Innovation Strategist

We are X, bigly labs, Dis-Chem’s high-performance innovation hub; a place where bold ideas meet data, design, and radical customer focus to reimagine what healthcare can be.

Our mission is to power the future of healthcare by lowering costs, unlocking new possibilities, and improving access to healthcare for all South Africans. We do this through cutting-edge digital solutions that deliver smarter, more human, and truly patient-focused experiences. Here, your work is not limited to a whiteboard; it becomes real. It drives decisions, shapes experiences, and moves healthcare forward. We are driven by one big question: How do we use data and today’s technology to build breakthroughs to better health?

There’s only one question left: are you ready to make healthcare smarter, and actually mean it?

The Innovation Strategist aims to design and deliver exceptional innovation outcomes and translate business strategy or complex problem signals into rigorous, evidence-led missions. This role leads multiple workstreams (missions) by defining frameworks, aligning sponsors and stakeholders, and coaching practitioners so that the studio consistently delivers work that creates measurable strategic and commercial value.  

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR?

• Minimum qualification: Bachelor's degree in Design, Strategy, Business, Social Science, or a related field. Additional qualifications in Innovation, Service Design, or Design Thinking are advantageous. 
• 8–10 years' experience across innovation, design strategy, management consulting, or human-centred design roles - with demonstrated results measured through strategic impact, validated builds, or customer outcomes. 
• 5+ years leading cross-functional innovation or design teams and influencing business strategy. 
• Proven ability to frame complex, ambiguous problems, lead discovery work, and translate briefs into actionable opportunity spaces. 
• Systems and tools: advanced Miro or collaborative facilitation tools; familiarity with prototyping tools, analytics, and A/B testing tools; comfort with the DVF framework, JTBD, service blueprinting, and lean experimentation methods. 

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING?

• Define and lead Launch Studio's strategic approach for each commissioned initiative — ensuring work is coherent, high quality, and aligned to the sponsor's business goals. 
• Champion rigorous problem framing: apply structured tools to separate the presenting problem from the real one. 
• Lead hands-on contribution to incubation: applying desirability, viability, and feasibility tests to develop seeds into validated propositions. 
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with executive sponsors throughout the mission lifecycle - managing expectations, communicating evidence, and navigating competing interests. 
• Maintain a running view of strategic signals relevant to the innovation horizon e.g. market shifts, regulatory changes, competitor moves, and emerging technology inflection points. 

WHO YOU ARE?

• Know when to apply which method and when the method is getting in the way of the work. 
• Able to shape innovation strategy in partnership with sponsors, leaders, and the Head of Launch Studios
• Skilled at facilitating dialogue that builds alignment across sponsors, squads, and receiving owners
• Comfortable representing innovation leadership in cross-functional forums and sponsor engagements
• Experienced in building trusted relationships across squads and functions

Our values show up in how we think, build, and make choices that make an impact. We are building a culture that drives progress; one that fixes friction, chases what changes, and owns the outcome. We design with tomorrow in mind, ask sharper questions, and answer them with care, urgency, and systems that scale.

Think you’ve got energy, curiosity, and guts? Come hold the space, make it matter, and own a breakthrough.