Digital Product Director

In a Nutshell

IDEO London is looking for a Digital Product Director to help shape what it means to design AI-driven products that people actually trust. This is a senior role for someone who thinks of AI as a design material — not a feature set — and who understands that the hardest problems in AI are not just technical. They are human.

You will spend most of your time embedded in client work, directing product engagements from brief through to market. You will also help build IDEO’s AI product practice in Europe, at a moment when the regulatory landscape — the EU AI Act, CSRD, EHDS — is becoming a creative opportunity for organisations willing to treat it that way.

Why this role matters

Companies are asking how AI investment can become something customers actually want and trust. IDEO’s London studio is positioned to help clients move from aspiration to reality by designing socio-technical systems that are trustworthy by design.

Once here you will

• Lead digital product engagements from brief through to market, owning quality, pace, and the client relationship.
• Act as the main client point of contact on strategic accounts and build trust beyond the immediate project team.
• Direct multidisciplinary teams with clear thinking, rigour, and craft.
• Help clients design for agentic systems, human-AI collaboration, and non-deterministic interfaces.
• Prototype and pressure-test concepts early, including with live models.
• Contribute to IDEO’s AIx practice by developing tools, methods, and points of view for responsible AI design.
• Treat the European regulatory environment, including the EU AI Act, as a design brief.
• Coach and mentor designers and product leads.
• Scope and frame follow-on work and help define where IDEO can have the greatest impact.
• Represent IDEO externally through talks, writing, and thought leadership.

We are looking for someone with

• A strong track record of leading and launching complex digital products at senior or director level, ideally across both in-house and consultancy environments.
• Experience shipping products where AI plays a meaningful role.
• The discipline to ship and the curiosity to prototype what has not been built yet.
• Fluency in AI’s impact on product design, including agentic systems, LLM-powered capabilities, and human-AI interaction patterns.
• Confidence working in Figma and prototyping early through clickable mockups, coded proofs of concept, or live models.
• Strong people leadership and experience developing talent, managing performance, and supporting fast-moving cross-functional teams.
• Experience scoping and framing new work, writing proposals, and presenting to senior clients.
• Experience navigating complex stakeholders while maintaining a clear point of view.
• A strong understanding of UX and interaction design fundamentals, with a portfolio showing breadth across platforms and contexts.

Bonus experience

• Shipped AI-native products where AI is structural to the experience.
• Familiarity with the EU AI Act or broader European AI regulatory landscape.
• Experience in health, financial services, consumer technology, retail, or sustainability.
• Experience building an innovation practice or capability within a larger organisation.
• Fluency in a second European language.

What IDEO offers

• Innovation and creativity through AI-powered product and service work with ambitious organisations.
• Learning and growth in AI product craft, senior client relationships, speaking, and writing.
• Community, well-being, collaboration, connection, reflection, and respect for work-life balance.
• Projects with purpose, using design as a force for good from inception through implementation.

Compensation and location

Compensation is £90,000–£100,000 GBP, depending on experience. This position is based out of IDEO’s London studio with an in-person-first working model, including at least three days a week working from the studio.

The successful candidate must be based in the UK and have the unrestricted right to work in the UK. IDEO is unable to offer sponsorship for this role. IDEO proudly supports flexible work.