Lead Consultant / Advisory Manager - Data & AI

Company Description

We're Hiflylabs, a vibrant team of 250+ data and tech enthusiasts headquartered in Budapest. While our core team is based in Hungary, we operate entities in New York, London, and Vienna as we expand our global footprint. From artificial intelligence to data engineering, data science, and application development, we work on a wide range of projects around the world.

Our strength lives in our people. Through our mentoring system, we cultivate professional growth and innovation.

The Advisory team plays a dual role at Hiflylabs. As trusted strategic advisors, it helps client leaders shape their AI and data strategy and decide where to invest. As the integrative hub, it turns those priorities into clear roadmaps, brings our engineering, analytics and delivery teams together around a shared solution, and makes sure what we build creates measurable business value.

Explore more about us through our Website, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

This is a leadership role in strategy and transformation for someone who can navigate the boardroom, operationalize a roadmap, and build and lead the team that does both. You will head our Data & AI Advisory team of 8–10 consultants and own the full lifecycle of AI adoption for our clients, from data governance and AI readiness through implementation and the change management needed to make it stick.

In short, you won't just shape how enterprises use AI; you will lead the people, the engagements and the practice that make it happen.

We’re looking for a proactive, hands-on leader who thrives in fast-paced and ambiguous environments.

What Will You Do?

●      Lead the Advisory Team: Manage, coach and develop a team of 8–10 consultants and advisors, owning hiring, onboarding, performance reviews and career growth.

●      Build Team Capability: Set the methodologies, toolkits and quality standards the team uses for Data & AI strategy, governance and change management work.

●      Staff & Steer Engagements: Allocate people across a portfolio of concurrent engagements, balancing utilization, delivery quality and individual development.

●      Advise Executives: Act as the senior trusted advisor to C-level leaders on AI adoption, regulation (e.g. the EU AI Act) and ROI.

●      Set the Strategy: Lead the design of enterprise Data & AI strategies that use data and Generative AI to drive measurable business growth.

●      Own Delivery: Be accountable for advisory engagements end to end (scope, budget, timeline and client satisfaction), from roadmap through rollout and adoption.

●      Bridge Business & Tech: Work hand in hand with our engineering and data science teams so strategy turns into solutions that are implemented and used.

●      Grow the Business: Originate and shape new opportunities, lead proposals and pitches, and expand existing client accounts.

●      Build the Practice: Develop new AI advisory services and go-to-market propositions for target industries, and represent Hiflylabs through talks and thought leadership.

●       8+ years of management consulting experience, including at least 3 years in a manager or engagement manager role, gained at a Big Four, Tier 1 strategy consulting firm or a comparable advisory firm

●      People Leadership: Proven track record of directly managing and developing a team of consultants (ideally 5+ people), including hiring, performance management and coaching.

●      Engagement Ownership: Experience leading multiple concurrent engagements with full accountability for scope, budget, quality and client satisfaction.

●      Executive Presence: Proven experience as a trusted advisor to C-level leaders, comfortable challenging and steering board-level discussions.

●      Strategic AI Insight: A deep, continuously evolving grasp of the Data & GenAI landscape, with a proven ability to translate emerging capabilities into tangible business value.

●      Governance & Change Expertise: Deep, practical understanding of data governance, AI governance, AI change management, AI ethics, and regulatory frameworks (e.g. the EU AI Act, GDPR), with experience applying them in enterprise settings.

●      Business Development: Track record of winning work: shaping proposals, leading pitches and growing accounts, ideally against your own revenue targets.

●      Communication: Excellent storytelling and presentation skills for executive audiences.

●      Fluent in English and Hungarian

Nice to Have:

●      Hands-on experience with Machine Learning, NLP, or GenAI tools.

●      Experience overseeing complex enterprise IT or data platform implementation programs, ideally in large corporate environments.

●      Experience building or scaling a consulting practice or a new service line.

●      Experience working with international clients and cross-border teams.

Our Promise to You:

●     Leadership & Impact – Lead your own team and help shape the direction of our Data & AI advisory practice.

●     Innovative AI Projects – Work on cutting-edge AI solutions across global markets.

●     Empowered Work Culture – We trust you to take ownership and drive impact.

●     Flexible Work Environment – Hybrid and remote-friendly opportunities.

●     Professional Growth – Access to mentorship, leadership development and international AI engagements.

●     Strong Community – Be part of a vibrant, collaborative, and fun-loving team.