Associate Director – AI Innovation Lab, Human-centered Design

Jobtailor

Greater London

On-site

GBP 90,000 - 130,000

Full time

14 days+

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Job summary

Jobtailor seeks a senior leader to drive customer innovation engagements end to end, framing challenges and directing prototypes with executive alignment. You will orchestrate multidisciplinary teams of designers, researchers, engineers and strategists to transform business priorities into design opportunities and measurable outcomes.

You will guide senior client relationships, facilitate workshops, and translate complex needs into value-driven AI-enabled solutions, with travel to customer sites

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in design, HCI, business, engineering, CS, architecture or related field.
10+ years in design, innovation or consulting.
3+ years leading multidisciplinary teams and owning senior customer relationships.
Portfolio with case studies of end-to-end engagements.
Business-level fluency in English; executive facilitation skills.
Significant experience leading service/product/innovation work from research through outcome.
Experience shaping complex customer workshops or Lab engagements.
Understanding of generative and agentic AI systems.
Willingness to travel to customer sites and Lab locations.

Responsibilities

Lead customer innovation engagements end to end from framing to decision.
Serve as strategic contact to senior leadership and account teams.
Shape briefs, engagement arcs and success measures with customers.
Coordinate immersion, co-design, workshops, build, test and follow-through.
Lead executives through ambiguity and decisions (CIO/CTO/COO levels).
Translate priorities into opportunities, value hypotheses and design challenges.
Define roles, decisions, and accountability across human-AI systems.
Direct multidisciplinary teams through focused build cycles.
Define testing evidence and connect to executive next steps like sprints or pilots.
Turn validated work into reusable methods and reference builds.
Maintain quality standards and coach teams; manage client relationships.

Skills

Customer Innovation Leadership

Multidisciplinary Team Management

Business Acumen

Generative AI Systems Understanding

Workshop Facilitation

Executive Presence

Consulting Judgment

English Proficiency

Strategic Stakeholder Engagement

Travel Willingness

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Master's Degree

MBA

Tools

Figma

FigJam

Miro

Generative AI Tools

Job description

Lead customer innovation engagements end to end, from challenge framing and executive workshops through prototype direction, evidence and decision
Serve as strategic customer contact and trusted advisor to senior leadership
Shape the brief, engagement arc and success measures with customers and account teams
Connect immersion, co-design, workshops, build, test and post-Lab follow-through
Lead CIOs, CTOs, COOs and leadership teams through ambiguity, challenge and decisions
Translate business priorities, user needs and operational realities into opportunities, value hypotheses and design challenges
Define roles, knowledge, decisions, handoffs, exceptions, control and accountability across human-AI systems
Direct creative technologists, designers, researchers and engineers through focused build cycles
Define testing evidence using research, realistic scenarios, synthetic personas and system evaluation
Connect evidence and recommendations to executive next steps such as sprints, pilots or transformation initiatives
Turn validated work into reusable methods, patterns, components, prompts, agent states, policies, evaluation sets and reference builds
Build complementary strengths across design, consulting, AI and business strategy; set quality standards and coach teams
Own engagement architecture, outcomes, customer relationship and path to durable business value
Connect business intent and intended experience to technical delivery
Keep approximately 10% of capacity for moonshots in human-AI collaboration, embodied AI and adaptive interfaces

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in design, HCI, business, engineering, computer science, architecture or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
10+ years in design, innovation or consulting
3+ years leading multidisciplinary teams and owning senior customer or executive relationships
Portfolio with case studies of engagements led end to end
Business-level fluency in English
Executive presence and facilitation skills
Business acumen and consulting judgment
Significant experience leading service, product, experience or innovation work from research through validation and outcome
Experience shaping and running complex customer workshops, Lab engagements or consulting programs
Understanding of generative and agentic AI systems
Experience aligning designers, creative technologists, researchers, engineers, industry experts and commercial teams
Willingness to travel to customer sites and Lab locations
Preferred: Master's degree or MBA
Preferred: consultancy, innovation lab, product studio or creative agency background
Preferred: Figma, FigJam or Miro; workshop and design-sprint facilitation; generative AI tools
Preferred: digital, spatial or physical prototyping and responsible AI governance, risk and model evaluation familiarity
Preferred: business development proposal, pitch and thought-leadership experience

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in leading customer innovation engagements, translating business priorities into design challenges, and guiding multidisciplinary teams through complex projects. Proficient in connecting technical delivery with business intent while fostering strong executive relationships.

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