatives.
•  Facilitate ideation & concept development of online products & services.
•  Frame design solutions & communicate design thinking & rationales in a compelling way.
•  Drive the generation of new ideas that reduce expense & create more efficient processes.
•  Analyse & define the tools & systems required to support both new & existing products & services in development.
•  Establish service design work activities that are customer centric & promote design thinking & methodologies.
•  Contribute towards the continuous refinement of service design processes. 
•  Evolve the Service Design practice by drawing upon global & local best practice, as it relates to online service design processes.

 Work in collaboration with the Senior Manager overseeing Design & Innovation in the planning & managing of the human & material resources of the sub-division to optimise performance, morale & enhance productivity.

Customer Journey

•  Gather customer feedback utilising design tools to produce a blueprint of envisaged services (i.e. customer touchpoints, service scenarios, operational & customer KPI’s, use cases).
•  Assess the current customer journey & identify gaps that can be further developed & improved.
•  Lead & coordinate the cross-functional Voice of the Customer initiatives to drive continuous service improvement.

Automate the customer journey & track & publish the TO-BE implemented customer journey against a CEX dashboard, in conjunction with the CEX team.

Stakeholder Relationships

•  Drive alignment with internal stakeholders around delivering absolute customer satisfaction, & assist to streamline this delivery.
•  Promote agile methodologies & champion collaborative ways of working.
•  Partner with stakeholders & subject matter experts as required, to create effective support for the design of new services, systems & / or facilities.
• Collaborate with teams across various sub-functional business areas (Online Products & Services, CVM, CEX, Sales & Distribution) to define the best solutions & service design consistencies. 

Governance 
Operational meetings

• Assist in the preparation & contribution to the Review & Retrospective Forum meetings & participate in the demonstration of delivered work & service design progress made (bi-weekly / weekly).
•  Assist in the preparation & contribution of key insights for the Service Design Team in the weekly Round Up Forum to facilitate decision making.
• Provide input in Stand Up meetings to orientate the team for the upcoming day’s work.

Participate in any other cross-functional operational meetings.

Escalations

• Resolve escalations that have significant impact on service design delivery.
• Escalate complex issues that will result in significant time, scope, employee/customer or cost impacts, if not resolved.
• Contribute towards generating solutions to issues that require formal resolution.

Project Management

• Lead research-based design practices & service design activities at the project level.
• Commission service design improvement projects (i.e. NPS) that relate to the customer journey.

Performance

•  Establish the correct Service Design metrics & KPI’s for the improvement of the customer journey & track performance against MTN’s BRIGHT Strategy targets.
•  Develop trigger response to deviations from KPI’s to self-correct & remain on track.
•  Create & monitor plans for near-term & long term incremental value realisation.

Report Generation

•  Develop & submit reports for the Senior Manager (SM) addressing participatory & iterative service design approaches to facilitate decision making.
•  Communicate research findings, conceptual ideas, detailed designs & design rationales & present the report to the SM to enable operational planning.
•  Report to the SM on progress made against measurement metrics & within the sub-function, aligned to BRIGHT Strategy targets.
•  Provide detailed progress reports both at sub-functional & functional level.
•  Compile detailed reports for special projects” as & when necessary.

Budget Management 

• Monitor costs and determine initiatives to optimise resources by maximising cost/benefit ratios

Minimum & Preferred Requirements
Education / Business Degree 

• 3+ Years tertiary degree in a design-related discipline
•  Fluent in English

  
Work Experience   

•   5+ Years experience in a service design environment, coupled with supervising or managing cross-discipline teams.
•   Experience in a design studio / agency.
•   Deep experience in driving & applying user-centred design processes.

Training 

•  Service Design (short course).

Industry / Certifications 

•   Any other relevant certification / accreditation / membership with professional body(ies) that become necessary, as the role evolves.

go to method of application »

The Visual Design Manager supports the Senior Manager of Design & Innovation to help realise our creative vision & strategies through the delivery of compelling innovative concepts & visual design approaches to products, services & marketing collateral across our online mediums. 

Key Job Responsibilities

Operational Implementation

Design facing:

• Drive brainstorms & aid in the development of user-focused offerings.
• Drive the development & cohesion of branding & identity solutions.
• Direct your team to deliver compelling screen-based design solutions that bring the concept to life.
• Provide critique & design direction for motion executions & demos created in After Effects, Premiere, 3D or similar software.
• Prepare & deliver crafted presentations for creative showcases, conferences, events & workshops.

Stakeholder & Project facing:

• Lead & contribute to Post Project Reviews.
• Willing to be flexible & open to trying innovative approaches or solutions to projects or creative delivery.
• Play an active role in stakeholder meetings.
• Continually strive to exceed stakeholder expectations.
• Manage your teams’ work-stream directly with stakeholders.
• Proactively identify business opportunities.

Team facing:

• Effectively lead & manage your Visual Design team, instill an ethos & motivate them in the pursuit of excellence.
• Build & maintain relationships across disciplines.
• Actively share knowledge & experience.
• Offer project support & assistance to team members.
• Offer guidance, support & direction to fellow Visual Designers.
• Assist in raising the profile of the team, working closely with the Design Leads & Marketing department.

Outputs can include:

• Design mood-boards & style tiles
• Concept posters
• Illustrated storyboards & contextual scenarios
• UI Designs for design prototypes (off architectures & wireframes)
• UI screen designs & assets for implementation
• Design annotations, documentation & specifications
• Brand Identity Design Guidelines
• Motion graphics (an advantage)
• Infographics

Governance 
Operational meetings

• Lead in the preparation & contribution to the Review & Retrospective Forum meetings & participate in the demonstration of delivered work & service design progress made (bi-weekly / weekly).
• Lead in the preparation & contribution of key insights for the Design & Innovation team in the weekly Round Up Forum to facilitate decision making.
• Provide input in Stand-Up meetings to orientate the team for the upcoming day’s work.
• Participate in any other cross-functional operational meetings.

Escalations

• Resolve escalations that have significant impact on design delivery.
• Escalate complex issues that will result in significant time, scope, employee/customer or cost impacts, if not resolved.
• Contribute towards generating solutions to issues that require formal resolution.

Project Management

• Lead research-based design practices & design activities at the project level.
• Commission design improvement projects that relate to the customer journey.

Performance

• Manage ongoing timeous delivery of compelling, highly crafted design & communication solutions.

Report Generation

• Develop & submit project updates for the Senior Manager (SM) addressing participatory & iterative service design approaches to facilitate decision making.
• Communicate research findings, conceptual ideas, detailed designs & design rationales & present the report to the SM to enable operational planning.
• Report to the SM on progress made against measurement metrics & within the sub-function, aligned to MTN’s BRIGHT Strategy targets.
• Provide detailed progress reports both at sub-functional & functional level.
• Compile detailed reports for special projects as & when necessary.

Budget Management 

• Monitor costs & determine initiatives to optimise resources by maximising cost / benefit ratios.

 

Education / Business Degree

•   3+ Years tertiary degree in a design-related discipline.
•   Fluent in English. 
•   5+ Years experience in a design environment (Studio or Agency).
•   Experience in driving & applying user-centred design processes to deliver elegant design & user interface solutions for online media.
•   Proven track record of having successfully managed teams to deliver on visual design projects.
•   Solid foundation in & ability to collaborate with peers in the User Experience Design & Service Design disciplines.
•   Must be able to demonstrate strong conceptual abilities.
•   Portfolio should contain a compelling array of executions across responsive website design, prototype development, applications, story boarding, identity development, infographics, motion graphics.
•   Industry recognition in terms of Awards for relevant work would be a bonus.
•   Expert in Adobe CC Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, After Effects).
•   Efficient in Interaction Design software like Invision & Sketch (or similar).
•   Any other relevant certification / accreditation / membership with professional body(ies) that become necessary, as the role evolves 
•   Must be able to demonstrate a deep understanding of user-centric design, conceptualisation, application, principles & best practices when it comes to:
•   Design & design layout
•   Communication hierarchies
•   Interaction design
•   Typography
•   Visual treatment
•   Iconography
•   Copywriting
•   Animation, Motion Graphics & 3D a bonus.
•   Ability to drive iterative design processes & methodologies through their team.
•   Strong willingness to broaden own skillset into adjacent user-centred design specialisations, as well as to disseminate knowledge in order to upskill their team. 
•   Understanding of niche areas within the design landscape (i.e. Design Research, Visual & Content Design, UX, Service design).
•   Worked across diverse cultures & geographies is advantageous.

Knowledge, experience & technical skills:
•   Demonstrable skills in illustration, typography, photography, diagrams & iconography.
•   A good understanding of 3D (like Cinema 4D) & motion graphics software (After Effects & Premiere) would be an advantage.
•   Ability to work independently, identify & solve problems effectively & efficiently.
•   Able to demonstrate good written & verbal English skills.
•   Willingness to perform other design-related duties as & when required.
•   Keen to learn, with a willingness to broaden skill set across all design competencies.
•   Able to multi-task, prioritise & perform well under pressure.
•   Proactive, self-sufficient & professional, with strong organisational, time management & communication skills.
•   Engage with & work within changing multi-disciplinary teams.
•   Ability to develop & maintain open, honest & trusting relationships.
•   Excellent attention to detail with the ability to consistently deliver quality work.
•   Able to function, adapt & succeed in a constantly changing environment.
•   Able to demonstrate initiative.