Innovation Architect, Product Design

This role sits within the Health Innovation Studio and transforms raw innovation ideas into well-defined, investable opportunities that advance Mercer Health's goal of market leadership in digital and AI solutions.

About the role

As an Innovation Architect, you will bring product thinking, human-centered design, and AI-enabled process reimagination to the innovation intake process. You will ensure the organization solves the right problems in the right order, with a clear path from concept to prioritized opportunity. Additionally, you will support thought leadership initiatives, translating market intelligence and competitive insights into compelling external engagements.

Responsibilities

• Innovation Intake & Idea Development
  • Work alongside fellow Innovation Architects as a key point of contact for innovation idea submitters, guiding them through structured refinement and discovery processes.
  • Facilitate workshops and working sessions to surface the root problem behind a submitted idea, challenging assumptions and reframing solutions where needed.
  • Translate ambiguous concepts into clearly scoped problem statements, opportunity briefs, and solution hypotheses.
  • Support the end-to-end intake pipeline, ensuring ideas are captured, categorized, and progressed with appropriate rigor and momentum.
• Product Strategy & Problem Definition
  • Apply a product mindset to evaluate ideas against user needs, market opportunity, strategic fit, and feasibility.
  • Define and articulate the problem being solved—not just the solution—to ensure innovation investments are grounded in real business or client pain points.
  • Partner with business stakeholders to validate demand, identify affected workflows, and pressure-test proposed solutions.
  • Develop and apply frameworks for evaluating idea maturity, readiness for investment, and alignment to strategic priorities.
• AI & Process Reimagination
  • Reimagine existing processes by exploring how humans and AI can work together in fundamentally new ways—not just automating the current state.
  • Identify high-leverage opportunities where AI can reshape workflows, eliminate friction, or create new value for clients and consultants.
• Prioritization & Innovation Council Support
  • Prepare ideas for review by the Innovation Council with clear, decision-ready documentation and framing.
  • Support willingness-to-pay analysis and value quantification to inform prioritization decisions.
  • Partner with the Innovation Studio Lead and Innovation Council to apply consistent prioritization criteria and advance the highest-impact opportunities.
  • Develop preliminary business cases to support go/no-go decisions, including value hypothesis, target users, anticipated benefits, risks, and directional sizing.
• End-to-End Innovation Facilitation
  • Own the day-to-day project management while facilitating concepts through the innovation cycle in partnership with business, design, product, and technical leaders.
  • Coordinate desirability, feasibility, and viability validation activities, ensuring appropriate rigor at each stage.
  • Run the operating cadence for each concept—including kickoffs, working sessions, stakeholder check-ins, and stage-gate reviews—with clear agendas, notes, action items, and decision capture.
  • Track progress and manage risks and issues (blockers, resourcing gaps, decision delays, scope creep), escalating proactively to maintain momentum and clarity.
  • Ensure stage-gate readiness by confirming required evidence and artifacts are completed to standard at each stage.
  • Maintain portfolio visibility across in-flight concepts by reporting status, timelines, upcoming gates, risks, and support needs to the Innovation Lead and governance stakeholders.
  • Drive timely progression and closure by enforcing timeboxes, aligning stakeholders on next steps, and ensuring concepts either advance with clear ownership or are paused/closed with documented rationale.
• Innovation Process Excellence
  • Contribute to the continuous improvement of the end-to-end innovation process, identifying friction points and helping evolve the operating model as the program matures.
  • Build and refine shared tools including templates, facilitation guides, and evaluation rubrics.
  • Champion a culture of disciplined innovation—balancing creative thinking with strategic rigor and business accountability.
• Thought Leadership & External Engagement
  • Translate market intelligence, competitive insights, and employer research into compelling, differentiated points of view that strengthen Mercer Health's position as an innovation leader.
  • Develop and contribute to thought leadership deliverables, including POVs, blogs, articles, and newsletters that articulate Mercer Health's perspective on innovation and trends in health and benefits.
  • Support advisory and governance forums by synthesizing innovation trends, client insights, and internal learnings into materials that drive meaningful dialogue and external credibility.
  • Contribute to the planning and execution of client-facing events and engagements, translating innovation work into compelling market narratives and experiences.
  • Partner with subject matter experts to produce thought leadership assets and ensure outputs are grounded in real innovation activity, client problems, and emerging market signals.
  • Serve as a thought partner to business leaders on what is now possible with AI, helping translate emerging capabilities into practical application.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in product management, product strategy, management consulting, or innovation program management.
• Experience in the healthcare industry.
• Background in digital transformation, AI product development, or enterprise technology strategy.
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate workshops and working sessions that drive alignment and clarity across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Strong problem definition and structured thinking skills—able to move from a vague idea to a well-scoped opportunity brief.
• Familiarity with AI capabilities and a working understanding of how AI can reshape business processes and workflows.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex ideas for both executive and operational audiences.
• Ability to manage multiple ideas and workstreams simultaneously in a fast-moving environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in employee benefits consulting or professional services consulting environments.
• Experience with design thinking, jobs-to-be-done, or other human-centered innovation methodologies.
• Experience developing business cases, including value quantification, cost-benefit analysis, and investment prioritization.
• Experience working within or alongside an innovation council, portfolio governance, or investment committee process.
• Familiarity with willingness-to-pay research methodologies and market sizing techniques.

Benefits

• Professional development opportunities, interesting work, and supportive leaders.
• Vibrant and inclusive culture with talented colleagues.
• Career opportunities, benefits, and rewards to enhance well-being, including:
  • Health and welfare benefits.
  • Tuition assistance.
  • 401K savings and other retirement programs.
  • Employee assistance programs.

Pay

The applicable base salary range for this role is $115,200 to $230,400. The base pay offered will be determined on factors such as experience, skills, training, location, certifications, and education. Decisions will be determined on a case-by-case basis. In addition to the base salary, this position may be eligible for performance-based incentives.

Schedule

Hybrid work model requiring in-office or onsite client work at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week for full-team in-person collaboration.