The Incubation Foundry Director will lead a team to develop strategic AI innovations, manage product incubation stages, and promote collaboration across functions to ensure market readiness of new products.
At Qualtrics, we create software the world’s best brands use to deliver exceptional frontline experiences, build high-performing teams, and design products people love. But we are more than a platform—we are the creators and stewards of the Experience Management category serving over 18K clients globally. Building a category takes grit, determination, and a disdain for convention—but most of all it requires close-knit, high-functioning teams with an unwavering dedication to serving our customers.
When you join one of our teams, you’ll be part of a nimble group that’s empowered to set aggressive goals and move fast to achieve them. Strategic risks are encouraged and complex problems are solved together, by passing the mic and iterating until the best solution comes to light. You won’t have to look to find growth opportunities—ready or not, they’ll find you. From retail to government to healthcare, we’re on a mission to bring humanity, connection, and empathy back to business. Join over 5,000 people across the globe who think that’s work worth doing.
When you join one of our teams, you’ll be part of a nimble group that’s empowered to set aggressive goals and move fast to achieve them. Strategic risks are encouraged and complex problems are solved together, by passing the mic and iterating until the best solution comes to light. You won’t have to look to find growth opportunities—ready or not, they’ll find you. From retail to government to healthcare, we’re on a mission to bring humanity, connection, and empathy back to business. Join over 5,000 people across the globe who think that’s work worth doing.
Incubation Foundry Director
Why We Have This Role
We are seeking a visionary Director to lead and grow our Incubation Foundry team, responsible for facilitating rapid, disciplined exploration of strategic imperatives that lead to new products and full-fledged lines of business. At Qualtrics, we created the experience management category, and now we’re building its next generation as AI fundamentally reshapes expectations for what it means to deliver a great experience. This role is critical to fueling that work across the company, providing the programmatic lens and capabilities for forward engineering, discovery and validation, and co-innovation across functional disciplines. If you are energized by the entrepreneurial drive to reimagine, push boundaries, and unlock new business opportunities, this role is for you.
How You’ll Find Success
- Lead a dynamic, cross-disciplinary incubation services team tasked with facilitating the rapid, disciplined discovery and validation of cutting-edge machine learning and AI innovations aligned with Qualtrics’ strategic priorities.
- Drive the incubation pipeline through all stages of maturity, from intake to inception to product/market fit to repeatability and scalability.
- Establish lean, agile discovery and experimentation processes that accelerate the path from idea to validated minimum viable product (MVP) and graduated product teams.
- Cultivate strong collaboration with core engineering, product management, design, data science, marketing, business development, and go-to-market organizations to ensure a seamless transition of successful incubated technologies into general availability.
- Drive culture and mindset that encourages curiosity, experimentation, and rapid learning while balancing risk and business value.
- Build strategic roadmaps and prioritize initiatives that explore breakthrough AI technologies with potential for significant competitive advantage.
- Drive alignment between research breakthroughs and product execution by fostering a strong partnership between R&D, engineering, and go-to-market teams, ensuring rapid delivery of innovative AI solutions that create measurable business impact.
How You’ll Grow
- Expand your experience leading teams focused on innovation and early-stage product development that influence the broader strategy at Qualtrics.
- Develop expertise in managing a portfolio of experimental projects, balancing investment and strategic impact to maximize innovation ROI.
- Gain exposure to emerging AI trends, integrating scientific advances with real-world product applications at enterprise scale.
- Mentor talented teams to think beyond current constraints and invent new AI capabilities for Qualtrics customers.
Things You’ll Do
- Own end-to-end leadership of the Incubation Foundry team’s vision, strategy, and execution, driving discovery efforts that identify and validate novel approaches and technologies.
- Foster a highly collaborative environment that encourages creative problem solving across AI research, prototyping, and product integration disciplines.
- Establish and drive co-innovation programs to engage with early adopter customers and partners.
- Oversee experimental design, rapid prototyping, and iterative testing cycles, deploying prototypes and pilots to showcase potential impact.
- Evaluate technical feasibility, scalability, and business viability of cutting-edge AI concepts and champion the strongest candidates for broader adoption.
- Represent Qualtrics in external AI innovation communities, conferences, and partnerships to stay ahead of industry trends and attract top technical talent.
What We’re Looking For On Your Resume
- Direct experience with programmatic incubation, either as a participant or operator, ideally focused in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a related technical field.
- 10+ years of experience in machine learning, AI research, or data science, including 7+ years in leadership roles managing innovation-focused teams.
- Proven success incubating and launching experimental ML/AI projects that matured into impactful products.
- Deep knowledge of ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch), prototyping tools, and scalable data infrastructure.
- Strong strategic vision combined with hands-on experience delivering rapid, iterative experimentation in ambiguous contexts.
- Exceptional communication skills and a demonstrated ability to inspire, influence, and align diverse stakeholder groups, including customers
- Experience managing forward deployed engineering teams
- Experience managing cross-functional teams
What You Should Know About This Team
- We are driven by a rapid pace of learning, exploring the art of the possible, and real-world impact
- We believe that structure and discipline enable us to go fast with confidence
- We take pride in growing teams of people as well as unlocking new opportunities
- We believe in real world impact over purely intellectual or hype-driven projects
- We keep our heads in the clouds and feet on the ground
Our Team’s Favorite Perks and Benefits
- $1800 Experience bonus to be used for an “Experience” of your choosing
- QMentorship Program matches you with a mentor inside Qualtrics to get meaningful coaching from someone outside your team.
- Amazing QGroup Communities; MOSAIQ, Green Team, Qualtrics Pride, Q&Able, Qualtrics Salute, and Women’s Leadership Development, which exist as places for support, allyship, and advocacy.
The Qualtrics Hybrid Work Model: While this role is exempt from working in office, our hybrid work model remains elegantly simple for the rest of the company: we all gather in the office three days a week; Mondays and Thursdays, plus one day selected by your organizational leader. These purposeful in-person days in thoughtfully designed offices help us do our best work and harness the power of collaboration and innovation. For the rest of the week, work where you want, owning the integration of work and life. #remote
Qualtrics is an equal opportunity employer meaning that all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected characteristic.
Applicants in the United States of America have rights under Federal Employment Laws:Family & Medical Leave Act, Equal Opportunity Employment, Employee Polygraph Protection Act
Qualtrics is committed to the inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Qualtrics will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please let your Qualtrics contact/recruiter know.
Not finding a role that’s the right fit for now? Qualtrics Insiders is the one-stop shop for all things Qualtrics Life. Sign up for exclusive access to content created with you in mind and get the scoop on what we have going on at Qualtrics - upcoming events, behind the scenes stories from the team, interview tips, hot jobs, and more. No spam - we promise! You'll hear from us two times a month max with fresh, totally tailored info - so be sure to stay connected as you explore your best role and company fit.
For full-time positions, this pay range is for base per year; however, base pay offered within this range may vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, education, skills, and experience. A sign-on bonus and restricted stock units may be included in an employment offer. Full-time employees are eligible for medical, dental, vision, life and disability, 401(k) with match, paid time off, a wellness reimbursement, mental health benefits, and an experience bonus. For a detailed look at our benefits, visit Qualtrics US Benefits.
Remote Base Annual Pay Transparency Range
$310,000—$407,000 USD
Top Skills
AI
Machine Learning
PyTorch
TensorFlow
Qualtrics Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
191 North Wacker Drive Suite 1200, Chicago, IL, United States, 60606
Similar Jobs at Qualtrics
Artificial Intelligence • HR Tech • Information Technology • Software • Business Intelligence
This role involves selling the Qualtrics platform, engaging with clients through the sales cycle, driving revenue growth, and educating clients on solutions in K-12 Education.
Top Skills:
Linkedin Sales NavigatorSalesforce
Artificial Intelligence • HR Tech • Information Technology • Software • Business Intelligence
The Enterprise Account Executive is responsible for selling the Qualtrics Experience Management platform to state and local government, driving revenue growth through new client acquisition and account expansion, and engaging with C-suite leaders throughout the sales process.
Top Skills:
Linkedin Sales NavigatorQualtrics Experience Management PlatformSalesforce
Artificial Intelligence • HR Tech • Information Technology • Software • Business Intelligence
The Enterprise Account Executive will drive sales of Qualtrics' Experience Management platform to enterprise clients, focusing on relationship building and exceeding sales quotas.
Top Skills:
Salesforce
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
With vibrant neighborhoods, great food and more affordable housing than either coast, Chicago might be the most liveable major tech hub. It is the birthplace of modern commodities and futures trading, a national hub for logistics and commerce, and home to the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association. This diverse blend of industry influences has helped Chicago emerge as a major player in verticals like fintech, biotechnology, legal tech, e-commerce and logistics technology. It’s also a major hiring center for tech companies on both coasts.
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
