Principal Service Designer-Orange County – Center for Applied Research and Innovation-11-145

Mission Statement

The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

Position Summary

The Principal Service Designer leads human-centered design projects that improve how community programs and services work for the people who use and deliver them. This role turns research and lived experience into practical, implemented improvements for people served and frontline teams.

The Principal Service Designer partners with leadership, staff, people with lived experience, service providers, and community partners to understand challenges, co-design solutions, test ideas, and improve services from end to end. As a hands-on member of CARI’s interdisciplinary design team, this role will initially focus on programs addressing homelessness and housing stability.

Sitting at the intersection of human-centered design, community service, and implementation, the Principal Service Designer works closely with the Director of Design Strategy & Research and the design team to lead service redesign projects from discovery through implementation.

This role is ideal for a hands-on human-centered designer who enjoys working directly with communities and frontline staff and can show how they have redesigned a real program or service, not only a digital product.

PAY RATE: $75,000 -$90,000/yr.

Essential Functions

Service Design & Systems Redesign (Primary Responsibility)

• Lead end-to-end human-centered service redesign across Salvation Army community programs, including work addressing homelessness and housing stability.
• Plan and deliver service design projects from discovery and research through co-design, prototyping, piloting, implementation, and learning.
• Map current program journeys, workflows, and service experiences to identify pain points, barriers, and opportunities for improvement.
• Supervise paid CARI interns.
• Co-design program improvements with frontline staff, people with lived experience, and community partners using trauma-informed and dignity-centered practices.
• Create practical design artifacts such as journey maps, service blueprints, workflow diagrams, prototypes, pilot plans, and implementation tools.
• Support program teams through pilots and implementation using feedback loops, rapid iteration, and learning cycles.
• Partner closely with the Director of Design Strategy & Research to ensure ethics, research insight, and evaluation are embedded in design work.
• Document methods, lessons, and reusable tools that help CARI strengthen future service design projects.

Applied Research & Ethics

• Conduct qualitative research including interviews, focus groups, observation, participatory methods, and community-based fieldwork.
• Support survey design and quantitative data collection in partnership with the Director and data collaborators.
• Analyze and synthesize research to identify patterns, needs, barriers, and opportunities for service improvement.
• Apply ethical research practices, including informed consent, confidentiality, participant dignity, and trauma-informed engagement.
• Follow research protocols, data privacy standards, and ethical data-handling practices appropriate for work with human subjects.

CARI 3:20 Innovation Lab & Learning (Secondary Responsibility)

• Partner with the Director of Design Strategy & Research to support the 3:20 Innovation Lab as a space for co-design, learning, and experimentation.
• Help prepare and facilitate workshops and applied learning experiences grounded in real community service challenges.
• Co-facilitate design sprints, innovation workshops, and community-based labs aligned to CARI’s strategic priorities.
• Contribute practical templates and tools that help staff apply human-centered design in their work.

Collaboration & Culture

• Work closely in an interdisciplinary design team alongside leadership, people with lived experience, student staff, and community collaborators.
• Model collaboration, curiosity, humility, flexibility, and a sense of humor in high-complexity environments.
• Support a learning-oriented, mission-aligned team culture grounded in faith, dignity, and shared purpose.
• Help identify future human-centered design and research opportunities based on community and program needs.
• Contribute to communicating the impact of CARI’s work through clear project stories, outcomes, and examples of service improvement.
• Translate research findings into practical guides and tools for decision-making by Salvation Army leaders and teams.
• Take on other tasks as needed.

Working Conditions

Working conditions include intermittent or sometimes continuous walking, standing, bending, squatting, climbing, kneeling, twisting, grasping, pushing/pulling objects, reaching overhead, operating standard office equipment, and lifting up to 40 lbs.

Minimum Qualifications

• Demonstrated understanding of The Salvation Army’s Christian mission.
• 3–5 years of professional experience applying human-centered design, service design, design research, or related methods to programs or services.
• Demonstrated experience leading at least one program or service redesign end to end, from research and problem definition through prototyping, testing, and implementation.
• Strong facilitation skills and experience working with multiple stakeholders, including community members and frontline staff.
• Portfolio or work samples required and should include a service or program redesign case study that clearly shows the candidate’s role, process, and implementation outcomes.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a mission-driven, faith-based environment.
• Experience working in community service, nonprofit, public sector, homelessness, housing, health, behavioral health, education, or other human services settings.
• Experience facilitating co-design sessions, workshops, or design sprints with non-designers.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary teams and translating research into practical service improvements.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

• Human-centered design and service design; ability to carry a project through discovery, research, synthesis, ideation, prototyping, testing, implementation, and iteration.
• Qualitative research methods, including interviews, observation, focus groups, and synthesis; working knowledge of surveys and basic quantitative data is preferred.
• Trauma-informed and dignity-centered practice; familiarity with community-based or human services environments preferred.
• Facilitation of co-design sessions and workshops; ability to translate research into clear journey maps, service blueprints, prototypes, and recommendations.
• Clear visual and written communication for staff, community members, and leaders.
• Ability to lead hands-on project work, navigate ambiguity, collaborate across roles, and move from ideas to practical implementation.
• Comfort with common collaboration and design tools such as Miro, Mural, FigJam, Canva, Figma, or similar; expertise in product UI design is not required.
• Comfort facilitating in-person and virtual sessions; excellent organizational, written, verbal, presentation, and computer skills.
• Driving test and clean MVR check;
• Ability to work with, direct, and relate well with coworkers, community partners/members, and guests/clients; ability to thrive in a fast-paced, frequently evolving environment.