AI Project Lead, Metalab
Product & interface design studio
Open for applications
Product & interface design studio
101-200 employees
Open for applications
101-200 employees
Company mission
To help everyone from tiny early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies build products that are simple, beautiful, and easy to use.
Role
Who you are
- Project delivery experience at a digital product agency, studio, or consultancy, ideally in a Senior or Lead role
- Product delivery experience at a startup, scale-up, or large organization is excellent experience, as well
- Demonstrated mastery of running a project end-to-end — prioritization, sequencing, scope, dependencies, and the artifacts that keep design and engineering unblocked
- You don't just use AI — you build with it. Likely in your personal life and hobby time. You've shipped skills, agents, or automated workflows that did real work and ran on their own
- A bias toward owning the outcome, not just the plan — carrying product, user, and technical context across the team without letting threads drop
- Sharp judgment on what to ship next and what to cut, keeping the team focused on solving the right problem at the right time
- Passionate about staying ahead of how AI is changing product delivery, with a personal point of view on what's working and what isn't
- Happy working with R&D — taking ideas and prototypes out of experimentation, and folding the findings back into how the broader org delivers
- You're curious, adaptable, and excited that project delivery is changing in real time
- Does this role sound like it was made for you, yet you don’t check every box? Reach out anyways! We’re an equal opportunity employer and are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment for employees from all walks of life. We hire based on talent, and we’re proud of our global perspective
What the job involves
- Zero is a small team inside Metalab
- We explore new tools, workflows, and ways of building products. We test ideas fast, validate what works, and feed learnings back to the broader org
- Half the effort is full-time R&D. The half we're hiring for runs client projects to put the research to the test
- You run projects end-to-end: stakeholders, scope, budget, pace, ship on time. You push for velocity and clarity over process and ceremony. You feed back honestly to the people building the tools
- If a project works because you were there, that's good. If it works because the system was there and you ran it well, that's the point
- This isn't a shepherd-the-handoffs role. The agent infrastructure (Concretely: a stack of skills, agents, and feedback loops that triage requests, draft updates, summarize meetings, and handle the coordination work a project lead used to do by hand) is becoming our operating system — and you're the one who improves it
- Run client engagements end-to-end across web, mobile, AI-native, and emerging product surfaces
- Translate ambiguous briefs into structured delivery, working prototypes, and shipped product
- Collaborate closely with design and engineering leads on the work itself while not being afraid to own the delivery system around it
- Present work clearly to clients and internal teams, holding the line on scope, budget, and quality with honesty rather than ceremony
- Use AI tools and agents as a core part of your workflow to triage, draft, prioritize, summarize, and accelerate our Client’s outcomes
- Build, test and maintain skills, agents, and workflows like code — version them, improve them as the team's taste sharpens, and feed honest learnings back to R&D
Our take
MetaLab, founded in 2006, has established itself as one of the most respected design studios in the industry. Since its inception, the company has designed products for some of the biggest names in tech and entertainment, including Apple, Google, Disney, Uber, TED, Tinder, Slack, and Headspace.
The company's story is especially remarkable considering its founder, Andrew Wilkinson, was just 20 years old when he launched MetaLab. Since then, Wilkinson has gone on to achieve significant success with Flow, a task management SaaS company and Tiny Capital, a tech-focused holding group.
MetaLab's continued success is a testament to its ability to adapt to a constantly evolving design landscape. Recent projects, including work for sports media startup The Athletic and meditation app Waking Up, showcase Metalab's ongoing growth in the design industry. It also launched Metalab Ventures, which will invest long-term in new startups.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
1% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company benefits
- Remote & IRL: We've been doing remote work since '06 and wouldn't have it any other way — and make space for quality time in-person to stay connected
- 4.5 day weeks We take half-day Fridays because there's life outside of work
- Unlimited time off: Unlimited PTO (really). We want everyone to be healthy and get time to give back
- Zero timesheets: We are focused on the results and quality of our work — not on counting hours
- Learning & Growth: Custom opportunities to invest in your career growth
- Flex hours & locations: For a schedule that's one-size-fits-you
- Equity program: Make an impact on the world's leading products and sometimes have a stake in them, too
- Health & wellness coverage: Both mental and physical benefits so you can be your best on and off the screen
- Parental leave: We give 16 weeks of paid and protected leave for primary caregivers
Company HQ
Downtown, Victoria, BC
Leadership
Luke Des Cotes
(CEO)Initially joined Metalab in 2015 as a Client Partner, since then, they have worked in a number of roles, becoming CEO in 2023. Previously they worked as an Account Executive at TBA Digital and as a Busines Development Manager at Red Label Communications.
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