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Mission Ready
We’ve upgraded our UX & BA Diploma. It’s now the AI Automation and Experience Designer Diploma. The work of business analysts and UX designers has changed, and our programme has changed with it. Here’s why, and what the new diploma will prepare you to do.
Businesses have AI. Few have redesigned their work around it.
AI is now everywhere in New Zealand workplaces, but most organisations are using it to speed up old processes rather than rethinking how the work gets done.
The gap isn’t access to AI. It’s people who can look at how work happens, redesign it, and make the new way stick.
Every quarter, 20 to 30 of our industry partners host Mission Ready candidates for 10 weeks of mentored work experience. As part of that, they tell us what skills they expect to see, and their feedback directly shapes what we cover in our programmes. Our industry partners have told us they want people with the skills to redesign a process and build the automation, not just describe it.
How BA and UX roles have changed
Business analysts used to document requirements and hand them to developers to build. With low-code and no-code tools, a BA can now map a process and automate it themselves: building workflows, connecting systems, and using AI to handle routine steps.
UX designers used to research and describe the experience, then hand designs over to be built. Now they are expected to build working solutions too, using automation and AI to deliver the experience rather than only specifying it. Figma’s 2026 AI report found the share of designers taking part in development doubled in a year, from 21% to 41%.
AI has also changed what a process can do. Processes used to follow fixed rules. Now, with AI, they can interpret requests, make judgement calls and pass exceptions to a person. That makes designing the process and designing the experience impossible to separate.
But a process only works if people trust it and use it. In the same Figma report, 90% of designers, developers and product managers said design is at least as important as it was before AI, and nearly 6 in 10 said it matters more.
The two roles are coming together: understand the problem, design the experience, and build the automated solution. Employers increasingly want people who can understand the problem, design how the work flows and how it feels, and build the solution.
Every quarter, 20 to 30 of our industry partners host Mission Ready candidates for 10 weeks of mentored work experience. As part of that, they tell us what skills they expect to see, and their feedback directly shapes what we teach. Our industry partners have told us they want people with the skills to redesign a process, build the automation and design experiences that work for customers and staff alike, not just describe them.
What is experience design?
Experience design covers two things: how work flows, and how the people involved experience it, both the customers a business serves and the staff who serve them. Think of a customer asking about a delayed order. Experience design shapes how quickly they get a clear answer, how AI sorts and responds to the request, and when a person steps in to sort out anything unusual.
Traditionally, a business analyst designed the process and a UX designer designed the experience. With AI and low-code tools, one person can now design and build both.
What you’ll learn
The diploma runs over 32 weeks in three phases.
Phase 1: AI Automation Design and Creation (12 weeks). You’ll learn what AI can and can’t do, map how work happens today, and define what a better solution needs to do. Then you’ll build it yourself, creating AI agents and automations with low-code tools. You’ll also learn to test that what you build gives reliable results and handles data safely, and to make the business case to decision makers.
Phase 2: Experience Design (10 weeks). You’ll learn to understand users, test ideas with them, and design solutions customers and staff will actually use. That includes designing how AI and people work together, and what happens when things go wrong.
Phase 3: Mentored Work Experience (10 weeks). You’ll put it all into practice on a real project with one of our 300+ industry partners, with weekly mentoring from experienced professionals. You’ll graduate with real client work in your portfolio and industry references.
No coding knowledge is needed to start.
Why we've made the change
Employers no longer want a BA who only writes requirements or a UX designer who only produces designs. They want people who can take a problem from analysis through to a working, automated solution. A diploma built around documenting and designing doesn't prepare people for that. AI Automation & Experience Designer teaches the combined skill set: analysing the problem, designing the experience, and building the solution with low-code tools, automation and AI.
Who it's for
Start with Phase 1, or take the full diploma
Each phase is its own NZQA-approved micro-credential. You can start with Phase 1 and add the next phases when you’re ready, or enrol in the full diploma. Complete all three phases and you’ve earned the diploma. Scholarships are available, and StudyLink support is available if you’re eligible.
More than 1,200 people have graduated from Mission Ready since 2019, and 4 out of 5 are working in tech within 12 months. Talk to us about start dates.
The next intake starts on 9 February 2027. [Explore the programme] or talk to a Mission Advisor about which starting point suits you.
Sources
2026 State of AI Index, Datacom, August 2026; core-operations figure via B2B News
New Zealand businesses ramp up AI & automation push, IT Brief, May 2026, reporting Schneider Electric research (288 senior decision-makers)
AI adoption boosts productivity across New Zealand businesses, IT Brief, reporting Datacom's 2025 State of AI Index
New Zealand job ads rise 7.8% as AI skills show up in more postings, Staffing Industry Analysts, reporting the SEEK NZ Employment Report for September 2026
Power Platform jobs in New Zealand, SEEK, November 2026
UX design jobs in New Zealand, Glassdoor, October 2026
Figma's 2026 AI report, Figma, 2026 (8,403 survey responses across ten markets, including Australia)