Hybrid Summer Design Researcher – 2026 Master’s Internship

at IA Collaborative

• Job title: Summer Design Researcher – 2026 Master’s Internship
• Job type: Internship
• Experience level: Entry level
• Salary: $65 per hour
• Degree requirement: Postgraduate Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Chicago, United States

About the role

• Summer Design Researcher role involving research and design strategy for client projects at IA Collaborative. Supports innovation through AI methodologies and multidisciplinary collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Research: Through immersive, contextual research you will live design problems and uncover insights to solve them.
• AI-Guided Exploration: You will work at the forefront of research and design strategy, integrating AI-assisted methodologies into your research and synthesis processes.
• Strategic Thinking: You will help us push the boundaries of innovation, creating frameworks, organizing information, and positioning new offerings.
• Design: You will collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to translate research insights into principles and directives for design.
• Business Development: You will support IA Collaborative’s overall business by exploring future possibilities for the organization, including new offerings and capabilities.

Requirements

• Currently within the first or second year in a Master’s program with a concentration in Design Research, Design Strategy, Service Design, or equivalent field.
• Minimum one year of professional work experience with a proven track record of communication skills, interpersonal effectiveness, and personal management skills.
• Familiarity with a wide range of Design Thinking methodologies including: In-context observations, stakeholder interviews, journey mapping, and framework design.
• Ability to work with teams to identify user-needs and patterns, key insights, and opportunities, and then translate and prioritize opportunities into business and design implications.
• A drive to deliver impactful and actionable insights and provide clear strategic direction.
• Possess the ability to think conceptually about products and services, constantly exploring new and differentiated ways to design for users.
• Possess strong presentation and storytelling abilities.
• Experience using AI-powered platforms to support the research and synthesis process (e.g., Marvin, Dovetail, Notion, Dscout, Maze, etc.) in addition to a willingness to experiment with nascent tools.
• Ability to work from our downtown headquarters 3 days per week for the duration of the internship.

Benefits

• Candidates should expect to hear back by the end of March regarding interviews
• All applicants must provide either: a URL to an interactive slideshow, a portfolio site, or a PDF attachment.