Director, Service Designer – Upwise

About Upwise:

This “Next Horizon” of MetLife’s enterprise strategy is rooted in customer intimacy, informed by data analytics, and enabled by digital capabilities. Financial Wellness and Engagement (FW&E) is a new division created within the U.S. Business to bring this vision to life. Our focus is on deepening our relationships with our customers, both through existing MetLife products and services in our Group Benefits and Retirement & Income Solutions business lines as well as through new, innovative solutions based on emergent workforce needs.

Key to the Next Horizon strategy is building lifelong relationships with MetLife’s end customers through deep engagement. FW&E aims to accomplish this by providing highly valuable experiences, delivered through a first of its kind, financial wellness solution, to its customers through a modern digital platform and ecosystem. This digital solution, Upwise, will provide Employers with an opportunity to solve the engagement gap across their existing benefit offerings while providing their employees and other individuals with the tools necessary to make progress on their financials that feels good and allows them to free up dollars to put towards what matters most.

The Role:

Upwise is looking for a service designer to help plan, design and build our core product. In this role, you will serve as the conduit between our design, product, and research teams. Aiding them in building out the most robust and complete service. You will work across front and back of house capabilities, uncovering efficiencies, and driving integrated ideas and executions forward. This role requires a hands-on design expert, who can take concepts forward and working together with partners to implement these services.

Key Relationships:

• Reports to Upwise’s head of design
• Work closely with our head of product and engineering to tie our service together
• Be day to day in the trenches with your product, design, research, and engineering team members.

What Success Looks Like:
Success in your first 6 months will look like:

• Document the existing service
• Uncover pain points for all user roles
• Drive business impact by creating a more efficient, and holistic service

Characteristics:

• A founder’s mentality. We are a small team, with no middle management. You must be self-motivated to push Upwise forward.
• A great storyteller. You can relay complex systems ideas to business owners.
• Direct and truthful. The Upwise team is efficient and shoots it straight.
• Grit and optimism to drive the right outcomes. We are the spear tip in the digital transformation of a 153-year-old organization.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct qualitative research using ethnographic and participatory methods
• Work with our data scientists to analyze service metrics data to inform design solutions
• Lead design work with cross functional teams
• Relaying ideas through documentation
• Create a more resilient, tight, and complete product
• Look at our service as an Omni Channel opportunity tying together many systems and services
• Understand the technical limitations and liberties behind your decisions and be able to communicate your ideas to our engineers
• Relaying ideas through documentation

Competencies / Skills:

• Deep expertise human-centered design
• Deep understanding of system theory
• A design practitioner who can craft meaningful design solutions and see them through to implementation
• Ability to create traditional service design artifacts
  • Service Blueprints
  • Ecosystem Maps
  • Journey Maps
  • Systems Schematics
• Detail-oriented

Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience
• Degree in HCI / Service design or equivalent

PreferredLocation : New York City, New York, but open to US Region

The wage range for this position specific to Connecticut and Colorado is $129k – $161k/year. You may be also eligible for the MetLife Annual Variable Incentive Plan (“AVIP”). Your eligibility for an AVIP award is governed by the terms of the applicable plan or program documents. MetLife offers a comprehensive benefits program that includes Medical, Dental, Life, Vision plus Retirement benefits and Paid Time Off.

What to Send Us

• Your résumé
• Your portfolio
• A brief note listing a one of your favorite services and why you love it

#LI-JS

MetLife:

MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world’s leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

We are one of the largest institutional investors in the U.S. with $642.4billion of total assets under management as of March 31, 2021. We are ranked #46on the Fortune 500 list for 2021. In 2020,we were named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the fifth year in a row. DJSI is a global index to track the leading sustainability-driven companies. We are proud to have been named to Fortune magazine’s 2021 list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies.”

MetLife is committed to building a purpose-driven and inclusive culture that energizes our people. Our employees work every day to help build a more confident future for people around the world.

We want to make it simple for all interested and qualified candidates to apply for employment opportunities with MetLife. For further information about how to request a reasonable accommodation, please click on the Disability Accommodations link below.

MetLife is a proud Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer dedicated to attracting, retaining, and developing a diverse and inclusive workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment at MetLife without regards to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, national origin, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status, uniformed service member or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

MetLife maintains a drug-free workplace.

Nearest Major Market: New York City