Innovation Partner

Location: Singapore - Suntec, Singapore

In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.

Thales established its presence in Singapore in 1973 to support the expansion of aerospace-related activities in the Asia-Pacific region. Throughout the last four decades, the company grew from strength to strength and is today involved in the primary businesses of Aerospace (including Air Traffic Management), Defence & Security, Ground Transportation and Digital Identity & Security. Thales today employs over 2,100 people in Singapore across all its business areas.

Thales Design Center Singapore is seeking a **Innovation Partner** to join the team

**Overview of Thales Design Center**:
Innovation and Strategic Design have taken an even more important role in Thales in the last decade. The Group intends to achieve unprecedented quality in our product, superior performance and ultimately customer and user satisfaction. A central piece of this evolution is the deployment of Design Centers throughout the world to nurture disruptive user-centered innovation and encourage strategic initiatives inspired by design practices.

The Design Centre Singapore (operating under the Innovation Hub) was founded in 2014 to engage customers in collaborative design, making use of Design thinking and user-centric innovation. We explore unknown innovation territories with customer end-users and partners, developing new concepts and business strategies grounded in strong value propositions.

**Overview of the Role**:
As part of Thales' global network of Design Centers, the Design Center Singapore is dedicated to fostering a culture of innovation and co-creation. By embedding teams within customer environments, we aim to accelerate the adoption of human-centred methodologies, unlock strategic opportunities, and deliver impactful, future-ready solutions.

The **Innovation Partner** will act as a trusted advisor and change agent, leveraging expertise in consulting, innovation strategy, and co-creation to build a robust innovation culture. With a focus on Defence, Cybersecurity, Aerospace, and Security domains, this role bridges the gap between customer challenges and transformative solutions.

**Roles & Responsibilities**:
**1. Innovation Culture Development**
- Embedded within the customer organization to drive the adoption of innovation practices and a human-centred mindset.
- Develop and implement frameworks for fostering collaboration, creativity, and experimentation.
- Provide training and mentorship to customer teams to build internal innovation capabilities.
- Design and implement programs, workshops, and initiatives that inspire creativity and experimentation.
- Partner with stakeholders to align innovation activities with organizational goals and foster long-term adoption of innovation practices.

**2. Innovation Strategy & Facilitation**
- Lead the design and execution of innovation strategies that align with customer objectives.
- Facilitate co-creation workshops and design sprints to explore opportunities and address complex customer challenges.
- Produce and present reports capturing outputs on DT workshops, and gather recommendations
- Act as a strategic partner, guiding stakeholders in framing and solving problems using design-led methodologies.
- Experience with the use of personas, journey maps, visual storyboarding, crafting problem statements, creative matrix.

**3. Domain Expertise**
- Leverage knowledge of Defence, Cybersecurity, Aerospace, or Security to provide contextual insights and relevant solutions.
- Translate industry trends into actionable innovation opportunities tailored to customer needs.

**4. Research & Insights**
- Plan and Conduct user research and stakeholder interviews to identify pain points, needs, and aspirations.
- Synthesize insights into personas, journey maps, inspiration board and value propositions to guide project direction.
- Analyze market and technology trends to inform foresight and strategic planning.

**5. Collaboration & Delivery**
- Partner with multidisciplinary teams across Thales and our customer organization to implement solutions.
- Oversee the development and refinement of prototypes, ensuring alignment with customer goals.
- Present findings, concepts, and outcomes to key stakeholders, building alignment and buy-in.

**Requirements**:

- Minimum 5 years of experience in design innovation, design strategy, or related roles.
- Strong expertise in Design innovation, Design Thinking, and human-centred design methodologies.
- Ability to influence and engage with senior stakeholders
- Exceptional facilitation, storytelling, and communication skills in a service-oriented environment.
- Track record of building innovatio