Innovation Designer

All of Southwest's People come together to deliver on our Purpose; Connecting People to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel. The Innovation Designer supports our Purpose by using design and innovation methods to solve some of the Company's toughest challenges. This role will examine the root cause of the problem, develop new possibilities, and test these proposed ideas to learn about desirability, feasibility, and viability. The Innovation Designer is a strategic thinker who is excited about the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the future of Southwest Airlines.

Additional Details:

• U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available.

• This role is offered as a regional workplace position and Employees must work in the region they support. This could require working from a mix of on-site Company facilities and remote based offices to perform the job function in a regional location determined by business need. Each Department will provide Employees with guidance on when and where presence is required with as much notice as reasonably possible.

• Please note, while this is a regional position, there is limited group of states or localities ineligible for Employees to regularly perform their work off-site. Those ineligible locations are: Alaska,Delaware, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

• For eligible Leadership and individual contributor roles, additional bonus opportunities are available and awarded at the discretion of the Company.

Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.We continue to look for opportunities to reflect the communities we serve, and welcome applicants with diverse thoughts, backgrounds, and experiences.

• This role brings human-centered approaches to research, ideation, concept development, and prototyping in order to help our business partners see what's possible so that they are always prepared with a pipeline of good solutions to their toughest challenges.

• Discover the "why's" behind problems through field research using ethnographic methods such as observation and find pertinent insights to identify opportunity areas for designing new solutions
• Translate research and design insights into visual models and frameworks
• Envision and sketch new ideas across a wide range of experience types: digital and physical tools, programs and services, spaces and environments, events, campaigns, roles, policies, processes, etc.
• Create concept communication tools such as storyboards, user experience journeys, and system maps for use in research, synthesis, workshops and prototype testing
• Create prototypes and gather feedback on design concepts from a wide range of audiences
• Support design concept workshops
• Collaborate in a team-based environment with leads from multi-disciplinary units such as operations, technology, facilities, and marketing
• May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders

• Knowledge of Human Centered Design and Innovation mindsets, tools and techniques
• Skilled in behavioral research practices
• Skilled in strategic thinking, problem solving and connecting disparate dots
• Skilled in using 2D and 3D Design Tools to create concepts
• Skilled in communication practices and crafting compelling stories
• Ability to translate user research into needs, design principles and criteria
• Ability to communicate effectively (both written and verbal) with all levels of Employees up to and including Executive levels
• Ability to bring ideas to life through model making / rapid prototyping
• Ability to use Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft Office Suite

• Required: High School Diploma or GED
• Required: Undergraduate or Graduate level degree in a research driven field such as social sciences or related design field such as Industrial, Visual, Experience or Service designs

• Intermediate level experience, fully functioning broad knowledge in areas such as:
  • Business consulting / Strategy
  • User Research
  • Prototyping
  • Communications

• N/A

• Ability to perform work duties from [limited space work station/desk/office area] for extended periods of time
• Ability to communicate and interact with others in the English language to meet the demands of the job
• Ability to use a computer and other office productivity tools with sufficient speed and accuracy to meet the demands of the job

• Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have authorization to work in the United States as defined by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines

As an Innovation Designer, you can expect:

• Fly for free, as a privilege, on any open seat on all Southwest flights-your eligible dependents too.

• Up to a 9.3% 401(k) Company match, dollar for dollar, per paycheck.*

• Potential for annual ProfitSharing contribution toward retirement - when Southwest profits, you profit.**

• Explore more Benefits you'll love:

Pay & Benefits

• Competitive market salary from $89,960 per year to $93,700 per year* depending on qualifications and experience. For eligible Leadership and individual contributor roles, additional bonus opportunities are available and awarded at the discretion of the company.

• Fly for free, as a privilege, on any open seat on all Southwest flights (your eligible dependents too) *
• Up to a 9.3% 401(k) Company match, dollar for dollar, of your eligible pay, per paycheck * *Potential for annual Profit-sharing contribution toward retirement - when Southwest profits, you profit** *

*401(k) match contributions are subject to the plan's vesting schedule and applicable IRS limits
**ProfitSharing contributions are subject to plan's vesting schedule and are made at the discretion of the Company