Principal Consultant - Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Remote - US)

We are seeking a Principal Consultant to join our Data & AI practice and lead engagements from client discovery and value identification through use case portfolio development, ROI prioritization, and end‑to‑end solution architecture. This role also owns the design and establishment of AI Centers of Excellence (CoEs) for clients, ensuring AI adoption is governed, scalable, and aligned to business outcomes. 
 
This is a client‑facing, consultative role that sits at the intersection of executive strategy, applied AI engineering, and enterprise architecture. The Principal Consultant - AI must be equally comfortable whiteboarding with engineers, stress‑testing ROI with business leaders, and advising C‑suite executives on AI operating models and risk.

Key Responsibilities

Client Discovery & AI Readiness Assessment 

• Lead structured discovery sessions (in-person and virtual) with executive stakeholders and technical SMEs to assess: 

• Current‑state AI, data, cloud, and automation architecture.

• Business processes, decision points, and operational pain areas. 

• Organizational readiness, governance maturity, and risk posture for AI adoption. 

• Translate ambiguous client inputs into clear, actionable findings that inform both business and technical decisions. 

• Produce discovery outputs that support executive alignment and downstream architecture decisions.  

Use Case Portfolio, ROI Stress Testing & Prioritization  

• Identify, define, and document AI use cases across business functions, including: 

• Business value hypothesis and success metrics. 

• Technical feasibility, data dependencies, and delivery complexity. 

• Build a use case portfolio and put each use case through an ROI stress test, prioritizing: 

• Measurable business impact 

• Feasibility and risk 

• Time‑to‑value and scalability 

• Create and present a priority matrix (impact × complexity × risk) and a sequenced AI adoption roadmap for executive decision‑making.  

AI Architecture & Solution Design 

• Own the end‑to‑end architecture and design of complex AI, machine learning, and intelligent automation solutions, including: 

• Generative and agentic AI architectures 

• Predictive and supervised ML solutions 

• Workflow automation and orchestration 

• Secure integration with enterprise systems and data sources 

• Define reference architectures, design patterns, and guardrails that ensure solutions are secure, scalable, governable, and production‑ready. 

• Collaborate closely with AI Engineers, Platform Engineers, Data, Security, and Delivery teams to ensure architectural intent translates into successful implementation.  

AI Center of Excellence (CoE) Design & Enablement 

• Design and help establish AI Centers of Excellence for clients, including: 

• AI intake and qualification models 

• Architecture and development standards 

• Governance, Responsible AI, and risk controls 

• Operating models for scaling AI across the organization 

• Help clients move from ad‑hoc AI experimentation to repeatable, enterprise‑grade AI delivery. 

• Enable client teams with frameworks, artifacts, and guidance that allow the CoE to operate independently over time.  

Platform & Ecosystem Expertise 

• Deep familiarity with the Microsoft AI ecosystem, including: 

• Microsoft Foundry, other Azure AI services including Azure Machine Learning 

• Microsoft Fabric and related analytics patterns 

• Copilot Studio and modern agent‑based AI approaches 

• Comfortable architecting solutions on or translating architectures across: 

• AWS 

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP) 

• While Microsoft Azure is the primary stack, the role requires credible multicloud fluency.  

Client Discovery & AI Readiness Assessment 

• Lead structured discovery sessions (in-person and virtual) with executive stakeholders and technical SMEs to assess: 

• Current‑state AI, data, cloud, and automation architecture. 

• Business processes, decision points, and operational pain areas. 

• Organizational readiness, governance maturity, and risk posture for AI adoption. 

• Translate ambiguous client inputs into clear, actionable findings that inform both business and technical decisions. 

• Produce discovery outputs that support executive alignment and downstream architecture decisions.  

Use Case Portfolio, ROI Stress Testing & Prioritization  

• Identify, define, and document AI use cases across business functions, including: 

• Business value hypothesis and success metrics. 

• Technical feasibility, data dependencies, and delivery complexity. 

• Build a use case portfolio and put each use case through an ROI stress test, prioritizing: 

• Measurable business impact 

• Feasibility and risk 

• Time‑to‑value and scalability 

• Create and present a priority matrix (impact × complexity × risk) and a sequenced AI adoption roadmap for executive decision‑making.  

AI Architecture & Solution Design 

• Own the end‑to‑end architecture and design of complex AI, machine learning, and intelligent automation solutions, including: 

• Generative and agentic AI architectures 

• Predictive and supervised ML solutions 

• Workflow automation and orchestration 

• Secure integration with enterprise systems and data sources 

• Define reference architectures, design patterns, and guardrails that ensure solutions are secure, scalable, governable, and production‑ready. 

• Collaborate closely with AI Engineers, Platform Engineers, Data, Security, and Delivery teams to ensure architectural intent translates into successful implementation.  

AI Center of Excellence (CoE) Design & Enablement 

• Design and help establish AI Centers of Excellence for clients, including: 

• AI intake and qualification models 

• Architecture and development standards 

• Governance, Responsible AI, and risk controls 

• Operating models for scaling AI across the organization 

• Help clients move from ad‑hoc AI experimentation to repeatable, enterprise‑grade AI delivery. 

• Enable client teams with frameworks, artifacts, and guidance that allow the CoE to operate independently over time. 

Platform & Ecosystem Expertise 

• Deep familiarity with the Microsoft AI ecosystem, including: 

• Microsoft Foundry, other Azure AI services including Azure Machine Learning 

• Microsoft Fabric and related analytics patterns 

• Copilot Studio and modern agent‑based AI approaches 

• Comfortable architecting solutions on or translating architectures across: 

• AWS 

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP) 

• While Microsoft Azure is the primary stack, the role requires credible multicloud fluency.  

Data & Machine Learning Foundations 

• Strong working knowledge of data management concepts, including: 

• Data quality, lineage, governance, and lifecycle considerations 

• Feature engineering and data readiness for ML 

• Collaborate closely with internal and client data platform teams (this role does not own data platforms but must design against them). 

• Apply a solid foundation in statistics and applied machine learning to ensure: 

• Models are architected appropriately 

• Assumptions, limitations, and risks are well understood and communicated  

Executive Communication & Consulting Leadership 

• Lead business‑level and AI‑level conversations with C‑suite and senior leadership. 

• Translate complex technical architectures into clear business narratives tied to value, risk, and outcomes. 

• Provide trusted advisory guidance on AI strategy, operating models, and investment decisions. 

• Contribute to the development of repeatable consulting offers, assessments, and delivery frameworks.

• Strong working knowledge of data management concepts, including: 

• Data quality, lineage, governance, and lifecycle considerations 

• Feature engineering and data readiness for ML 

• Collaborate closely with internal and client data platform teams (this role does not own data platforms but must design against them). 

• Apply a solid foundation in statistics and applied machine learning to ensure: 

• Models are architected appropriately 

• Assumptions, limitations, and risks are well understood and communicated  

Executive Communication & Consulting Leadership 

• Lead business‑level and AI‑level conversations with C‑suite and senior leadership. 

• Translate complex technical architectures into clear business narratives tied to value, risk, and outcomes. 

• Provide trusted advisory guidance on AI strategy, operating models, and investment decisions. 

• Contribute to the development of repeatable consulting offers, assessments, and delivery frameworks.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years Consulting experience leading client discovery, workshops, and executive readouts.

• Proven experience as an AI Architect, AI Solution Architect, or equivalent role. 

• Prior hands‑on experience as an AI Engineer or ML Engineer building real AI solutions of moderate to advanced complexity. 

• Strong architecture background across cloud, security, integration, and scalability. 

• Excellent written and spoken English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing or operating AI Centers of Excellence. 

• Multicloud experience across Azure, AWS, and GCP. 

• Business management or business operations experience enabling strong understanding of client needs and constraints. 

• Spanish business professional fluency.