We are seeking a Principal AI Strategist to play a lead role in our AI Innovation team. This position is for an elite professional who combines business strategy acumen, deep AI expertise, presales excellence, and solution development leadership. You will own key strategic client relationships, lead high-stakes pre-sales engagements, drive the creation of AI service offerings, and deliver executive-level AI strategy workshops and other services as required.
This role demands strategic ownership, enterprise-wide influence, and thought leadership both internally and externally. The Principal AI Strategist will directly shape the growth of One North’s and TEKsystems’ AI advisory and solutions portfolio.
This position will ideally be based in the Chicagoland area, but we are open to remote locations across the U.S.
Key Responsibilities
Executive Client Engagement and Leadership:
– Act as the principal advisor on AI strategy for our most strategic customers.
– Lead high-profile executive briefings, advisory sessions, and workshops with C-level client stakeholders and other services or offerings as required.
– Own pre-sales and deal qualification processes for AI engagements, including solution shaping, storytelling, pricing strategies, and securing large-scale engagements.
– Build trusted advisor relationships that position One North as an indispensable strategic partner.
Offering Ownership and Marketing Impact:
– Architect, design, and own new AI offerings and go-to-market strategies across AI strategy, governance, and emerging technologies (e.g., LLMs, Agentic AI, Predictive Analytics).
– Identify emerging AI trends and translate them into new services, solutions, and market opportunities.
– Produce high-impact thought leadership (e.g., white papers, keynote presentations, published articles) to establish One North’s authority in the AI space.
– Act as an external evangelist, participating in select industry forums, panels, and events.
Solution Design and Delivery Leadership:
– Lead the design and delivery of transformative AI strategies, roadmaps, governance frameworks, services, and POCs for Fortune 1000 clients.
– Advise customers on AI platforms and ecosystems (e.g., OpenAI, Claude, Anthropic, LangChain, HuggingFace, Databricks, AWS Bedrock/Sagemaker, Azure OpenAI).
– Ensure AI initiatives drive measurable business outcomes, ethical use, and long-term value.
Organizational Leadership:
– Mentor and guide senior strategists, architects, and consultants across TEKsystems and One North.
– Align business, technical, and executive stakeholders on bold, enterprise-level AI transformation initiatives.
– Foster a culture of excellence, innovation, collaboration, and responsible AI use.
Skills & Qualifications
– 12 or more years of experience in strategy consulting, technology advisory, or innovation leadership roles
– 7 or more years of hands-on AI leadership experience, including:
- Designing enterprise AI strategies, governance frameworks, and AI transformation roadmaps
- Leading presales, solutioning, and deal shaping for AI and emerging tech opportunities
- Deep experience with LLMs, Generative AI, Predictive Analytics, and emerging AI architectures (agentic, composable)
– Proven success delivering high-impact workshops and advisory sessions at the C-level
– Strong business acumen combined with a technical understanding of modern AI stacks
– Exceptional executive presence, communication, and storytelling skills
– Track record of thought leadership, publication, and/or public speaking is highly desirable
– Experience navigating regulatory, ethical, and governance aspects of AI at enterprise scale
Success Metrics
– Growth of AI strategy revenue and AI service line expansion
– Win rate of AI-related pre-sales opportunities and pursuits
– Client satisfaction and executive endorsements
– Thought leadership output (white papers, conferences, industry publications)
– Expansion of internal AI capabilities and talent development
Benefits
- Our comprehensive benefits program includes Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO Health coverage, as well as a health savings account with employer-funded contributions.
- We also offer Dental and Vision insurance. All of our full-time employees are eligible for Life/AD&D insurance and Short/Long Term Disability insurance free of cost, with the option to add additional voluntary coverage if desired.
- One North’s 401(k) plan allows employees to save for retirement through pre- or post-tax contributions along with employer-matched funds for maximized savings potential.
- Our Transportation Benefits enable employees to also make pre-tax contributions to pay for parking and public transit needs.
- We know how important unwinding can be for inspiration, innovation and productivity. Our full-time employees earn 4 weeks of paid time off, in addition to company paid holidays. Employees begin to accrue additional time off once they reach their 3-year and 10-year anniversaries with the business.
- One North also understands how critical it is for parents to bond with their new additions. We provide paid Parental and Primary Caregiver Leave to assist and support employees who experience a new birth, adoption or foster placement of a child.
- We also offer an Employee Perks Program that offers member-only discounts and corporate rates on everything from pizza and the zoo, to movie tickets, car rentals, and hotels.
We reserve the right to pay above or below the base salary range of $162,600-$254,200 based on factors unrelated to sex, race, or any other protected classification.
Additional earnings may be available through incentive programs like annual bonuses, profit sharing, etc.
Please click on the following link to learn more about our full-time internal employment benefits: https://www.teksystems.com/en/careers/benefits.
The expected posting close date is May 14, 2025.
**Clicking the Apply now button will redirect you to apply on TEKsystems.com.
