Creative Technologist

Company:

Oliver Wyman

Description:

New York (Hybrid)
Creative Technologist for Concept Lab 

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WHO WE ARE

Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. With a staff of over 7,000 spread across 30 countries, Oliver Wyman combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, digital, risk management, and organization transformation. As part of our impact promise to our clients, we go beyond ‘strategic advice’, and our teams are known to deliver world-class solutions to give our clients a competitive edge. We work hands-on across the full technology stack deploying cloud native environments to AI and Machine Learning to APIs and user facing web and mobile applications that bring tangible outcomes to life.

Oliver Wyman Customer First Concept Lab is a rapid design and innovation accelerant to our broader Customer First offering, which focuses on incubating, delivering and scaling growth adjacent lines of business for incumbents and on reimagining existing internal and external product, service and experience models to drive a step change in efficiency and efficacy.  In the Concept Lab a squad of 5 cross-discipline talent including product/growth strategy, human insight, experience design and AI and emerging tech design. The creative tech will partner with the squad and industry experts to rapidly go from zero to concept in under 6 weeks.  The aim of the concept is to support business clarity be it business development, active business design or future-state vision setting by reducing the high-risk associated with new growth investments.  The Concept Lab functions on one principle: you invest in the reality you can “see.”  We show people the future.

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THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

We are hiring a Creative Technologist to work in our New York office for our Customer First Concept Lab.  As a member of the Concept Lab, you will be part of a team working in a rapid iterative and co-creation setting with a cross-discipline team of 5 aimed at cracking complex problems and translating that into tangible outputs our colleagues (partners / client teams) and clients can see, feel, experience – believe in. 

As a member of a multidisciplinary squad, you will be the voice of technical possibility and evangelist for technology frontiers in service of these unique solutions.  You will be one part strategist who starts demand-back (i.e. from the customer back to the business) to help identify real understanding of human struggles preventing desired progress & tie that to business opportunities. Another part will be as a technology futurist helping scope how a proposed solution gets from today to tomorrow and what it takes to feasibly deliver this.  A final part of you will be the consummate experimenter, able to help rapidly develop stubbed prototypes (rarely actual live data, etc.) either through actual FED or by using the latest rapid prototyping software.  You should expect to actively be involved in the ideation, creative exploration, consumer / expert testing and translation of concepts into assets that the detailed design and activation team can pick up and run with (i.e. high-level backlog, technical requirements, non-functional requirements, level 1 architecture specs, etc.).  If this is for you, you will be quick on your feet, able to workshop with c-suite clients and be design led to the core. And most importantly, you will thrive in the ambiguity of an unanswered problem and the beautifully frustrating pursuit of cracking it.

As a Creative Tech, you will be:

• Operate at the intersection of creative possibility and technological feasibility, helping crack the often-wide deltas between the two
• Arbitrate between art of the possible future tech/interfaces, best practice, accessibility, user experience, and client tech constraints
• Understand how to translate, work within and evolve design systems into the technology foundations required for consistent, on-brand experiences
• Working in cross-functional squad to motivate, conceive and create user-centered solutions, while balancing business goals and technical implications
• Maintain the voice of the customer and the objectives of the business in helping define technical feasibility and requirements
• Facilitate client and third-party tech, data and other engineering and delivery teams through the concept and help mobilize them to move forward from concept into development phases of a project
• Support the tech-led change readiness requirements and help develop from > to roadmaps for involved parties
• Have a sense of the costs to deliver and be able to support a strategic business analyst in developing an investment case for a proposed solution
• Comfortable being an active participant if not key facilitator in concept-focused solution discussions and concept lab co-creation and participatory design workshops
• A hands-on builder/experimenter/contributor with a playful, tinkerer, art of the possible mindset and a skillset to prototype ideas into existence

…and expected to:

Dive into team: build and live the concept lab ways of work

• Race to perform: All teams take time to form, storm and norm.  Move through team formation quickly and have the productive disagreements to get to the other side of performance quickly
• Be a self-starter who takes initiative: able to set direction and act upon new and fluid ideas   to meet team goals and complete assignments within established time frames, be flexible and willing to learn – adapt quickly to new problems and fluid project circumstances
• Thrive in the week of multi-discipline: co-create with other strategist, vertical experts, designers, business leaders, clients, and end-users, working as one
• Speak tech: be the translator, mediator and expert in the room to communicate tech out and tech in so the squad understands the reality of the world and the delivery teams understand the future we must push ourselves towards – make sure there is no break between concepting and delivery
• Do and communicate tech: be the person who inspires others 
• Teach others tech: Fill time with play and encourage the team to do so; bring that spirit from the Concept Lab to OW Digital and OW at large

Approach: Critical and conceptual thinking

• Champion concept: communicate how a solution can be achieved and why, from a tech forward perspective, in so doing we answer user needs, achieve business goals, and can still work within what will typically be a regulated or legacy tech environment
• Show don’t tell: be in the pursuit of creating tangibility with concepts – prototypes in multiple forms for click throughs to videos to walk along story boards to immersive experiences (VR, etc.)
• Enable move from concept to delivery activation: drive the delivery process orchestrating team members as needed, and lead team mobilization sessions avoid handover loss (i.e. our lab is part of activation so it should always feel like the next stage of evolution versus a handover at all; your role helps assure that)
• Vertical curiosity: recognize that one day you’ll be an asset manager expert, the next an aviation expert – and the context switching is required to support the diversity of OW in the business.  You won’t have to know the industry inside and out (you’ll have an industry expert as an interim role on the squad), but your hunger to learn as much as you will be evident.

Craft: Execute with speed and quality

• Creative tech 101: Deploy technical skills to imagine high quality designs and prototypes, including: have interaction and technical prototype skills across a diverse set of software, including rapid prototyping tools, some form of FED code, ability to translate product requirements and ensure technology deliverables are built to client standards, expert in working with human-centric design (and see technology as an HCD capability) and furthest edge digital development trends and technologies
• Demonstrate strong story-telling and communication skills: demonstrate effective written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, with design and non-design team members
• Keep on-trend: must stay up with and be an immersive voice in where tech is heading, what that means for a business, and how to integrate these capabilities in a meaningful way into new growth solutions
• Product/digital SME: Showcase knowledge of product development lifecycles and agile methodologies

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YOUR EXPERIENCE

As a creative tech, you will have:

• 5-7+ years of relevant experience
• Skills:
  • Front-end development experience in mobile-first environments; experience with mobile sensors and OS-level features a plus
  • Direct development on project or personal portfolio demonstration of work in emerging tech (AI, virtual / meta, augmented, etc.) and/or zero interface (voice, IOT, etc.) environments
  • Proven track record of hands-on coding, backend and 3rd party API integration; firebase or equivalent a plus
  • Suite of ever-evolving rapid prototyping tools including test deployment environments (TestFlight, etc.)
  • Comfort with various CMS, DAM, and the suite of real-user monitoring, user insights, data analytics and targeting engines that fuel best-in-class digital experiences
  • Experience with digital delivery (but preference for up-front concept strategy)
  • Experience with motion design and/or experience “choreography” (preferred)
  • Figma
  • Adobe Creative Cloud Suite (preferred, not required)

What we offer you:

• The opportunity to work within a deeply accomplished team with direct exposure to some of the world's most influential organizations.
• A structured career development program with both technical and leadership tracks.
• A competitive salary and benefits
• A level of autonomy and self-management that you won’t typically find at other companies.

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OUR VALUES & CULTURE

Our team comprises all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. We don’t care whether you’re loud or quiet, funny or serious. We do hope that you have:

• A genuine passion for products and experiences.
• A clear commitment to creating brilliant experiences that will give our clients the edge.
• A willingness to work fluidly and respectfully with our incredibly talented team.

We’re serious about making OW Digital a rewarding, progressive, fun and balanced place to work.

• Rewarding work
  Our reputation for high quality work allows us to collaborate with major brands at all levels on incredibly exciting projects. Combined with our status as one of the Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For”, this gives you a mix of challenge, support, and recognition.
• Progressive employment
  Flat organizational structures, resolute I&D values and a commitment to rewarding good work make for a progression path truly based on merit. Our comprehensive benefits include an impressive pension program.
• Enjoyable days
  We want our team members to build a career here—and to be happy. That makes us serious about caring for, mentoring, developing and sponsoring each other.
  This also leads to opportunities for social impact and community work in your workdays.
• Balanced lives
  Our work is demanding, and we want you to have the best work-life balance you can. If you want to make the most of travel opportunities with our global team, we’ll encourage it. If you’re a parent, we’ll work with you to accommodate your family life.
   

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HOW TO APPLY

If you like what you’ve read, we’d love to hear from you. You can submit your CV online.

The application process will include both technical testing and team fit interviews.

About Oliver Wyman

Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. With offices in more than 70 cities across 30 countries, Oliver Wyman combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organization transformation. The firm has more than 7,000 professionals around the world who work with clients to optimize their business, improve their operations and risk profile, and accelerate their organizational performance to seize the most attractive opportunities. Oliver Wyman is a business of Marsh McLennan [NYSE: MMC]. For more information, visit www.oliverwyman.com. Follow Oliver Wyman on Twitter @OliverWyman.

Marsh McLennan and its Affiliates are EOE Minority/Female/Disability/Vet/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity employers.

The applicable base salary range for this role is $195,000 to $240,000.

The base pay offered will be determined on factors such as experience, skills, training, location, certifications, and education, and any applicable minimum wage requirements. Decisions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to the base salary, this position may be eligible for performance-based incentives.

We are excited to offer a competitive total rewards package which includes health and welfare benefits, tuition assistance, 401K savings and other retirement programs as well as employee assistance programs.

Oliver Wyman, a business of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), is a management consulting firm combining deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise to help clients optimize their business, improve operations and accelerate performance. Marsh McLennan is a global leader in risk, strategy and people, advising clients in 130 countries across four businesses: Marsh, Guy Carpenter, Mercer and Oliver Wyman. With annual revenue of $24 billion and more than 90,000 colleagues, Marsh McLennan helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective. For more information, visit oliverwyman.com, or follow on LinkedIn and X.Marsh McLennan is committed to embracing a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age background, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, veteran status (including protected veterans), or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please let us know by contacting reasonableaccommodations@mmc.com.Marsh McLennan is committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections and professional development benefits of working together in the office. All Marsh McLennan colleagues are expected to be in their local office or working onsite with clients at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which their full team will be together in person.