---
title: 'Senior Industrial Designer at IDEO'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-industrial-designer-ideo-shanghai-mcn1r19y06h6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Senior Industrial Designer at IDEO

- **Company:** IDEO
- **Location:** Shanghai, China
- **Posted:** 2026-03-25
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ideo/jobs/7748581

## Job description

In a nutshell:

IDEO (Shanghai) is in search of a Senior Industrial Designer who will create product designs and experiences that have a genuine impact on people’s lives, can generate ideas quickly without a lot of parameters, and lead clients and teams through the industrial design phase of a project.

Why is this role important for IDEO’s work?

A Senior Industrial Designer makes the biggest impact by strengthening the Industrial Design point of view at IDEO through work across a range of projects, from product interaction to software tools and applications to the web. Their skillset is critical to our business because they are able to work across disciplines, bringing their perspective to every project.  We count on them to create tangible design expressions, and communicate the essence of these ideas.

Once here you will:

- Work with people that come from diverse backgrounds (like design researchers, communication designers, business designers, and interaction designers)
- Get exposure to and involved with all aspects of the design process: user research, brainstorming, concept development, prototyping, working with engineers and manufacturers and design stewardship
- Go out in the field and build empathy with a user through activities
- Become a part of a culture that lets you both learn and teach while working with people outside of your immediate area of expertise

What does IDEO offer you?

IDEO is a place unlike any other. It’s a place where you can solve diverse, complex challenges for our clients or the organization, alongside thoughtful, intelligent individuals who lead with curiosity, empathy, and optimism. Sure we work hard, but we also intentionally craft moments that allow our community to pause, create, and connect. We encourage our community to bring their whole selves to work, respect the need for work-life balance, and allow for autonomy in the design process and your career.

Some previous projects to check out:

[Kobo Aura](https://www.ideo.com/work/an-ereader-that-feels-like-a-hardcover-book): Designed two new eReaders that would exceed the expectations of readers who are truly passionate about the written word.  Both eReaders build on a strong, tactile experience, one that feels like a hardcover book.

[Wayne Helix](https://www.ideo.com/work/helix-fuel-dispenser): A globally consistent design language and manufacturing approach for a new family of fuel dispensers that positively impact the lives of distributors, retailers, service technicians, and motorists worldwide.

[Brooks Cambium](https://www.ideo.com/work/a-new-generation-of-bike-saddles): Brooks England turned to IDEO to design its first new bike saddle in decades, it was essential that the design pay respect to the company’s heritage.  The Cambium C17 won a Eurobike Gold Award upon launch in 2013.

[Node Chair](https://www.ideo.com/work/node-chair): A reconfigurable, mobile swivel chair designed for today’s high-density classrooms, the Node was created in collaboration with Steelcase as part of their effort to bring campus classrooms up to speed with current teaching and learning styles.

Relevant experience and mindset:

- You have knowledge of manufacturing processes and working closely with engineers, delivering engineering drawings and specifying CMF (colors, material, and finishes)
- You have excellent storytelling and narrative skills especially around your craft as well as outstanding communication, presentation, and design team collaboration skill
- You have strong visualization skills: from quick concept sketching to complete presentation sketches, 3D CAD modeling (Solidworks, Rhino, Fusion 360 or similar programs) to rendering (Keyshot, Cinema 4D or other similar programs).
- Experience using Adobe Suite, CAD, and Grasshopper for Rhino or equivalent would be a plus.

Pop quiz, Hot Shot:

Please include your answer to the following question in your cover letter.

If you could redesign any object or experience: what would it be, why should it be redesigned, how might you make it better, what would be your design approach?

Application requirements and instructions:

To apply, please submit your resume, cover letter, portfolio and pop quiz answer. Your portfolio should include at least 4 examples of work-related projects. In particular, we want to hear about the process involved in developing the design or project.  Bonus points if you include 2-3 projects you have worked on for fun.

## About IDEO

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: IDEO is a global design and innovation consultancy that helps organizations create human-centered products, services, and businesses using its pioneering Design Thinking methodology.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 1991 (Palo Alto, California)
- **Founders**: David Kelley, Bill Moggridge, Mike Nuttall

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Design Services / Innovation Consulting
- **Target customers**: Enterprise organizations, Fortune 500 companies, startups, and public sector entities across industries (healthcare, finance, technology, retail, education, government).
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To help all kinds of organizations imagine what’s next—and, more importantly, how to make it a reality. The company is built on the philosophy that creativity is the most powerful tool for solving complex challenges. [ideo.com](https://www.ideo.com/)

## Products & Services
- **Design Thinking & Innovation Consulting**: The core service. IDEO partners with clients to solve complex challenges through a human-centered, iterative process that integrates the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.
- **New Business & Brand Creation**: Envisioning and launching new businesses, brands, and organizational capabilities from the ground up.
- **Experience & Service Design**: Designing the experiences and capabilities that bring new strategies and products to life.
- **Organizational Design**: Helping clients build design-oriented cultures and structures (e.g., work with Ford).
- **IDEO U**: An online learning platform offering courses on design thinking, creativity, and leadership.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (privately held).
- **Key Metric**: **Annual Revenue: ~$100M** (estimated by LinkedIn). **Employees: ~382** (as of mid-2026, +6.2% YoY). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideo)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: IDEO has not disclosed major external funding rounds as a primary business. Notable partners/clients include **H&M** (sustainable supply chains), **Ford** (organizational design), and **Intercorp** (civic infrastructure). The company acquired **Datascope Analytics** in 2017.
- **Growth Signals**: Active hiring with 13 open positions (up 160% year-over-year as of mid-2026). The company operates in 38 countries with 9 offices across the US, UK, and China. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideo)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Pioneer of Design Thinking**: IDEO is widely credited with popularizing "Design Thinking" in the business world, a methodology it has practiced for decades. This gives it a powerful brand and thought leadership position.
- **Uniquely Diverse Talent**: The company hires from a remarkably broad talent pool—architects, authors, AI experts, opera singers, NASA engineers, food scientists, and ER doctors—creating a creative alchemy that competitors struggle to replicate. [ideo.com](https://www.ideo.com/careers)
- **Human-Centered Moat**: Their deep, ethnographic understanding of human behavior and a proven, iterative process for innovation are difficult for other firms to copy.

## Strategic Focus
- **AI & Emerging Technology**: Actively exploring how design is evolving in the era of AI, applying its human-centered approach to emerging technologies.
- **Healthcare & Systems-Level Change**: Working on large-scale challenges, such as healthcare systems and civic infrastructure.
- **Global Expansion**: Maintaining and growing its presence across key markets (US, UK, China, India) to serve multinational clients.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture of Creativity**: The company explicitly values "curiosity" and "wide-eyed imagination." The work environment is designed to bring together people from wildly different backgrounds to solve problems.
- **DEIB Commitment**: IDEO is deeply committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, actively working to bring many different perspectives to the table. [ideo.com](https://www.ideo.com/careers)
- **High Autonomy & Impact**: Employees work directly with the world’s most imaginative leaders on a wide variety of projects, from designing a toothpaste tube to a supersonic jet.
- **Work Environment**: Hybrid/office model with major studios in San Francisco (HQ), Cambridge (MA), Chicago, Palo Alto, London, and Shanghai. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideo)
- **Employee Rating**: 4.0/5.0 on LinkedIn, with strong marks for Culture (4.3) and Career (3.8), though Compensation (3.3) is rated lower. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideo)

## Sources
1. [IDEO Official Site](https://www.ideo.com/)
2. [IDEO About Us](https://www.ideo.com/about)
3. [IDEO Careers Page](https://www.ideo.com/careers)
4. [IDEO LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideo)
5. [IDEO Greenhouse Job Board](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ideo/jobs/7637138)

## Other roles at IDEO

- [Senior Business Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-business-designer-ideo-san-francisco-34gybfqbe27n) — San Francisco, CA
- [Industrial Designer, Contract-to-Hire](https://feeny.ai/job/industrial-designer-contract-to-hire-ideo-san-francisco-kpagcg2p50z3) — San Francisco, CA
- [Strategy and Organisational Design Director](https://feeny.ai/job/strategy-and-organisational-design-director-ideo-london-v96e8k3x55tw) — London, United Kingdom
- [Digital Product Director](https://feeny.ai/job/digital-product-director-ideo-london-jrp3tckhjpk8) — London, United Kingdom
- [Senior Visual Communication Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-visual-communication-designer-ideo-san-francisco-a1jnvcaveykz) — San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Business Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-business-designer-ideo-chicago-t9y89vp2da49) — Chicago, IL
- [Senior Visual Communication Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-visual-communication-designer-ideo-shanghai-265pez34ctfn) — Shanghai, China
- [Senior Designer, Visual Interaction Design](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-designer-visual-interaction-design-ideo-cambridge-zvsx489mfk3r) — Cambridge, MA
- [Visual Communication Design Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/visual-communication-design-lead-ideo-chicago-y6b2gf6xf00h) — Chicago, IL
- [Senior Visual Communication Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-visual-communication-designer-ideo-chicago-tczhzk125a5c) — Chicago, IL / San Francisco, CA