AI for Designers
1 day
Lessons
Career Program: Ethical Human-Centered AI Design Leader
This program exists because the world needs it. As AI reshapes every industry, we need designers and leaders who can guide that transformation responsibly with human-centered judgment, ethics, critical thinking, and empathy at the center. This role doesn’t have a single standardized job title yet, but we believe it will within the next few years. Until then, the skills this program teaches are exactly what employers are already asking for in senior design roles.
If you're a designer or leader with 2+ years of experience, this program prepares you to lead responsibly at the intersection of AI and human-centered design. No matter which design discipline you started in, senior roles expect you to work across UX, UI, and product design. You'll build on your design skills and add strategy, leadership, and AI fluency.
At the senior level, companies want designers who lead strategy, mentor teams, and connect design decisions to business outcomes. AI can now assist with wireframes and layout variations. What's more valuable than ever is human-centered judgment, leadership, critical thinking, systems thinking, and the ability to make informed design decisions.
Core skills: Deepen your expertise in human-centered design strategy, UX management, cross-functional leadership, and stakeholder communication. Learn to own complex user journeys, influence product roadmaps, and set design direction. This program teaches you to lead products and teams. Master team leadership, ethical AI decision-making, and organizational influence. Learn to guide teams and products toward outcomes that serve both people and business.
AI skills: Senior designers are expected to do more than use AI themselves. You'll learn to integrate AI into your team's workflow, design AI products that people trust, make ethical AI decisions, and raise the AI fluency of the people around you. This program prepares you to bring a human-centered design perspective to responsible AI roles. Policy and compliance aren't enough to design a future we want. Companies increasingly need people who understand human cognition, ethics, and empathy.
Foundational design skills: You'll deepen your understanding of perception, memory, cognition, and emotion. At the senior level, this is what gives you the authority to guide stakeholder decisions with evidence.
Learn from 30 industry leaders who help you build your skills one step at a time.
Build 3–10 job-ready case studies with expert guidance to help you land your next design leadership role.
This program shares its full course curriculum with the Senior UX / UI / Product Designer Career Program, because ethical AI leadership requires the same core design, strategy, and AI skills. The difference is the focus and some additional AI master classes: This program puts ethical AI decision-making, responsible design, and human-centered AI leadership at the center of everything you learn.
This Program Also Prepares You for the Roles
This career program focuses on the role of Ethical Human-Centered AI Design Leader, but the skills you learn apply to these roles too:
Design Lead
Principal Designer
Senior Product Designer
Senior Product Designer, AI
Senior UI Designer
Senior UX / UI Designer
Senior UX Designer
Staff Designer
UX Manager
User Experience Design Lead
Annual Salary
US average: 95,380 to 171,200 USD*
Global average: 120,000 USD*
*Bureau of Labor Statistics 1 and Bureau of Labor Statistics 2 (US), UXPA International (Global).
Estimated Time to Complete
Study comfortably and flexibly at your own pace. Typically from 6 to 18 weeks.
Your Path to Ethical Human-Centered AI Design Leader
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Foundational Courses
Every great career is built from the ground up. Start here and master the fundamentals that everything else depends on.
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Design for the 21st Century with Don Norman
6 days43Lessons -
Core Courses for This Career Program
Now you move into the core of your career program. You'll deepen your expertise and build the job-ready skills that define you as a professional.
Human-Computer Interaction: The Foundations of UX Design
4523256Lessons
Perception and Memory in HCI and UX
4523237Lessons
Design for Thought and Emotion
4 days40Lessons
Personas and User Research: Design Products and Services People Need and Want
Course ClosedRe-opens in a few weeksFully booked
Object-Oriented UI Design: Build Interfaces Users Love
1 day45Lessons
Mobile UX Design: The Beginner's Guide
5 days49Lessons
Mobile UI Design
3 days51Lessons
Journey Mapping
3 days43Lessons
Conducting Usability Testing
4523227Lessons
UX Management: Strategy and Tactics
4523265Lessons
Present Like a Pro: Communication Skills to Fast-Track Your Career
2 days46Lessons
Build a Standout UX/UI Portfolio: Land Your Dream Job
1 day51Lessons -
Master Classes on AI to Deliver Better Results at Work
Now you step into our 1-hour Master Classes on AI, tailored to this career path. You learn how to finish tasks faster, raise the quality of your work, and free up time for the thinking only you can do. The result: you become the person who delivers more value in less time.
Human-Centered Design for AI
Get Ahead in Product Design with AI
How to Elevate the User Experience of AI with Design Patterns
Conversation Design: Practical Tips for AI Design
AI for Design Systems: How to Stay Ahead and Lead
The AI Playbook: How to Capitalize on Machine Learning
NewAgentic AI for Everyone: How to Integrate Agents into Your Day-to-Day Work
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Core Master Classes for This Career Program
With your new AI skills in place, you continue to your core Master Classes for this career program with leading industry experts. Each 1-hour session distills years of real-world experience into focused, practical insight you can apply immediately.
Earn Your Seat at the Table: Leadership Lessons for Designers
Innovate with Design Thinking: Your Shortcut to Results
How (and When) to Run a Design Sprint
Radical Participatory Design: Insights From NASA’s Service Design Lead
Design KPIs: From Insights to Impact
Demonstrate the ROI of Design Thinking and Win Stakeholder Support
The ROI of User Research: Prove the Value, Get Buy-In, Stay Relevant
Storytelling Strategies for Future Thinkers and Design Leaders
Storytelling That Sells UX Design: Define Requirements and Engage Leadership
How to Deal with People Who Don't Get Design
The No-Burnout Blueprint for a Successful Design Career
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Earn Your Career Program Certificate
Follow each step above, finish every course and master class, and you'll earn your IxDF Career Program Certificate. It's the credible proof of the skills you've built, signed by the Interaction Design Foundation and ready to share with employers.
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For career switchers, you'll learn from industry leaders how to break into a career in design by building on the skills you already have, even if you have zero design experience.
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Career Programs for Designers
If you already work in design, these career programs help you advance into senior and leadership roles.
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If you're a UX, UI, or Product Designer who wants to move into senior and leadership roles, this certificate program gives you the skills and credentials. No matter which design discipline you started in, senior roles expect you to work across UX, UI, and product design. You'll build on your design
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IxDF Career Program
Ethical Human-Centered AI Design Leader
Ethical Human-Centered AI Design Leader
This program exists because the world needs it. As AI reshapes every industry, we need designers and leaders who can guide that transformation responsibly with human-centered judgment, ethics, critical thinking, and empathy at the center. This role doesn’t have a single standardized job title yet, b
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Senior Service Designer + AI
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