Design Executive Outlook 2025: How are Design Executives in the World’s Largest Companies Leading in the Age of AI?
The Design Executive Council is proud to release The Role of Design Executives in the Enterprise AI Era, a concise, data-driven report that distills 50 hours of DXC’s executive roundtables and a survey of 25 VPs, SVPs, and Chief Design Officers from the world’s largest companies.
Conducted in early 2025, this member-only report blends original data with four business impact stories from our Council members at Adobe, Google, Cisco, and Oracle:
- Designing AI for Agency & Trust - Eric Snowden, SVP of Design at Adobe
- Balancing AI Performance with User Trust - Suzanne Pellican, Fmr. VP of Ads, User Experience at Google
- Turning Legacy Debt into Confident Decisions - Greg Petroff, Fmr. Chief Design Officer at Cisco Secure
- Building Confidence in AI-Integrated Care - Jennifer Darmour, VP of Health Design at Oracle
Across our research, we’ve seen design executives moving upstream, downstream, as well as cross-stream, partnering with the C-suite to drive enterprise transformation and translate AI’s promise into durable, trusted outcomes, reflecting both rising business demand for design leadership in Enterprise AI.
Growing Influence of Design Leadership in Enterprise AI
According to PwC’s 2025 CEO Survey, 45% of global CEOs believe their organizations will not be economically viable in a decade if they stay on their current path. The AI era is reshaping the playbook - creating new pressures and possibilities for reinvention at every level of the enterprise.
Design Executive Council 2025 data shows that 72% of design teams now shape GenAI roadmaps, and 68% of design executives influence strategy before delivery - a clear signal that design has moved upstream into business, technology and product strategy. Nearly half view AI as a transformational opportunity, not just a risk, underscoring a mindset shift from fear to strategic advantage.
Key Insights from the Report:
- When design executives speak on AI strategy, they’re speaking with the authority of an enterprise-wide vantage point. The majority of design executives surveyed oversee product design across the entire company rather than within a single business unit.
- GenAI adoption decisions have moved beyond isolated initiatives, into a company-wide responsibility, underscoring both its strategic weight and its growing complexity for global enterprises.
- Majority of the design teams are now shaping GenAI roadmaps, reflecting both rising business demand for design leadership and the expanding capability of design teams to shape strategy, not just execution.
- AI is expanding the scope of design leadership, and this shift demands new design leaders to acquire AI literacy that best enables them to contribute uniquely to conversations around business models, workforce evolution, AI-era product development, and other key areas.
- Among design executives with decision-making authority on GenAI strategy, only a small subset have fully established UX-specific AI metrics, showcasing the formative state of metrics evolving with AI.
About the Report
This report draws from first-party data and impact stories from design executives at Adobe, Oracle, Cisco, and Google to examine how design executives are shaping business, product, and workforce strategies with AI. It surfaces the questions, opportunities, and actions required to build more intelligent and human-centered enterprises - those positioned to realize a renaissance, not a reckoning.
DXC membership offers access to exclusive research reports that are co-created with the members, converting their experiences into a legacy of insights for strategic design leadership in global business.
To download and access the full report, become a DXC member: Express Interest
