Holiday Product Manager - Product Development in London

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 aren't just technical. But you'll also help build something bigger: IDEO's AI product practice in Europe, at a moment when the regulatory landscape — the EU AI Act, CSRD, EHDS — is becoming a genuine creative opportunity for the organisations brave enough to treat it that way.

Business development is a natural part of the role — growing relationships, shaping opportunities, and helping clients understand what it genuinely means to build AI into their products and organisations responsibly. The question has shifted. Companies aren't asking "what can AI do?" They're asking "how do we make AI investment turn into something our customers actually want — and trust?" It takes the ability to sit at the intersection of human need, business ambition, and the emerging rules that will define how AI gets built in Europe. We're not building an ML shop. We're building the practice that helps clients move from aspiration to reality: designing socio-technical systems that are trustworthy by design, not just compliant by accident.

Once here you will:

• Lead digital product engagements from brief through to market, owning quality, pace, and the client relationship throughout.
• Act as the main client point of contact on strategic accounts, building trust beyond the immediate project team.
• Direct multidisciplinary teams with clear thinking and steady hands, keeping work moving without losing rigour or craft.
• Help clients navigate the shift from AI-bolted-on to AI-native — including what it means to design for agentic systems, human-AI collaboration, and the messy reality of non-deterministic interfaces.
• Prototype and pressure-test concepts early. IDEO's edge is that we prototype with live models — revealing the nuance of human and AI interaction rather than theorising about it.
• Contribute to our AIx practice — developing tools, methods, and points of view that sharpen how IDEO and our clients think about designing with AI responsibly and at scale.
• Help us treat the European regulatory environment as a design brief. The EU AI Act isn't a constraint to manage around; it's a creative opportunity to design through.
• Coach and mentor designers and product leads, modelling excellent craft and client communication.
• Scope and frame follow-on work, growing relationships and helping define where IDEO can have the greatest impact.
• Represent IDEO externally through talks, writing, and thought leadership — particularly at the intersection of trustworthy AI and human-centred design.

We're looking for someone with:

• A strong track record of leading and launching complex digital products — senior or director-level, ideally across both in-house and consultancy environments.
• A designer and leader who has shipped products where AI plays a meaningful role — not as decoration, but as something that genuinely changes what the product can do and how people experience it.
• Genuine fluency in how AI is reshaping product design — including agentic systems, LLM-powered capabilities, and human-AI interaction patterns.
• Strong people leadership: you develop talent, manage performance, and create the conditions for good work in fast-moving, cross-functional teams.
• Experience scoping and framing new work, writing proposals, and presenting to senior clients.
• Experience navigating complex stakeholders — you know how to build alignment without losing the point of view that makes the work worth doing.
• A genuine understanding of UX and interaction design fundamentals, with a portfolio that shows breadth across platforms and contexts.

It's a bonus if you:

• Have shipped AI-native products — not AI features layered onto existing ones, but products where AI is structural to the experience.
• Have familiarity with the EU AI Act or the broader European regulatory landscape around AI — and ideally a point of view on what it means for design practice.
• Have experience in health, financial services, consumer technology, retail, or sustainability — the sectors where the London studio is most focused.
• Have helped build an innovation practice or capability within a larger organisation.
• Are fluent in a second European language.

What We Believe:

• AI is a new material. And we believe the best AI products aren't the most technically sophisticated ones; Lead work that genuinely matters — from designing AI-powered products and services to building innovation capabilities at some of the world’s most ambitious organisations, working alongside talented people across disciplines.
• Whether it’s deepening your AI product craft, taking on more senior client relationships, or building your external profile through speaking and writing, we’re here to support your development.
• Community and well-being: Collaboration and community are central to what we do. We foster moments for creativity, connection, and reflection, and respect the need for work-life balance.
• Projects with purpose: We partner with clients to use design as a force for good, solving meaningful problems from inception through to implementation.

Compensation: 90,000-100,000 GBP, depending on experience. Location: This position is based out of our London studio with an in-person-first working model, including at least three days a week working from the studio. IDEO proudly supports flexible work.

Commitment to Diversity: At IDEO, we are committed to the work of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within our organisation and in the world. This applies to our candidates, the people we hire, the clients and customers we serve, and the communities we learn from in our research. We recognise that this commitment requires ongoing work and sustained attention, as well as adaptation to new insights and best practices. We keep our diversity data public for the sake of accountability and transparency.

If you identify with our values, are excited about great design, and would like to contribute to our community, we would love to see your CV, a cover letter, and examples of your work.

CV: please highlight experiences related to the ‘We’re looking for someone with’ section above.

Cover letter: please share why you are interested in this role and how it aligns with how you are looking to grow in your career.

Work examples (confidentiality permitting): please include two or three projects that demonstrate your product thinking and AI fluency. For each, tell us the challenge, your role, the approach, and the impact.

We know that many of you are coming from a range of backgrounds — product management, UX design, technology consulting, engineering, or a mix of all of the above. We think of digital product broadly, so include examples of whatever work best represents how you think and what you build.