HCD Service Design Lead

FINCA International is looking for a Human-Centered Design & Service Design Lead to play a pivotal role in our Poverty Eradication Lab (PEL) and in FINCA's overall global product strategy. In this role, you will lead the design and prototyping of inclusive solutions that advance FINCA's mission to eradicate poverty—ensuring every product is grounded in customer needs, tested through iterative design, and ready to scale.

Working across FINCA subsidiaries, investments, and the our digital platform, you will bridge customer insight, design thinking, and operational execution, translating research into tangible, digital-first products that create measurable impact. You will work across FINCA's Theory of Change—livelihoods, resilience, and education—to co-create solutions with local partners, validate them through the Lab's pilot process, and help embed design-led approaches into product and service innovation across the FINCA network.

This is a unique opportunity to shape FINCA's next generation of customer-centered products, strengthen our design practice globally, and ensure that every innovation is built on real human insight and aligned with FINCA's broader financial inclusion and sustainability goals.

This position can be based in Kenya, Uganda, or Tanzania.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Insight Integration & Applied Research Management

• Collaborate with team responsible for generative research to uncover emerging user needs and actionable design opportunities
• Translate all synthesized research findings into design artefacts such as journey maps, personas, design principles, prototypes, and testable hypotheses.
• Partner with the Global Product Lead and country product teams to integrate insights into scalable product roadmaps.

Human-Centered Design & Prototyping

• Lead the end-to-end design and testing of products, solutions, and services across target markets.
• Develop customer journeys, service blueprints, and experience maps to ensure usability, adoption, and scale potential.
• Translate user insights into actionable prototypes that inform digital product design
• Facilitate iterative prototyping and field testing to validate user desirability, business viability, and technical feasibility.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with program managers and the fundraising team to align prototypes with donor objectives and impact narratives.
• Contribute to business case development and impact assessments for solutions moving from pilot to scale.
• Work closely with subsidiary commercial, credit, marketing, financial and technology teams to ensure feasibility and readiness for pilot and scale-up.

Capacity Building & Design Leadership

• Champion HCD methodologies across FINCA's global network through training, coaching, and facilitation.
• Build shared design tools, templates, and processes to enhance team collaboration and learning.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and advocate for customer-centered design in FINCA's global product development efforts.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education & Experience

• Advanced degree in behavioral economics or science (professional certification) in Human-Centered Design, Service Design, Product Design, or related field.
• Minimum 8+ years of experience leading design and product innovation projects, ideally in financial inclusion, fintech, or social impact sectors.
• Proven record of accomplishment of turning customer insights into validated, scalable products or services.
• Experience managing research consultants or teams conducting field-based human-centered research.
• Familiarity with digital product delivery, UX principles, and agile product development cycles.

Skills & Attributes

• Mastery of HCD and service design methods, including journey mapping, prototyping, and user testing.
• Strong synthesis, storytelling, and facilitation skills; able to translate complexity into actionable design.
• Exceptional cross-cultural communication and collaboration skills.
• Strategic systems thinker who balances customer empathy with business and technology realities.
• Passion for inclusive innovation, financial inclusion, and poverty eradication.
• Willingness to travel extensively across emerging markets.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• Number and quality of prototypes designed, tested, and approved for scale-up.
• Demonstrated customer impact, adoption, and satisfaction from pilot evaluations and feedback loop
• Integration of validated design insights into 361 platform products and subsidiary portfolios.
• Effectiveness of collaboration across subsidiaries, FINCA Ventures, and external design and research partners.
• Strengthening internal HCD capability through training, shared tools, and consistent design practice across markets.

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Reports to: Chief Product Officer, with matrix alignment to the Program Director for portfolio strategy and execution, and close collaboration with the Global Product Lead to ensure integration of design insights and prototypes into FINCA's global product roadmap.

Internal Collaboration: Research Associates and consultants, subsidiary Product Owners, Operations and Technology Teams, Marketing, Fundraising, and Program Managers.

External Collaboration: Design and research partners, field implementation partners, and local ecosystem actors.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

Up to 50% travel across FINCA markets for field immersion, prototype testing, co-creation sessions, and team workshops.

LOCATION

Position based in Kenya, Uganda, or Tanzania.