Experience Strategy & Design Intern

Merge Storytelling and Technology

We bring together the minds and passions of creative pioneers, tech innovators, and data explorers to help ambitious clients solve business challenges and rise to the top. MERGE has enduring client partnerships with American Express, T-Mobile, Subway, Kate Spade NY, Coach, The North Face, Meta, Adobe, BlueCross BlueShield, Abbott, Astellas, Supernus, CSL, GE Healthcare, Broward Health, Indiana University Health, and Morgan Stanley. With offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Montreal, New York City and Los Angeles. MERGE uses a talent-to-task process that enables clients to think higher and feel deeper about their customers.

Promote Health, Wellness & Happiness

We are committed to promoting health, wellness and happiness in the world by partnering with purpose-driven clients in purpose-driven industries in healthcare, life science, and consumer products. Our deep vertical expertise and category insights stem from decade-long partnerships with our top clients.

Emerge to the Top of Your Career

At MERGE, we strive to create a superior work experience where talented and ambitious people grow. An experience that encourages people to think higher and feel deeper. An experience where people engage their minds and hearts to do the best work of their careers.

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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And here’s how we live our values at MERGE

• Ability. Mastering our craft

• Agility. Delivering with a growth mindset

• Humility. Collaborating for shared success

MERGE is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer

MERGE welcomes and celebrates diversity regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status or people with abilities. We believe that the more diverse we are, the more creative our work will be!