Associate Director, AI Innovation Lab Experience Lead

Associate Director, Ai And Innovation Lab Experience Lead

At Kyndryl, we design, build, manage and modernize the mission-critical technology systems that the world depends on every day. We are always moving forward always pushing ourselves to go further in our efforts to build a more equitable, inclusive world for our employees, our customers and our communities.

Kyndryl is looking to hire an Associate Director, AI and Innovation Lab Experience Lead. In this role you'll be responsible for customer engagement, commercial and pipeline growth, delivery operations and professional development.

This role will be full time, office based position working from our Dallas, TX Innovation lab. Candidates must be based in the Dallas metro area, or be willing to move to Dallas, TX to qualify for this role.

Key Responsibilities

• Customer Engagement & Experience Delivery
• C-Suite Facilitation: Lead and personally facilitate rapid innovation sessions, workshops, and immersive AI experiences with senior customer stakeholders, including C-suite and functional leaders. Translate complex AI concepts into clear, actionable strategic agendas.
• Relationship Management: Build and sustain trusted relationships with customer stakeholders across engagements, acting as a credible and knowledgeable advisor throughout the innovation journey.
• Experience Quality: Ensure every customer-facing session meets the highest standards of preparation, delivery, and follow-up. Take personal accountability for customer satisfaction scores and NPS outcomes.
• Engagement Continuity: Manage the end-to-end flow of individual customer engagements, from pre-qualification through to post-delivery debrief, ensuring a seamless and differentiated experience.
• Customer Feedback: Own the collection and analysis of post-engagement satisfaction data, ensuring timely responses and surfacing insights to inform continuous improvement.
• Commercial & Pipeline Contribution
• Opportunity Development: Support pre-sales engagements by positioning the AI Innovation Lab as a catalyst for pipeline creation, aligning Lab experiences to specific customer challenges and priority outcomes.
• Engagement Scoping: Assist with scoping and proposal development for Lab engagements, ensuring viability and a clear pathway to downstream implementation opportunities.
• Pipeline Reporting: Provide timely and accurate data on customer engagement activity, pipeline influence, and Lab utilisation to support management information requirements.
• Delivery Operations & Quality
• Squad Coordination: Work alongside the AI Innovation Lab Squads (Engineers, Designers, and SMEs) to co-ordinate effective session preparation and delivery, ensuring the right capabilities are deployed for each customer context.
• Asset Reuse: Actively contribute to and draw from the library of catalogued customer experience assets, promoting consistent quality and efficient delivery across engagements.
• Qualification Support: Support the Director in applying acceptance criteria to incoming GTM opportunities, ensuring Lab capacity is prioritised toward the highest-value engagements.
• Tool & Process Adoption: Champion the use of established methodologies, frameworks, and tools within the AI Innovation Lab Method, and contribute ideas for ongoing process improvement.
• Thought Leadership & Professional Development
• External Eminence: Develop and share thought leadership on AI trends and innovation strategy, contributing to Kyndryl's profile in the market and your own professional brand.
• Continuous Development: Actively pursue personal development in AI, facilitation, and advisory skills. Contribute to a team culture of curiosity, innovation, and mutual support.
• Peer Collaboration: Work collaboratively with peer Senior Managers and early professional team members, sharing knowledge and supporting broader team capability growth in partnership with the Director.

Expected Outcomes

• Customer Satisfaction (NPS)
• Achieve targeted satisfaction scores across all engagements
• Lab Utilization (Experience)
• Achieve utilization rates by effectively integrating the AI Innovation Lab into customer sales cycles.
• Pipeline Contribution
• Support the creation and advancement of qualified sales opportunities through Lab-led customer engagement and pre-sales activity.
• Engagement Quality
• Deliver consistently high-quality customer experiences, evidenced by positive client references and repeat engagement.
• Weekly Reporting
• Provide accurate and timely data to the Director of AI Lab Operations covering engagement activity, pipeline influence, and forward demand.

Your Future at Kyndryl

Every position at Kyndryl is an opportunity to be part of something bigger. We're committed to your growth and developmentbecause when you succeed, we succeed. In this role, you'll gain exposure to global projects, cutting-edge technologies, and strategic initiatives that shape the future of businesses worldwide. Your career path doesn't stop here. Whether you want to deepen your expertise, broaden your skills, or move into leadership, we'll support you with learning programs, mentorship, and opportunities to take on new challenges. At Kyndryl, your future is yours to shape.

Kyndryl currently does not require employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, however, if you are hired to work at a client, customer, or partner location, you may be required to show proof of vaccination to align with their respective COVID-19 vaccination policies. Those who believe they are eligible may apply for a medical or religious accommodation prior to the start of employment.

Who You Are

You're good at what you do and possess the required experience to prove it. You have a growth mindset; keen to drive your own personal and professional development, and to support others in theirs. You take your work seriously and prioritize customer impact. Most importantly, you understand that the most successful teams trust and enjoy each other and are naturally inclusive in how you work with others.

Essential Requirements

• 8+ years of Proven experience facilitating senior-level workshops, innovation sessions, or strategic advisory engagements, ideally in a technology or professional services environment.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to contribute meaningfully to pre-sales, scoping, and opportunity development conversations.
• Confident and credible communicator with experience engaging C-suite and senior business stakeholders.
• Solid understanding of AI and emerging technology trends, with the ability to translate technical concepts into business value narratives.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple concurrent customer engagements to a high standard.

Desired Experience

• Experience working within or alongside an innovation lab, design thinking practice, or rapid prototyping environment.
• Familiarity with AI frameworks, tools, or methodologies used in enterprise transformation contexts.
• Exposure to go-to-market strategy, sales enablement, or business development in a consulting or technology company.

The compensation range for this position in the US is $143,640 to $273,000 based on a full-time schedule. Your actual compensation may vary depending on your geography, job-related skills, and experience. For part time roles, the compensation will be adjusted appropriately. The pay or salary range will not be below any applicable state, city, or local minimum wage requirement.

This position will be eligible for Kyndryl's discretionary annual bonus program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Kyndryl's applicable plans. You may also receive a comprehensive benefits package which includes medical and dental coverage, disability, retirement benefits, paid leave and paid time off. Note: if this is a sales commission eligible role, you will be eligible to participate in a sales commission plan in lieu of the annual discretionary bonus program. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Diversity is a whole lot more than what we look like or where we come from, it's how we think and who we are. We welcome people of all cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. But we're not doing it single-handily: Our Kyndryl Inclusion Networks are only one of many ways we create a workplace where all Kyndryls can find and provide support and advice. This dedication to welcoming everyone into our company means that Kyndryl gives you and everyone next to you the ability to bring your whole self to work, individually and collectively, and support the activation of our equitable culture. That's the Kyndryl Way.

With state-of-the-art resources and Fortune 100 clients, every day is an opportunity to innovate, build new capabilities, new relationships, new processes, and new value. Kyndryl cares about your well-being and