Innovation Lab Lead

Merkle Italia; Colorado; Hybrid; USD 136,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance (short/long-term)

401k

Flexible paid time off

At least 15 paid holidays per year

Paid sick and safe leave

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Merkle, USA-based for remote Colorado operations, seeks an Innovation Lab Lead to drive rapid ideation and PoC sessions under the Horizon program. You will design labs, translate challenges into validated AI demonstrations, and co-author business cases that advance deals.

You will engage senior stakeholders, map objectives to Adobe solutions, and craft scalable lab playbooks while maintaining executive communications on progress and outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and facilitating workshops for senior stakeholders.
• Proven ability to engage executive stakeholders and run workshops.
• Deep knowledge of at least three Adobe Experience Cloud solutions.
• Experience in pre-sales, customer innovation, or solution engineering.
• Strong business acumen translating objectives into value cases and tech recommendations.
• Experience initiating AI initiatives; comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration.
• Track record managing multi-stakeholder, time-bound engagements.

Responsibilities

• Design and facilitate customer innovation labs and workshops.
• Collaborate with Adobe Tech Presales and Lead Architect to map objectives to solutions.
• Manage pre-commitment evaluation planning with clear scope and success criteria.
• Partner with Merkle teams to position lab findings as business cases and roadmaps.
• Develop repeatable lab methodologies and evaluation frameworks.
• Maintain executive-level communications on progress and next steps.

Skills

Workshop design

Executive presence

Executive stakeholder facilitation

Adobe Experience Cloud knowledge

Pre-sales / solution engineering

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Tools

GenStudio

Firefly

CX Enterprise CoWorker

Job description

Job Description: Role Summary

The Innovation Lab Lead drives rapid, high-impact ideation and proof-of-concept sessions with Adobe's prospective enterprise customers under the Horizon pre-sales program. Operating at the nexus of strategy, technology, and customer activation, this role designs and facilitates week-long innovation labs that translate business challenges into validated AI and agentic capability demonstrations. The Lab Lead combines strong facilitation skills with deep Adobe solution knowledge to unlock new sales pipeline opportunities and co-author the technical business cases that move deals forward.

Key Responsibilities

The responsibilities below reflect core accountability for this role across customer engagements and team operations.

• Design and facilitate customer innovation labs. This includes leading early-stage discovery workshops that distill customer pain points into scoped, prototype-able scenarios aligned to Horizon's evaluation and committed build phases. Candidates should have the ability to surface high-value use cases and validate product-market fit for emerging Adobe AI and agentic capabilities.
• Collaborate closely with Adobe Technical Presales and the Lead Architect to map customer business objectives to Adobe Ecosystem Solutions (such as GenStudio, Firefly, and CX Enterprise CoWorker) and to custom AI-driven capabilities that we ideate, design, develop, and deploy.
• Manage pre-commitment evaluation planning, ensuring customer insights translate into clear scope, success criteria, and resource plans for downstream delivery.
• Partner with Merkle strategy and delivery teams to position lab findings as business cases and roadmaps that justify Horizon build engagements.
• Develop and refine repeatable lab methodologies, playbooks, and evaluation frameworks that scale across multiple customer contexts with the Adobe Horizon (AI Pilot) program team.
• Maintain clear, executive-level communications with customers and Adobe stakeholders on innovation progress, learning, and next steps.

Required Qualifications

• Previous experience and proven ability to demonstrate workshop design and facilitation experience, with ability to guide senior technical and business stakeholders through discovery and ideation.
• Extensive experience engaging executive stakeholders with strong executive presence, including building and designing executive-level workshops, solutions, and reporting/KPIs across marketing, technology, business, brand, and finance functions.
• Deep working knowledge of at least three Adobe Experience Cloud solutions, to help bridge ideation of AI solutions into core Adobe SKUs and capabilities.
• Prior experience in pre-sales, customer innovation, or solution engineering roles with ability to rapidly scope complex, ambiguous challenges.
• Strong business acumen with ability to translate customer objectives into quantifiable value cases and technology recommendations.
• Proven experience initiating and implementing AI initiatives within organizations.
• Comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration; ability to synthesize learning across multiple engagements and adapt approaches based on customer feedback.
• Track record of managing multi-stakeholder, time-bound engagements with competing priorities and tight delivery windows.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills, with ability to articulate technical concepts to non-technical audiences.

Preferred

Preferred: experience within Financial Services, Healthcare, or Pharmaceutical organizations, which represent the largest share of the current portfolio. Experience with change management and operational efficiency is a plus. Track record of delivering trackable ROI on initiatives led.

What Success Looks Like

Innovation labs consistently surface high-conviction use cases and convert prospective customers into pre-commitment evaluation or build engagements. Lab findings are synthesized into clear business cases and technical roadmaps that inform customer investment decisions. Customers experience structured, high-impact thinking that positions Merkle and Adobe as trusted, forward-looking partners. Lab playbooks and evaluation frameworks are refined and scaled across additional customer contexts.

The annual base salary range for this position is $136,000-$200,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law. Additionally, this position is eligible for discretionary incentive compensation.

Benefits available with this position include

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance,
• Life insurance,
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance,
• 401k,
• Flexible paid time off,
• At least 15 paid holidays per year,
• Paid sick and safe leave,
• Paid parental leave.

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies.

For more information regarding dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com.

At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our way of working combines flexibility with in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Employees who live within a commutable distance of one of our hub offices, currently located in Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City, are required and expected to work from the office three days per week (two days per week for employees based in Los Angeles). Dentsu may designate other Hub offices at any time. Those who live outside a commutable range may be designated as remote, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect our employees to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office.

Location: USA - Remote - Colorado

Brand: Merkle

Time Type: Full time

Contract Type: Permanent

Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex , sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.

Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail [e-mail] clicking on the link to let usknow the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.

About dentsu

For over 120 years, innovation has been a core tenet of our offering – exploring new ways to reach, engage and nurture relationships with audiences. Together we drive a multiplier effect for clients at a global scale, through the development of Integrated Growth Solutions that are underpinned by our promise to clients: innovating to impact. Be a force for good. Sustainability is a vital part of our business and an important area of focus for our clients. We’re leading the way – helping to build a more sustainable planet. Dream loud. In this moment of transformation, we need our people to be fearless, embracing change and ambiguity, driven by the love for your work and excitement for the future. Team without limits. We create opportunities for connection and collaboration between our colleagues and clients, building a sense of belonging and having some fun along the way.

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