Principal Consultant - Advisory

Responsibilities

Client Delivery:

· Facilitate sections of strategy, roadmap, design, and planning workshops

· Lead multidisciplinary project teams (advisory, product, design, data, and engineering) in the delivery of consulting service offerings

· Lead Experience Design engagements end to end, from user research and discovery through interaction design, prototyping, usability validation, and developer handoff

· Shape product and experience strategy alongside client and delivery teams, translating business needs into clear requirements, specifications, and design direction that engineering teams can build against.

· Lead the conception and incubation of new products, platforms, and accelerators from concept to market, including early go-to-market, and guide clients in replacing legacy systems with modern, scalable solutions.

· Guide the definition and design of AI-enabled and agentic solutions, applying human-centered and responsible-AI principles, including human-in-the-loop controls, evaluation, and governance

· Lead technical project teams in the delivery of consulting service offerings

· Drive and manage the objectives, requirements gathering, project tasks/milestone, project status, dependencies, and timelines, to ensure engagements are delivered successfully and on time while meeting the business objectives

· Breaks down the problem into manageable segments, identifies the factors that affect the problem and decides how to approach the project

· Define outcome-based success measures for assigned workstreams and track them alongside traditional delivery metrics such as scope, schedule, and budget

· Partner with data and AI teams to apply enterprise data and emerging approaches, such as agentic and human-centered AI, to design solutions that are trusted, usable, and tied to business outcomes

Business Development:

· Support business development pursuits through client discovery meetings that help qualify opportunities and allow the ideation of a strawman proposal

· Scope, position, and sell Experience Design services, including design system, accessibility, and AI experience engagements, as part of broader transformation programs

· Develop and promote relationships with customers and present technical solutions to C Level Executives- and facilitate to drive consensus and action — including addressing difficult client conversations and engaging senior stakeholders to reach meaningful outcomes

· Identify follow-on /expansion opportunities, co-author points of view and market-facing content, and represent AHEAD’s offerings with the same rigor and consistency they bring to client delivery.

· Assess a client’s current technology footprint to identify and prioritize value-creation opportunities that inform the broader business case.

· Build and maintain basic business-case components (cost/benefit, ROI/TCO inputs) that connect delivery outcomes to the client’s commercial and strategic priorities

Practice Development & Thought Leadership:

· Development and enhancement of AHEAD Advisory services offerings, including consulting offerings and deployment services

· Build and lead an Experience Design capability, including a Center of Excellence model, design governance, and shared standards across client product teams.

· Develop repeatable Experience Design offerings and accelerators, such as design system starter kits, accessibility assessments, and AI experience frameworks

· Grow client relationships and the practice by turning focused, tactical engagements into long-term, multi-initiative programs, and by helping build the people, standards, and offerings needed to scale the capability.

· Maintain a broad knowledge and understanding of the current and anticipated future state of the IT marketplace including IT trends, technologies, and standards

· Mentor team members

Qualifications

· 8+ years of relevant experience in experience design, product, or digital transformation consulting, with at least 5 years leading client engagements, including leading design or multidisciplinary teams

· Hands-on experience designing agentic and agent-to-UI interactions, context engines, and agent builder platforms.

· Experience taking products or platforms from concept to market, including early go-to-market, and replacing legacy systems or established incumbents.

· Hands-on comfort working with enterprise data and emerging AI approaches, such as agentic and human-centered AI, to translate business needs into clear designs and requirements.

· Graduate degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related discipline

· Ability to break down complex, ambiguous problems into structured, actionable workstreams

· Familiarity with Agile methodologies and SDLC

· Demonstrated experience leading Experience Design or UX teams and driving design quality, standards, and craft across multiple engagements.

· Client relationship management, including setting and managing expectations and serving as a credible, trusted advisor to client executive and C-suite stakeholders.

· Demonstrated business acumen, with the ability to understand client industries, operating models, and strategic priorities.

· Executive presence and polished presentation skills, with the ability to present deliverables directly to client executive management.

· Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with strong interpersonal and active-listening ability across diverse personalities and audiences

· Preferred: Experience designing for complex, data-heavy, or regulated workflows, including analytics and operational platforms