Levels 1–3: Explorer → Pioneer → Architect

Complete three-level certificate pathway · 24 September–16 December 2026
Level 1 Explorer (self-paced) starts 24 September
Live Sessions start 14 October

The AI Coaching Experience Designer – Full Journey is the complete pathway for coaches, mentors, supervisors, and HR or L&D professionals who want to understand responsible AI coaching and design, build and evaluate their own AI coaching experiences.

Whether you want to create an AI assistant, companion, role-play, agent or standalone AI coach, this journey takes you from shared language, technology and professional foundations through to strategy, experience design, building, testing, monitoring and certification.

By the end of the program, you will have created an advanced AI coaching experience grounded in your vision, methodology and intended use case. Your work will be tested against professional criteria informed by current research and assessed by Viva la Coaching Academy.

The program is led by Rebecca Rutschmann, who has been designing and building AI coaching companions since 2018.

This is not a standalone workshop you attend and forget. Across three progressive levels, you will move from foundational literacy to a working AI coaching companion, then develop it into a multi-stage experience supported by documented safeguards, evaluation processes and responsible deployment practices.

Your final certification is awarded on the basis of assessed work, not attendance alone.

The Three Levels

LEVEL 1 · UNDERSTAND

Explorer

Understand what a great AI coaching experience really is – the frameworks, standards, ethics and evidence behind it and the criteria essential to choose the right platforms and tools.

Format: Fully self-paced · access opens 24 September 2026

Time commitment: Approximately 2–4 hours of self-paced learning

For: Anyone seeking the conceptual foundations to evaluate AI coaching responsibly—whether you need to select an appropriate solution for yourself or your organisation, or want to progress towards building your own.

You will:

• Understand the frameworks, professional standards and ethical foundations of AI coaching
• Distinguish between AI assistants, agents, companions and AI coaches
• Explore the technologies behind different AI coaching experiences
• Examine what current research tells us about their effectiveness and limitations
• Learn how to evaluate platforms, providers and use cases against clear professional criteria

Credential: Explorer badge – Foundations

LEVEL 2 · BUILD

Pioneer

Build your first real AI companion – with your scenario and grounded in your methodology, compliant, and safety-tested.

Pioneer takes you from understanding AI coaching to creating a focused experience of your own.

You will define its purpose, translate your methodology into its design, apply the IMPACTS prompt framework, and build and test a single-prompt AI coaching companion on a platform of your choice.

Your companion will be developed for a clearly defined scenario and designed with safety, ethics and responsible-use requirements in mind.

Format: Hybrid · four small-group live build sessions + one accountability session + office hours

Live programme dates: 14 October–11 November 2026

Time commitment: Four two-hour live sessions, all recorded, plus approximately 6–8 hours of self-paced learning and project work

For: Coaches and HR or L&D professionals who are ready to build their first AI coaching experience.

You will:

• Define a focused audience, use case and intended outcome
• Complete your AI Coaching Strategy Canvas
• Apply the IMPACTS prompt framework
• Translate your professional methodology into the design
• Build a functioning custom GPT or equivalent single-prompt AI coaching companion
• Test and refine the experience
• Document your safety, ethical and responsible-use considerations

Credential: Pioneer Badge — Practitioner

LEVEL 3 · MASTER

Architect

Architect, monitor and certify a multi-stage AI coaching experience — your masterpiece.

Architect is the advanced certification level for practitioners ready to move beyond a single-prompt companion and create a more rigorous, monitored and professionally defensible AI coaching experience.

You will transform your Pioneer project into a multi-stage experience with clearly designed conversation flows, appropriate guardrails, evaluation criteria and monitoring processes.

You will also document your design decisions, test the experience against defined standards and present your completed work as part of the certification process.

Format: Five live intensive sessions + mentoring + independent build work + certification assessment

Live programme dates: 18 November–16 December 2026

Time commitment: Five two-hour live sessions, all recorded, plus approximately 12–16 hours of self-paced design, testing and development work

For: Builders ready to work at greater depth and demonstrate professional rigour through assessed work.

You will:

• Design verified multi-stage coaching flows
• Build appropriate guardrails and escalation pathways
• Make informed platform and model-selection decisions
• Develop testing and evaluation protocols
• Establish monitoring and quality-assurance processes
• Create responsible-use and compliance documentation for your specific use case
• Present and defend your completed work as part of the final assessment

Credential: Architect Certification and the professional title AI Coaching Experience Designer

What’s included in the Full Journey

• Level 1 – Explorer

  • Self-paced course access from 24 September 2026
  • Pre-course preparation materials
  • Access to the AI in Coaching Glossary
  • Explorer Badge — Foundations

  Level 2 – Pioneer

  • Four small-group live build sessions
  • One accountability session
  • Office hours
  • Recordings of all live sessions
  • Peer-group support for project work between sessions
  • Final Pioneer submission and assessment review
  • Pioneer Badge — Practitioner

  Level 3 – Architect

  • Five live intensive sessions
  • Independent build and development work
  • Mentoring and feedback
  • Peer review and project support
  • Final assessment review
  • Live presentation and defence of your work
  • Architect Certification
  • The professional title AI Coaching Experience Designer

  Across the full programme

  • Access to all Level 2 and Level 3 session recordings
  • Peer-group support throughout the journey
  • A progressive credential at every level:

  Explorer Badge → Pioneer Badge → Architect Certification

  • LinkedIn-compatible digital badges issued through VirtualBadge.io
  • A Viva la Coaching quality badge for completed AI coaching experiences that meet the required assessment standards

What you will submit for final assessment

Certification is awarded at the end of Level 3 (Architect), on the basis of:

• A fully functioning AI coaching companion built on your methodology
• A designed onboarding experience for your CoachBot
• Compliance documentation for your specific use case
• A test and evaluation protocol

Trainer

Rebecca Rutschmann

Co-Founder of Viva la Coaching, speaker, consultant, trainer and AI coaching pioneer, PCC/SP.

Rebecca has been designing and building AI coaching companions since 2018 and brings extensive experience in responsible AI coaching design, professional standards, technology selection and practical implementation.

Prerequisites

• Relevant experience in coaching, mentoring, supervision, people development, HR or learning and development
• A professional methodology, framework or approach that you can use as the foundation for your AI coaching experience
• No previous AI-building experience is required—Level 1 meets you at your starting point
• Completion of Explorer and Pioneer forms the readiness pathway into Level 3
• Participants accepted onto the Full Journey do not need to submit a separate application before progressing to Architect

Pricing

Early-bird rate: €1,990 excl. VAT (available until 24 September)

Regular rate from 25 September 2026: €2,690 excl. VAT

Not yet ready for the Full Journey?
Explore the Pioneer Bundle and upgrade to Level 3 later