Senior Product Strategist

Senior Product Strategist

IA Collaborative is seeking a Senior Product Strategist to help drive the strategy, development, and delivery of GenAI products and tools. You'll work across all phases of the product development lifecycle, from defining product vision and strategy to building working prototypes to shipping software that helps our clients reach their growth potential. This role requires hands-on building. You'll prototype, evaluate, and ship alongside a multi-disciplinary team.

Key Responsibilities

• Build rapid prototypes and proofs-of-concept to validate product hypotheses
• Design and refine prompts, system prompts, and RAG configurations
• Define output quality criteria and evaluation rubrics for AI-generated content
• Assess retrieval relevance and identify gaps in tool performance
• Design and run client-side and subject matter expert human-in-the-loop evaluations
• Decompose client workflows to identify where AI creates value
• Prioritize use cases based on user impact, feasibility, and product extensibility
• Design for adoption: understand what it takes for tools to get used inside an enterprise context
• Facilitate client workshops and interviews to drive alignment and identify user needs
• Conduct competitive analysis and benchmarking to inform scope and differentiation
• Communicate product value to end users and executive stakeholders
• Manage backlogs, release cadence, and cross-functional coordination across design, engineering, and strategy
• Negotiate scope with clients and internal teams
• Navigate enterprise deployment realities, including governance, security, procurement, and IT integration
• Partner with project leads to manage timelines, deliverables, and budgets
• Participate in setting engagement objectives and scope, and contribute to business development efforts as needed
• Act as a steward of IA Collaborative's business by exploring new offerings, capabilities, and growth opportunities

Required Qualifications

• Has shipped AI tools for a client, employer, or independently
• Hands-on experience with generative AI: prompt engineering, RAG methods, agentic systems, API integration
• 3-5+ years in a design consultancy, management consulting, innovation team, or product team
• Experience presenting to senior stakeholders, facilitating workshops, and managing client relationships
• Track record of bringing projects from start to finish across cross-functional teams
• Exposure to human-centered design processes and methods
• Comfortable in Figma and design/prototyping tools
• Has worked in or adjacent to the design industry
• Experience defining KPIs and using analytics to guide product decisions

Bonus Qualifications

• Master of Science (MS), Master's in Design Engineering (MDE), BS in CS or Technical field + Additional Experience, or a related field technical/design degree
• Experience bringing client projects from start to finish, collaborating with internal teams to align on tasks and activities
• Deep knowledge of generative AI technologies and their business applications (e.g., RAG methods, API usage, Fine-Tuning, agentic systems), with proficiency in Python, JavaScript, and data visualization tools (Tableau, Power BI, Matplotlib). Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and hands-on experience experimenting with GenAI technologies
• Visual communication skills and understanding of human-centered design, with the ability to turn user insights into strategic solutions while considering UX principles and accessibility
• Proven client-facing experience delivering tailored solutions, confidently presenting designs and recommendations, and aligning AI solutions with business goals
• Strong organizational skills in managing multiple projects, budgets, scope, and timelines independently
• Strong communication skills with experience mentoring teams and leading design discussions with clients
• Strong experience with design, prototyping, storytelling, and collaboration tools such as Figma, Keynote, Illustrator, Photoshop, Microsoft Office, and Google Suite.

About the Product Strategy Team

Product Strategists at IA partner with our clients to realize their growth ambitions. Through a rigorous, human-centered approach to continuous product iteration, we help visionary clients conceive of, prototype, and launch differentiated digital innovations. We become experts in new industries and new businesses – and we leverage that insight to define an aspirational yet grounded path to market.

IA Collaborative Work Model

In-office work is an essential requirement of employment. IA Collaborative operates under a hybrid model requiring office presence Tuesday through Thursday, with remote work flexibility Monday and Friday, subject to business needs.

In-office work is essential to fulfilling job responsibilities. Our collaborative design sessions and analog workshops require teams to work simultaneously on whiteboards and physical materials, iterating rapidly through hands-on problem-solving. These creative processes depend on spatial thinking and tactile interaction that lose significant effectiveness when screen-mediated.

Travel is an essential job function. Team members must travel approximately one to two times monthly for two to three consecutive days for research activities, workshops, or client meetings. Client-facing responsibilities and human-centered research demand the relationship-building and observational insights that only physical presence provides. Frequency, duration, and location vary based on role, project requirements, and client needs.

Team members must be available and responsive during office hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday. Schedules require flexibility for client meetings, project deadlines, cross-time zone collaboration, or other business needs, including availability outside office hours.

IA Collaborative reserves the right to modify work location expectations, schedules, travel, or in-office requirements based on operational, client, or business considerations.

Why IA Collaborative

At IA, you'll practice your craft in a whole new context. You'll be a part of designing the future of human experience as you transform your client's business, empower communities, and create a positive and lasting impact on the world.

IA's comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, vision; retirement savings benefits; discretionary bonus and profit-sharing programs; a suite of family benefits including paid time off for the birth of a child, caregiver leave, wellness check-in days, flexible spending accounts for dependent care, health expenses and childcare, and 529 college savings planning and contributions; and employer-paid life insurance and disability.

About IA Collaborative

IA Collaborative is a global design and innovation consultancy focused on leading the forefront of behavioral insight, applied AI, and business innovation. We partner with the world's most ambitious organizations to realize new growth, accelerate cultures of innovation, and create breakthrough products, platforms, and experiences. Our teams lead from insight to action – designing experiences that enhance lives, building collaborative intelligence that reinvents how we work, and launching offerings that impact the future of human experience.

IA is on the national and global stage speaking about the business value of design. Featured by Fast Company as one of the country's preeminent design thinkers and nominated by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum as a "Design Visionary," IA's leadership and work have been profiled by prominent business publications and has received multiple design accolades, including Best Design North America and Best UX Design in Fast Company's Innovation by Design Awards; the SXSW Business Design Award; and multiple honors in the Red Dot International, International Design Excellence Awards (IDSA), the GOOD DESIGN Awards, and the iF World Design Awards. IA Collaborative works with the world's most successful brands, including FedEx, Allstate, Airbnb, Fidelity, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Lilly, and Audi.

At IA Collaborative, we are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We believe that welcoming a diverse variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills to our organization contributes to a thriving culture, a vibrant community, and breakthrough work. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristics protected by federal, state, or local law.