Principal Consultant, Internal AI in Chicago, Illinois at AHEAD
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Job Description
The Principal Consultant, Internal AI, is a hands-on, cross-functional role embedded within AHEAD's internal AI transformation function. You will serve as the connective tissue between business units, the Transformation Office, and technology delivery squads - guiding each BU through AI-powered workflow reimagination from discovery through adoption. You will not just advise; you will facilitate, translate, drive, and track value creation. You will partner with engineers and change management experts to bring structured design-thinking methodology, AI platform knowledge, and stakeholder management skills to turn ambiguous business friction into scoped, high-impact technology solutions.
Lead Reimagination
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Embed with assigned business units to surface technology transformation opportunities through structured discovery and diagnostic sessions.
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Facilitate design-thinking workshops to translate fuzzy pain points into well-scoped problem statements, success criteria, and MVP candidates.
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Guide stakeholders through AHEAD's use case intake funnel, determining whether a use case is a citizen development opportunity, a quick win, or a longer development effort.
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Champion a consistent, repeatable approach to enable scale.
Bridge Technology and Business
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Serve as the strategic continuity layer between business units and technology delivery teams, ensuring cohesion across citizen and complex use cases.
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Provide informed guidance on platform fit without serving as the technical architect; connect the right people at the right time.
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Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure solutions are executable within AHEAD's delivery model.
Drive Adoption & Change Readiness
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Assess workforce and role impacts alongside AI solution design; flag when change management, role redesign, or training is needed and pull in the right change management partners.
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Support BU stakeholders through the full adoption arc — from first demo through sustainable, embedded use — ensuring AI solutions don't land on a shelf.
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Build momentum by capturing and sharing early wins, time savings, and adoption metrics that demonstrate business value back to leadership.
Own Stakeholder & Executive Engagement
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Manage relationships with business leaders, development team members, and senior sponsors across your assigned domain.
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Communicate progress, trade-offs, and prioritization decisions clearly to executive and non-technical stakeholders.
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Represent your team’s work in leadership forums, contributing a grounded, business-backed perspective to platform and roadmap decisions.
Measure & Report Impact
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Define success metrics at the use case level — time saved, errors reduced, adoption rate, headcount impact — and track them consistently.
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Contribute to show-back / charge-back accountability model with clear, honest reporting on business value delivered.
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Proactively surface blockers, risks, or capacity constraints to course-correct before they become larger issues.
$240,000 - $300,000 a year