At Mercury, we're redefining how high-performing teams work in a fintech environment—leveraging AI, async collaboration, knowledge-led practices, and thoughtful org design to deliver faster, smarter, and more sustainable outcomes. The Director of Work Design & Innovation leads this evolution, acting as internal strategist, designer, and change catalyst to embed modern, scalable ways of working across the company.

You’ll partner closely with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), People Business Partners, Technology, Risk, and business leaders to identify opportunities, run experiments, roll out AI-enabled workflows, and continuously refine how roles, teams, processes, and knowledge flow.

An in-person interview may be required during the hiring process

The expected base salary for this position will vary depending on a number of factors, including relevant experience, skills and location.

Lead Work Design & Transformation

• Own a cohesive innovation agenda aligned to Mercury’s business strategy and People Team roadmap
• Collaborate with ELT and business leaders to spot high-leverage opportunities in org structure, governance, decision-making, and execution
• Design and execute pilots/experiments (e.g., new team models, async norms, meeting cadences, decision rights) with clear hypotheses, KPIs, and rapid feedback loops
• Develop scalable change resources (playbooks, templates, comms kits, enablement sessions) to support leaders in adopting new practices
• Track and communicate impact on key outcomes: performance, speed-to-decision, quality, cycle time, and employee experience

Champion AI Enablement & Adoption

• Act as People Team and cross-functional sponsor for AI, identifying and prioritizing use cases that boost productivity, decision quality, and experience
• Partner with Technology, Risk, Legal, and business teams to safely deploy AI workflows/tools, ensuring compliance, security, and real value
• Create practical guidelines, training, prompts, guardrails, and best practices for leaders, managers, and ICs to work effectively with AI
• Iterate based on usage data and feedback: scale winners, sunset low-ROI experiments, and position People Team as an AI role model (e.g., in HR ops, talent processes, analytics)
• Embed AI into core workflows to free capacity for strategic, high-touch work

Define & Scale Modern Ways of Working

• Establish and evangelize Mercury’s principles for async, knowledge-led, and high-leverage work (e.g., async-first defaults, documentation standards, decision records over meetings)
• Work with People Ops, IT, Comms, and teams to build intuitive knowledge systems and workflows for discovering, contributing to, and reusing institutional knowledge
• Promote async collaboration patterns (written updates, shared docs/canvases, threaded decisions) to cut meeting load and handoff friction
• Spotlight exemplar teams/practices, codify patterns into reusable playbooks, and measure adoption/efficiency gains

Drive Workflow, Role & Org Design

• Lead end-to-end reviews of critical cross-functional processes: map current state, identify pain points, and design streamlined future states
• Advise on role clarity, spans-and-layers, org structures, and archetypes (e.g., pods, squads, CoEs) that enable strategy execution and scalability 
• Provide thoughtful design input during restructures, capability builds, and growth phases—ensuring changes are intentional, consistent, and well-landed
• Ground recommendations in data: people analytics, operational metrics, employee feedback, and business outcomes

Build Continuous Process Improvement & Automation

• Create a prioritized pipeline for cross-functional process enhancements, from intake through delivery
• Collaborate with Tech and Ops to surface and implement automation opportunities (approvals, notifications, data flows) using lean, systems-thinking, and service-design approaches
• Eliminate waste, reduce manual effort/error, and improve employee/manager/customer experience
• Define process KPIs/dashboards and drive iterative improvements with clear ownership and SOP integration

What success looks like in 12–18 months

• Measurable gains from AI and modern practices: higher productivity, faster decisions/cycle times, better quality, and improved employee/manager satisfaction
• Widespread adoption of async/knowledge-led norms with reduced meeting hours and clearer handoffs/roles
• Leaders and teams report greater clarity, less friction, and stronger support during change
• Org structures and workflows feel more agile, scalable, and aligned to business priorities
• People Team is seen as a forward-thinking partner that helps Mercury innovate how work gets done—not just administer it

Skills & Abilities

• Proven success implementing modern ways of working (agile/product-centric, async, knowledge-led) at scale
• Hands-on experience with AI/automation for process improvement and knowledge/collaboration tools (e.g., enterprise search platforms, genAI assistants; quick learner mindset essential)
• Track record in org/role design, operating models, and partnering with senior leaders on structure/governance
• Strong program/change management: from big-picture strategy to disciplined execution, scaling, and measurement
• Systems thinker, connects processes, org, tech, and culture into coherent designs
• AI-curious/tech-forward: experiments personally, adopts quickly, and guides safe/effective use
• Exceptional communicator/facilitator: influences without authority, tells compelling stories, brings people along
• Data/evidence-driven: designs experiments, uses metrics/feedback to iterate, and proves impact
• Pragmatic innovator: turns bold ideas into practical, constraint-aware solutions and playbooks
• Collaborative/inclusive: builds cross-functional trust and designs for diverse teams/perspectives

Education

• Minimum:   Bachelor’s degree
• Preferred:   MBA HR or HR certifications a plus

Experience

• 10+ years leading change, transformation, or operating model work in complex, fast-growth environments

Why choose a career at Mercury?

At Mercury, we have been guided by our purpose to help people reduce risk and overcome unexpected events for more than 60 years. We are one team with a common goal to help others. Everyone needs insurance and we can’t imagine a world without it.

Our team will encourage you to grow, make time to have fun, and work together to make great things happen. We embrace the strengths and values of each team member. We believe in having diverse perspectives where everyone is included, to serve customers from all walks of life.

We care about our people, and we mean it. We reward our talented professionals with a competitive salary, bonus potential, and a variety of benefits to help our team members reach their health, retirement, and professional goals.

Learn more about us here: https://www.mercuryinsurance.com/about/careers

#LI-TG1

We offer many great benefits, including:

• Competitive compensation
• Flexibility to work from anywhere in the United States for most positions
• Paid time off (vacation time, sick time, 9 paid Company holidays, volunteer hours)
• Incentive bonus programs (potential for holiday bonus, referral bonus, and performance-based bonus)
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and pet insurance
• 401 (k) retirement savings plan with company match
• Engaging work environment
• Promotional opportunities
• Education assistance
• Professional and personal development opportunities
• Company recognition program
• Health and wellbeing resources, including free mental wellbeing therapy/coaching sessions, child and eldercare resources, and more

Mercury Insurance is an equal opportunity employer.  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 characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.