Service Design Manager - On-site Abu Dhabi - Octopus by RTG (5 months contract)

Who we are;

Octopus by RTG is enabling a key partner organization to grow their tech teams while focusing on AI. We are currently looking for the right pioneers to join the team!

Octopus is proud to be part of the Robusta Technology Group (RTG), a leading tech group. With a decade of experience and a successful track record of delivering over 300 projects across Europe, the Middle East, and North America, RTG has established itself as a preferred employer in the Egyptian market. Octopus and Robusta are building a bridge between Europe and Africa, creating tailored hub solutions to connect companies with top talent across the globe.

Octopus is specialized in rapidly assembling remote & onsite global tech teams that are fully aligned with the culture and practices of a particular brand. By providing tailored hubs to suit its clients needs, Octopus gives companies all the advantages of remote work and offshoring without all the negatives.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Service Design Manager to join our Experience Design team. In this leadership role, you will drive the design and transformation of end-to-end services that seamlessly connect digital, physical, and human touchpoints. You will lead service design initiatives, mentor team members, and partner with clients and stakeholders to deliver innovative, customer-centric solutions that create measurable business impact.

The ideal candidate combines strong systems thinking, customer empathy, and business acumen, with extensive experience translating complex challenges into scalable service experiences. You will play a critical role in shaping service design practices, facilitating strategic conversations, and ensuring solutions are desirable for customers, viable for the business, and feasible for implementation.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage service design engagements across multiple client projects and industries.
• Define and drive service design strategies that align customer needs with business objectives.
• Conduct and oversee qualitative and quantitative research to identify customer needs, pain points, behaviors, and opportunities.
• Develop and validate service blueprints, customer journey maps, ecosystem maps, operating models, and experience principles.
• Facilitate executive-level workshops, co-creation sessions, and stakeholder alignment activities.
• Identify service gaps, operational inefficiencies, and innovation opportunities across customer journeys and organizational processes.
• Lead the prototyping and testing of service concepts to validate assumptions and optimize experiences.
• Collaborate with business consultants, researchers, UX/UI designers, process designers, and technology teams to ensure successful implementation.
• Define success metrics, KPIs, and measurement frameworks to monitor service performance and continuous improvement.
• Mentor and coach junior service designers, contributing to capability building and service design best practices.
• Advocate for human-centered design methodologies and foster a customer-centric culture within client organizations and project teams.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Service Design, Human-Centered Design, Interaction Design, Design Strategy, Business Design, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in Service Design, Customer Experience (CX), Design Strategy, or related disciplines.
• Proven track record of leading complex service design programs within large organizations.
• Extensive experience developing service blueprints, journey maps, ecosystem maps, and operating models.
• Strong stakeholder management and facilitation skills, with experience engaging senior executives and decision-makers.
• Deep understanding of customer experience design, service innovation, design thinking, and business transformation.
• Experience translating customer insights into strategic recommendations and business outcomes.
• Proficiency in tools such as Miro, Figma, Smaply, or similar service design platforms.
• Excellent communication, storytelling, and presentation skills.
• Arabic language proficiency is preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with clients in the telecommunications and/or financial services sectors.
• Experience managing teams, mentoring designers, or leading service design capability development.
• Familiarity with business process design, operating model design, and organizational transformation initiatives.