Senior Director, AEC Design Tools
About The Position
We’re hiring a Senior Director of User Experience Design, Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Design Tools within the Experience Foundations organization. This person will lead experience design across Autodesk’s core AEC design tools, including products that are focused on the task of design for architects, engineers and other users—including Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Forma Design, and related workflows. This is a critical executive-level role reporting to the VP of Experience Foundations and serving as a senior member of the AEC Experience Foundations leadership team. You’ll lead a global organization of 70+ designers with dotted line leadership with researchers, content designers, and operations across North America, EMEA, and APAC, and partner deeply with Product, Engineering, AI/ML, and Business leaders to shape the future of Autodesk’s AEC platform. This leader will be instrumental in transforming our industry-defining tools from best-in-class applications into AI-first, agentic, and deeply integrated experiences—aligned with Autodesk’s Forma Industry Cloud vision. This role is about both elevating the tools millions rely on today and re-imagining how AEC design work happens tomorrow. This leader sets the experience vision, strategy, and operating model for AEC design tools that span disciplines, workflows, and the full AEC lifecycle—from concept through delivery and operations. This role is remote-friendly within North America. For those who prefer in-office or hybrid work, the role can be based in San Francisco, CA; Portland, OR; Boston, MA; or Toronto, ON. Travel requirements are approximately 20%
Requirements
- 15+ years of professional experience in user experience (UX), product design, or experience design, with 5+ years leading large, multi-layered teams or portfolios
- Proven experience leading design at scale across complex, multi-product ecosystems
- Demonstrated success driving large-scale experience unification and modernization efforts
- Experience building or evolving AI-assisted or agentic product experiences
- Deep expertise in human-centered design, research, design systems, and design operations
- Strong executive communication skills—able to distill complexity and influence at all levels of the organization
- Experience working in highly collaborative Agile/Scrum environments
Nice To Haves
- Bachelor’s and/or Masters degree in interaction design, HCI, or a related field
- Experience designing professional tools for AEC industries, CAD modeling or highly technical enterprise domains
- Experience designing multi-platform ecosystems (desktop, cloud, services)
- Familiarity with Autodesk products or comparable design and engineering software
- Passion for AI-driven transformation and empowering designers, engineers, and builders
Responsibilities
- Vision & Strategy Define and champion a multi-year user experience design vision for Autodesk’s AEC design tools, grounded in real customer workflows and outcomes
- Shape how AI-first and agentic experiences fundamentally change AEC design tools—moving from feature-centric software to intelligent, proactive, and integrated systems
- Establish a clear north-star for tool unification, modernization, and experience cohesion across products and platforms
- Partner with executive leadership to align experience strategy with Autodesk’s Forma Industry Cloud and broader AEC business strategy
- AI-First & Agentic Experiences Lead the evolution of AEC design tools into agent-powered experiences, including copilots, assistants, automation, and proactive workflows
- Partner with AI/ML teams to integrate emerging agentic frameworks (reasoning, tool use, memory, orchestration) into real-world AEC workflows
- Ensure experiences remain trustworthy, transparent, and human-centered, even as autonomy increases
- Design Systems, Platforms & Foundation Drive experience consistency and scalability through design systems, shared patterns, and foundational UX capabilities
- Ensure AEC design tools work as part of a cohesive ecosystem, not isolated products—across desktop, cloud, and connected services
- Balance innovation with craft, usability, performance, and technical constraints in complex, mature products
- Leadership & Organizational Excellence Build, lead, and inspire a high-performing global team of user experience designers, researchers, and design leaders
- Coach and develop senior design managers; establish clear charters, expectations, and growth paths
- Foster a culture of customer empathy, experimentation, quality, and accountability at scale
- Ensure operational excellence—clear prioritization, healthy team structures, and strong execution rhythms
- Cross-Functional Partnership & Influence Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across Product, Engineering, and Data Science professionals
- Advocate relentlessly for customer-centered decision-making while balancing business and technical realities
- Represent the voice of user experience design in executive forums and strategic planning
Benefits
- From health and financial benefits to time away and everyday wellness, we give Autodeskers the best, so they can do their best work.
- Learn more about our benefits in the U.S. by visiting https://benefits.autodesk.com/
- Salary is one part of Autodesk’s competitive compensation package.
- In addition to base salaries, our compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, commissions for sales roles, stock grants, and a comprehensive benefits package.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
