Experience Strategy & Design Intern

As our Experience Strategy & Design Intern, you will… 

Shape how people interact with the world around them. We are looking for an aspiring Experience Strategist or strategically minded Experience Designer (UX/UI) to bridge the gap between user needs, business goals, and brand promises while crafting seamless, human-centered experiences across the customer journey.

What you'll experience:

• Deep Expertise & Broad Exposure: While embedded within a specific department for hands-on, meaningful work, you will also gain broad exposure across the entire agency. This allows you to develop deep functional skills while building a holistic understanding of our service offerings.
• Defining Your Passion: Explore diverse work across the agency to identify your professional passions within the dynamic fields of technology and marketing.
• Core Summer Project: Through your learnings, you and your fellow interns will collaborate on a central project: creating engaging, authentic content that showcases MERGE culture, our innovative work, and our people.

What you’ll do:

• Join and support strategists, designers, project managers, and account leads in collaborative work sessions.
• Partner with the team to analyze customer journeys and market trends to identify friction points and help define compelling insights.
• Assist in identifying opportunities and creating strategic recommendations.
• Help create and iterate on design assets, including user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes.
• Support the development of strategic artifacts such as customer journey maps and ecosystem diagrams.
• Assist in translating complex ideas into clear visual stories through the creation of compelling presentations.
• Apply WCAG best practices to digital projects to support inclusive design and the MERGE accessibility initiative.

What we’re looking for: 

• Currently enrolled and working toward an undergraduate degree (rising junior or senior) or a recent graduate from an accredited college or university. We are looking for candidates who want to gain agency experience and bring great experiences to life for people and businesses.
• A curious, human-centered thinker with a background in Experience Design, HCI, Design Strategy, Communications, or a related field.
• Proficiency in Figma and a basic understanding of Adobe Creative Suite; familiarity with Miro for collaboration is a plus.
• Ability to articulate the "why" behind design or strategy choices and a passion for storytelling.
• Case studies that demonstrate your problem-solving process and how you approach complex challenges. Please note that select use cases will be reviewed in detail during the second round of interviews.
• First Generation college students strongly encouraged to apply
• You must be eligible to work in the United States to be considered for this role

Internship Essentials

• Duration: 10 weeks between June 1, 2026 - August 7, 2026 - Monday - Friday
• Compensation: $20.00/hour
• Location: Chicago, IL - Hybrid 2 days/week in-office
  • MERGE does not provide any form of housing reimbursement/stipend

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