Practice Director

Good Maven•Atlanta, GA

2d•$185,000 - $205,000•Remote

About The Position

As a Practice Director at Harmonic Design, you are a strategic leader, a master of craft, and a trusted partner to our delivery teams and clients. You will be responsible for raising the bar on delivery excellence across our portfolio, developing our senior practitioners into confident executive partners, and working in close partnership with our operations leadership to ensure consistent, high-quality execution. This role requires a blend of design mastery, facilitation excellence, and business acumen to translate organizational challenges into systemic solutions.

Requirements

10+ years in design, with at least 5 years in a leadership capacity within a consultancy, agency, or in-house environment.
Demonstrated success leading complex service design engagements with Fortune 500 or similarly sophisticated clients.
Deep expertise in creating systemic change through service design.
Mastery of core service design methods: service strategy, service blueprinting, journey mapping, co-creation, and systems thinking.
Mastery in defining engagement approaches based on best practices and client needs, and flexing those approaches based on new evidence as engagements unfold.
Experience and a clear point of view on the role of AI in services and in the practice of service design.
A strong POV on how service design helps organizations address their challenges.
Ability to tie design outcomes to business metrics and client KPIs.
Comfort discussing project P&L, scope, and delivery risk.
Experience articulating design value to executive audiences.
Demonstrated prowess in facilitation, storytelling, writing, and presentation.
Ability to translate complex systemic challenges into compelling narratives that move executives to action.
Comfortable in ambiguity and able to guide groups toward decisions.
Degree in Design, HCI, Social Sciences, Business, or equivalent professional experience.

Nice To Haves

Systems Thinkers: You see the connective tissue between people, processes, and technology. You understand that excellence in delivery comes from how these elements integrate.
Adaptive: You thrive when working with ambiguity and can pivot when context changes. You’re comfortable in emerging structures and growing alongside the firm.
Mentors: You are genuinely invested in developing the next generation of service design leaders. You see mentorship as core to the role, not optional.
Collaborative: You work well in partnership with Harmonic leadership, operations, account leads, and with your team. You don’t need to own everything to add value.
Articulate: You can explain the "why" behind the "what" to anyone, from a senior practitioner to a CEO. You make complex thinking accessible.

Responsibilities

Own the standard for how Harmonic delivers service design across all engagements, ensuring work is strategically sound, systemic, and helps clients close the gap between experience and operations.
Bring visibility and intentionality to how engagements unfold, working with executive partners, engagement leads, and senior practitioners to ensure methodological rigor, client alignment, and focus on business outcomes.
Partner with practice leadership to set and evolve the approach to service design work, articulating guiding principles.
Develop senior designers into confident consultants capable of leading accounts and guiding client strategy at the executive level through management, real work, embedding in engagements, modeling excellence, and creating growth opportunities.
Coach team members on communication, facilitation, and relationship skills for working with Directors, VPs, and C-suite stakeholders, modeling these skills and coaching through high-stakes interactions.
Strengthen team capabilities in design and consulting, confidence with executives, and ability to see and articulate organizational challenges.
Work directly with clients, providing expertise while mentoring engagement leads and practitioners.
Lead complex service design work with executive clients when assigned, bringing executive presence, facilitating high-stakes workshops, and guiding clients toward systemic solutions.
Build and nurture working relationships with directors and higher stakeholders on client teams, acting as a trusted partner who understands their organizational context and translates Harmonic’s value.
Collaborate with Design Operations on resourcing decisions, project setup, and staffing, providing a delivery perspective and flagging skill gaps, capacity constraints, and development opportunities.