Design Lead – Research & Innovation (m/w/d) for the Munich Design Institute

Role overview

The Munich Design Institute at the Technical University of Munich is seeking a Design Lead for Research & Innovation to strengthen its design-driven research agenda. The role calls for a strong design sensibility, confident visual and formal design skills, and a clear interest in academic research. A core part of the position is linking technological progress with social responsibility.

This opportunity is centered on bringing design practice into transdisciplinary research settings. The position involves supporting research through prototyping and visualization, teaching design methods, and following projects with a research-oriented perspective to help produce new knowledge. The appointment is initially limited to 2 years.

About the Munich Design Institute

The Munich Design Institute (MDI) is an integrative research institute at TUM that examines important contemporary questions through the combined lenses of design, science, and design science. The institute brings together rigorous research and creative imagination to help address complex societal challenges.

MDI is led by Prof. Annette Diefenthaler, Chair of Design and Transdisciplinarity, who brings 20 years of international experience in design and design research practice. The institute works across design, engineering, and the social sciences, and collaborates with partners from industry, civil society, and politics to create methods, formats, and projects that support future-ready solutions.

As a globally leading university, TUM offers an excellent setting for this work through its focus on research and teaching excellence, interdisciplinary education for more than 50,000 students worldwide, and strong support for early-career researchers. Its close links to companies, startups, academia, and practice-based institutions create a highly dynamic environment.

What the role involves

• Develop physical, digital, and hybrid prototypes within varied research projects, such as robotics in care or food science, to help represent and examine complex scenarios.
• Use design approaches and methods in transdisciplinary research to help create new knowledge.
• Engage critically with research and technology development from a social perspective and place innovation in its broader societal context.
• Identify, adapt, and document design methods that work particularly well in research-driven environments.
• Help shape new research projects and third-party funding proposals, with the option to deepen the research dimension through a postdoctoral phase.
• Support the development of partnerships with academic, industry, and societal stakeholders.
• Design and deliver courses and learning formats in design and design research for TUM students and doctoral candidates from other fields.
• Increase the institute’s visibility through publications, presentations, and events.

Requirements and qualifications

• Strong foundation in industrial design, product design, design engineering, experience design, or a related design field, with secure command of iterative and form-giving design processes.
• Ability to translate tacit knowledge into tangible outcomes through artifacts, prototypes, and visual storytelling.
• Proven experience working across disciplinary boundaries with researchers, non-design specialists, and institutional partners.
• Background in independently planning, coordinating, and completing design projects.
• Excellent written and spoken German and English.
• A completed master’s degree in Design, Industrial Design, Design Engineering, Interaction Design, or another design discipline.
• Applicants from adjacent fields are welcome if they can demonstrate a solid design practice and methodological grounding.
• Advantageous: experience using design as a research method; ideally a doctorate in Design, Design Engineering, or a related subject.
• Advantageous: experience preparing grant applications for funding bodies such as DFG, EU, BMBF, or similar organisations.
• Advantageous: interest in the social implications of technology development and innovation.
• Advantageous: experience teaching or running workshops in universities or transdisciplinary settings.
• Advantageous: collaborative mindset, team spirit, creative problem-solving ability, and comfort working through ambiguity while managing multiple priorities.

What TUM offers

• A role at one of Europe’s most respected universities.
• The appointment is initially for 2 years, with extension possible and desired.
• The position can be arranged at 75% to 100% workload.
• A dynamic and inspiring workplace in a goal-oriented team.
• The chance to help shape a growing institute while benefiting from the support structures of an established university.
• A working environment committed to belonging and inclusion, regardless of national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic background, physical abilities or characteristics, religion, or political conviction.
• Opportunity to collaborate with researchers at a leading technical university and with a broad network of partners from industry, academia, and the public sector.
• Strong professional development support and an expanding community of practice for career growth.
• Pay is determined according to the German federal states public service collective agreement (TV-L / E13).
• The main workplace is in Garching at the MDI site.

Application requirements

Applicants must submit a complete application as a single PDF, using the subject line Design Lead Research & Innovation. The PDF should include a cover letter of up to 1 page, a CV of up to 3 pages, a portfolio with at least 4 relevant work samples, and the names of 1–2 references together with a brief description.

Name the PDF file in the format: Lastname-Firstname-Application-DesignLead.

The cover letter should address two points: your experience working with non-design disciplines and how you introduced and communicated design perspectives in those settings; and how you have used design as a research method in a project, including the insights it produced that would not have emerged through other means.

Individual inquiries cannot be answered before the application deadline.

Equal opportunity and data protection

TUM actively seeks to increase the share of women in its workforce and especially encourages qualified women to apply. The role is suitable for candidates with disabilities, who will be given preference in cases of equal suitability, aptitude, and professional performance.

By applying, candidates acknowledge TUM’s GDPR-based data protection information regarding the collection and processing of personal data submitted with the application.

Contact and workplace details

Munich Design Institute, Technical University of Munich, Walther-Von-Dyck-Str. 14, 85748 Garching. Executive Director: Prof. Annette Diefenthaler. Managing Director: Tobias Mihr. Contact: application.mdi@tum.de.