Discovery Lead

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race colour national origin ethnic or social background genetic information gender gender identity and/or expression sexual orientation religion or belief HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the worlds largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse committed skilled and high performing teams selected on merit operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment living WFPs values (Integrity Collaboration Commitment Humanity and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

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WHY JOIN WFP

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive diverse and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training accreditation coaching mentorship and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country regional and global offices around the world and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Discovery Lead (service and product designer)
TYPE OF CONTRACT: Consultancy Level II
UNIT/DIVISION: TECD
DUTY STATION: Remote working
DURATION: EOD ASAP NTE 18 July 2026

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
Reporting to the Head of Service Design and UX the Discovery Lead orchestrates the work of cross-functional teams in the inception phase of an initiative with the objective of making products and services usable viable and desirable by ensuring the user is put at the centre of the analysis and design process. The Discovery Lead manages the discovery phase ensuring alignment across team members as well as taking ownership of the research and design portion of it.
The Discovery Lead models as is processes and services analyses the existing landscape to ensure efficient workflows and streamlining of activities and designs to be processes in liaison with business subject matter experts users and other technology professionals to make sure future services and products will result in positive customer journeys and meet the needs of the users.
In order to do so the Discovery Lead also explores the behaviours and motivations of end-users and coordinates the engagement with key stakeholders to architect model prototype and validate process improvements requirements and functionalities.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
Increase the design maturity of the organization and demonstrate the business value of design;
Manage the overall Discovery and Design Sprint processes coordinating a cross-functional team of professionals and working with data and qualitative insights to design new services solutions and strategic propositions;
Increase the maturity of the design practice in the division contributing to shape new discovery packages and iterating on the existing ones and producing standard templates for key artifacts.
Lead the definition of how processes systems and data need to evolve to become more effective using methodologies such as business process modelling (BPM) and service blueprinting;
Coordinate the effort of cross-functional professionals during the discovery and design sprint and in investigating the feasibility of business process digitalization and automation opportunities data acquisition and integration among systems solution definition;
Lead user research activities to map current needs and pain points and design future experiences of users;
Lead on the creation of product design artifacts such as wireframes high-fidelity prototypes user journeys and user story maps;
Define key metrics and measurements for the team to evaluate its impact supporting the use of data to iterate what has been delivered;
Guide critical thinking during the design process working to the highest ethical and moral standards of research and design practice promoting inclusive design practice at all levels;

Ensure success and advancements in the practice are properly communicated to teams and management; and
Any other duties as required for the successful delivery of the product or service.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:
Discoveries and design sprints are set up orchestrated and finalized to the highest standards of technical feasibility domain suitability and user desirability.
The work of cross-functional teams within discoveries and design sprints is smoothly coordinated and orchestrated to achieve the expected results.
New discovery packages are properly documented and standard templates for key artifacts are provided.
New processes and service model aimed at improving the user journey across digital and offline touchpoints including KPIs for evaluation of their effectiveness are designed documented and presented to relevant technology and business stakeholders;

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
University degree in Psychology Anthropology Interaction Design Human-Computer Interaction computer science business administration or related fields.
Experience:
Five years or more of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in a service design or product design environment; or 8 years progressively responsible professional experience in a service design or product design environment.
Knowledge & Skills:
In-depth knowledge of Human Factors (HF) Information Architecture (IA) Human-Centred Design (HCD) Ethnographic analysis Design Workshops Iterative Design Business Process Analysis (BPA) usability principles business relationship management service design workshop facilitation and user research.
Proven experience with service design and user research methodologies including carrying out discovery activities at both strategic and tactical levels and with high technology complexity.
Knowledge of whiteboarding and design tools (Mural Miro Figma etc.)
Proven experience in working with product design in agile development teams.
Experience in project management and in managing design teams.
Strong analytical skills.
Competencies:
Excellent communication and presentation skills;
Organized and detail oriented with strong judgement/decision-making skills;
Able to articulate complex application concepts in non-technical language;
Ability to plan and organize work and communicate effectively;
Ability to handle a large volume of work and to meet strict deadlines;
Ability to be resourceful take initiative and use mature judgment;
Ability to interact positively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Languages:
Fluency in oral and written English with an intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic Chinese French Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFPs working languages) is desirable.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation please contact:

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application processing training interviewing testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee please disregard it. Furthermore please note that emblems logos names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs or spontaneous applications by email.

• If you experience challenges while submitting your online application please contact us at for technical support only.

• Please note that applications sent to this email address cannot be considered.

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate complete and includes your employment records academic qualifications language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed please apply and submit your application.

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport recommendation letters academic certificates etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs job requirements merit and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse all forms of discrimination any kind of harassment sexual harassment and abuse of authority. Therefore all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) FAO Finance Committee WFP External Auditor WFP Audit Committee Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.