Service Design Career Skills Workshop
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Please ignore the above closed registration message.
We are accepting screening form submissions until Wednesday, September 10.
We want to make sure this workshop is the right fit for you. Please complete the short screening form here to apply for a spot.
Service Design Career Skills Workshop
For most of us in service design, the career path isn't clearly marked. We figure it out largely on our own learning as we go, often without a community of peers who understand the specific challenges of doing this work in large, complex organizations.
Join us on Monday, September 28, 2026 in Toronto for an in-person workshop evening designed for service designers at all career stages. It will be a small, intentional gathering built around peer learning, honest reflection, and practical career development.
Who is this for?
Service designers working in enterprise and public sector organizations across three career stages:
Junior / Early career Service Designers
Mid-level Service Designers
Senior Service Designers
Your facilitators
Nate Archer | Director, Service Design - CIBC
Michelle Zheng | Senior Manager, Experience Design - Loblaw Companies Limited
Alexa Pollock (Tratner) | Customer Experience Design Lead - Northbridge Financial Corporation
Arun Joseph Martin | Senior Service Designer - Sun Life
Chiara Garrido | Senior Service Designer - Scotiabank
Tayla Gurgel | Senior Strategist, Innovation & Design - Medavie Blue Cross
Vanessa Namseang | Product Specialist - Duo by Amplemarket
What is this workshop about?
Join us for an interactive Service Design career development workshop (cohort-based activities) designed to help you:
Reflect on your current strengths and identify opportunities for growth
Build a practical, actionable development plan tailored to your career stage
Connect with a community of service designers facing similar challenges and ambitions
Learn through hands-on activities, real-world scenarios, and collaborative discussions
What can I expect from the workshop?
This workshop meets you where you are. The activities are tailored to your career stage.
Junior / Early career Service Designer
You will focus on skills mapping, real-world scenarios, communicating your value, and peer discussion with designers at a similar stage.
You will leave with:
A clear picture of your current strengths and the one competency most worth developing next
Learn through hands-on activities, real-world scenarios, and collaborative discussions
Mid-level Service Designer
You will focus on competency assessment, real-world scenarios that reflect the complexity of independently leading projects, development opportunities, and peer discussion.
You will leave with:
Clarity on the specific skills that will move you from mid-level to senior
Peer-shared approaches to common mid-level challenges
Senior Service Designer
You will focus on real-world organizational challenges, honest reflection on leadership and influence, and peer discussion with designers operating at a similar level of complexity.
You will leave with:
Sharper language for the strategic and organizational value you create in terms that resonate with executive stakeholders
A small peer network of senior designers facing similar challenges
When and where?
- Monday, September 28, 2026
- 5:30 pm – 8:15 pm
- WSIB Office, 200 Front Street West, Toronto (5-minute walk from Union Station)
What does the agenda look like?
5:00 - 5:30 pm - Doors open
5:30 - 6:05 pm - Presentations
6:10 - 7:25 pm - Workshop activities
7:25 - 7:50 pm - Reflections
7:50 - 8:15 pm - Networking
Special thanks to Reshmi J. Bisessar, Experience Design Leader at WSIB, for hosting us.
How to apply
Spots are limited to keep the group small and the conversations meaningful.
Please take 5 to 7 minutes to complete the screening form. Your responses help us match you with the right cohort.
Responses are reviewed individually. If selected, you'll receive an email within two weeks with a payment link for $48 to confirm your place. If the workshop is full, we'll add you to the waitlist.
→ Apply via screening form
Who can I contact if I have questions?
You can send an email to Arun Joseph at arun.martin@gmail.com