Merkle Aotearoa | Auckland | Permanent | Full time | R1096907

• Enjoy a flexible/hybrid working culture and a high performing, tight knit team.
• Great leave benefits above the status quo - wellbeing half-days, long service leave and parental leave benefits.
• Unlimited learning opportunities with a supportive team, global online learning tools and a network of specialists around the world.

About us

Merkle Aotearoa, are a leading Experience Transformation Consulting firm in New Zealand and a part of dentsu, Asia Pacific’s largest and most awarded agency network.

Merkle’s vision is to transform Aotearoa through connected experiences, and we have a strong pedigree partnering with clients to support their transformation. We help our clients identify strategic opportunities, re-imagine new digital experiences, and enable their outcomes through world-class design and delivery of technology.

Our Experience Consulting team at Merkle Aotearoa take a strategic, human-centred approach to anchor transformation efforts around the people we are serving and the outcomes our partners seek. We have a diverse and talented team that spans strategy, consulting, research, service and experience design, and to support our growth, we are looking for an Experience & Strategy Lead.

What your role and typical day might look like

Our Experience and Strategy Lead plays a key role to facilitate, guide, and advise our clients as they clarify strategic problems, explore and analyse opportunities, and incorporate customer experience and design thinking within their transformation. You will clarify and align diverse perspectives on the key problems to be solved, the direction of travel and what the future should look like, and the best path to get there.

The Experience and Strategy Lead will understand the holistic business elements needed to achieve success, and be expert at distilling, prioritising, planning for, and communicating these ingredients effectively. You will be expert at facilitating and constructively challenging Senior Leadership Teams, building trust and credibility quickly.

You’ll navigate the nuances and complexities of different business contexts and stakeholders to provide value and influence positive client outcomes. You will have opportunities to apply the breadth of your consulting expertise, leading activities across change management, service design, research, and analysis.

You’ll craft compelling narratives that align and motivate key leaders, make human experiences relatable, and turn insights into actionable initiatives. You’ll support, inspire, activate, and prepare their people for change. With your knowledge of delivering complex programmes, you’ll support sales, planning, and delivery of diverse technology implementation projects.

Responsibilities include:

• Engage and collaborate closely with clients and key stakeholders to understand their business objectives, challenges, and strategic opportunities for improvement.
• Facilitate alignment of customer needs and CX industry best practices with strategic outcomes.
• Develop and advise on CX Strategy and prioritisation activities.
• Conduct strategic analysis to define and measure success, benefits, and return on investment.
• Provide change management advice and analysis to support success and adoption.
• Co-design, ideate, prototype and test customer-centric solutions that enhance the overall customer experience across all touchpoints.
• Identify opportunities for clients to leverage innovative technologies to enhance operations, product and service experience, promote loyalty and enable personalisation.
• Lead collaboration across cross-functional teams to create service blueprints that integrate CX, business processes, data, and technology.
• Being a thought leader and Merkle representative in the Experience community, immersing yourself into the latest industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of methodologies, frameworks, and tools we use.
• Contribute to growth and pre-sales activities.

A bit about you

• Extensive experience in consultancy (or similar client-side leadership), with a focus on strategy, transformation, customer experience, and human centred design.
• Confident communicator, facilitator and presenter, with the ability to effectively engage and influence stakeholders at all levels of the organisation, including executive leadership.
• Familiar working in, and leading others, in programme and project environments, typically using an Agile or hybrid delivery approach.
• Strong analytical skills and strategic thinking abilities with a track record of delivering value and impact.
• Very adaptable, resilient, with a growth mindset who is comfortable working in ambiguous contexts.
• A strong collaborator and positive team player who builds effective and trusting relationships with ease.
• Trained and/or experienced in CX and design methodologies that elevate the customer and user lens.
• Experience in Service Design, Business Analysis, Research, and User Experience is also highly valued.
• Familiarity with experience transformation platforms is a positive (e.g. CRM, CMS, ERP, MarTech, and Commerce).

Be a champion for meaningful progress

We want you to be you, as for us, this is the foundation for great innovation which, in turn, generates better outcomes for our people, partners and communities. This is why we encourage applications from people with disabilities, and of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds and cultures.

Next Steps

To join us at dentsu Aotearoa register your interest to our dentsu careers page.

Please note, we are currently only considering candidates who possess working rights for New Zealand.