Senior Data & AI Consultant/Consulting Lead (Montreal, Canada)

Unit8; Montreal; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Entrepreneurial ownership

First Canadian hire

Job summary

Unit8 is expanding its Canadian presence, recruiting a Senior Data & AI Consultant / Consulting Lead to partner with client leadership in Montréal. You will translate business needs into data & AI opportunities, drive strategy, and guide cross-functional teams to deliver measurable value.

You will shape operating models, manage change, and help establish Unit8’s footprint in Canada, working with executives and engineers alike to turn concepts into scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in business, engineering, IT or related field; MBA welcome.
• 2–3 years of genuine business consulting project experience driving to outcomes.
• Experience in product management and delivering value across business and technical teams.
• Experience on strategy projects including building business cases and ROI models.
• Fluent in English; French is a strong asset for Québec-based work.

Responsibilities

• Bridge business and technology, translating client pain points into data & AI opportunities.
• Identify and prioritize use cases across analytics, generative, and agentic AI.
• Build business cases for data & AI investments with ROI calculations.
• Shape data & AI strategies and pragmatic roadmaps aligned with client strategy.
• Own the delivery and transformation strategy from idea to large-scale impact.
• Collaborate with data engineers, data scientists, and solution architects to implement use cases.
• Support business development through client conversations and thought leadership.

Skills

Business consulting

Data & AI strategy

Product management

Stakeholder management

English proficiency

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s in business, engineering, IT

Tools

SQL

Python

Job description

Unit8, founded in 2017, is a high-tech, dynamic Swiss leader in AI and data analytics consulting, renowned for solving complex challenges in non-digital native industries such as automotive, chemicals, financial services, manufacturing, and pharma. Our partnerships with industry leaders like Palantir, NVIDIA, and OpenAI underscore our commitment to excellence. With over 200 successful projects and a team of :200 professionals across Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Spain and the US, we have entered the Canadian market in early 2026 and are set for further expansion.

Who we are

Unit8, founded in 2017, is a high-tech, dynamic Swiss leader in AI and data analytics consulting, renowned for solving complex challenges in non-digital native industries such as automotive, chemicals, financial services, manufacturing, and pharma. Our partnerships with industry leaders like Palantir, NVIDIA, and OpenAI underscore our commitment to excellence. With over 200 successful projects and a team of :200 professionals across Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Spain and the US, we have entered the Canadian market in early 2026 and are set for further expansion.

Our mission

Unit8 is dedicated to driving AI adoption in non-digital industries and accelerating their digital transformation. We invest in projects that matter, including pro-bono initiatives and "engineering for good" causes.

The opportunity

Following our growth in Europe and our recent expansion into the US market in early 2026, Unit8 is taking its next strategic step in North America. We are looking for an entrepreneurially minded Senior Data & AI Consultant / Consulting Lead to help expandestablish our Canadian presence in Montréal.

This is, above all, a translator role. You are the person who sits with a client's leadership, understands what actually drives their business, and turns ambiguous problems into data & AI opportunities our engineers and data scientists can build. You are the bridge between the boardroom and the build, fluent enough in both to keep them aligned from first conversation to delivered value.

You own the delivery and transformation strategy. You propose how to bring value across the full journey, from an initial idea and analysis through to large-scale transformation, and you are a strong communicator who can sell that plan and vision to C-level executives.

As one of our first Canadian hires, you will help shape how the practice operates, which clients we pursue, and what Unit8 becomes known for in Canada.

What you'll do

Your role will evolve with our clients' needs and our growth in the region. In general, you will:

• Act as the bridge between business and technology, listening for the client's real pain points and framing them as data & AI opportunities that create measurable value
• Identify and prioritise the use cases across analytics, generative, and agentic AI that genuinely move the needle, from strategy through to implementation
• Build the business case for data & AI investments, quantifying ROI, costs, and benefits so client leaders can make confident decisions
• Shape data & AI strategies and pragmatic roadmaps that align with the client's broader business strategy and priorities
• Design the target operating models that determine how data & AI teams, functions, and centres of excellence work
• Support process re-engineering: rethinking how core business processes should work once data & AI is embedded, and helping clients manage the change
• Guide clients on their journey to becoming data- and AI-driven, assessing their maturity and keeping the work anchored to business outcomes
• Own the solution like a product manager, defining what "good" looks like, keeping scope honest, and holding the team accountable to the value delivered
• Team up with our data engineers, data scientists, AI engineers, and solution architects to turn use cases into working solutions, from modern data platforms and analytics products to machine learning and AI applications
• Contribute to business development by preparing for and taking part in client conversations, workshops, and industry conferences
• Support thought leadership through white papers and industry content on data science & AI

Who you are

Above all, you are a consultant and a translator: someone who can hold a business conversation with senior stakeholders and a technical conversation with engineers, and carry meaning cleanly between the two. Specifically, you are:

• A trained business consultant. You built your foundation in a leading management, strategy, or business consultancy (for example a Big 4 firm, Accenture, Capgemini, or a top strategy house), with at least 2 to 3 years of genuine business consulting project experience where you learned to structure ambiguity and drive to outcomes. This is typically part of a broader career of several years
• A natural translator. You can sit with business leaders, understand their priorities and constraints, and reframe them as data & AI opportunities, then explain the resulting solution back to the business in plain, convincing language
• Experienced in product management. You have owned a product, solution, or roadmap and been accountable for the value it delivered, coordinating across business and technical teams to get there
• Seasoned on strategy projects. You have worked on the strategic questions that surround data & AI: building business cases and ROI models, designing operating models, and re-engineering business processes
• Literate and curious about data & AI. You don't need to build the models, but you understand what modern analytics, GenAI, and agentic AI make possible, and you can spot where they create real value
• Comfortable with ambiguity. You quickly find the things that matter to a client, whether mid-project or in a business development conversation, and you exercise good judgement on where to focus
• A relationship builder. You earn the trust of clients and teammates and build partnerships that last
• Academically grounded. You hold a Bachelor's or Master's degree in business, engineering, IT/computer science, mathematics, natural sciences, or a related field; an MBA is welcome

Language

Unit8 operates as one international team across Switzerland, Poland, Germany, and now North America, and works with global clients; our day-to-day working language across the company and on delivery teams is therefore English, and professional fluency in English is required for this role. French is a strong asset and is valued for working with Québec-based clients and colleagues, but it is not a requirement.

What we offer

At Unit8, we don't just turn data into value; we empower the people who make it possible. If you are looking for a place where you can take ownership, your next chapter starts here.

• A groundbreaking opportunity and footprint. As one of our first Canadian hires, you will play a pivotal role in establishing Unit8's presence in an emerging market, shaping how the practice operates, which clients we target, and what we are known for in Canada
• Pioneering autonomy. We offer the freedom and entrepreneurial ownership to drive our growth strategy and decide how we deliver maximum value in a new geography
• High-stakes work. You will work on critical projects that transform how major industries operate
• A "builder" culture. Our consultants work shoulder-to-shoulder with engineers and data scientists who ship production systems. You'll close the loop between strategy and delivery

We welcome people from all backgrounds