AI Transformation Lead

Higher Research Recruiting; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Higher Research Recruiting is seeking a Founding AI Transformation Lead to shape how clients operate and scale AI initiatives. You will interview teams, map workflows, and design AI systems that remove friction while delivering measurable impact.

You will own client engagements end to end, balancing hands-on work inside client environments with building scalable AI workflows that become the company’s operating backbone. Direct CEO reporting reflects the strategic impact of this founding role.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in operations, project management, or owning a core function inside a company.
• Hands-on experience designing and shipping AI agents and AI-driven workflows in production, with guardrails and memory/context.

Responsibilities

• Map client business operations and identify high-impact workflows to start with.
• Design and ship the AI operating system: data model, standards, governance, workflows and agents.
• Build and deploy production AI agents and AI-powered workflows.
• Integrate existing tools (CRMs, storage, calendars, sales) into a single connected system.
• Translate data into dashboards for leaders to monitor progress in seconds.
• Redesign workflows and automate improvements.
• Own client relationships, lead updates, and manage escalations.
• Drive adoption with training, documentation, and usage tracking.

Skills

Ops experience

AI agent design

API integration

Data fluency

Client-facing

Cross-functional

Startup experience

Problem solving

Tools

Notion AI

API tooling

SQL

Job description

Our client is a fast growing start up that helps businesses become AI-native. They build AI systems that become a company's second brain and operational backbone, a durable operating system that turns scattered work into a connected, execution-ready machine.

The company has developed a practical approach to AI transformation that starts with real user workflows and proves value fast. “We build the backbone, the data model, standards, and guardrails that make AI reliable, then we ship workflows and agents on top of it in short, iterative cycles. The result is a system people actually use, one that keeps getting better as it becomes the source of truth for how the company runs. We do this for leaders across industries who know what AI can do but need an operator-builder to implement it end to end. We bring deep operations experience, hands-on AI fluency, and we move fast”.

About this role

This is a key founding role at a startup that's scaling fast. You will help shape the approach and how they operate.

As a Founding AI Transformation Lead, you'll own client engagements end to end. The role sits where operator meets builder. Half your time goes inside the actual work of our clients: interviewing teams, mapping workflows, finding the friction. The other half goes to designing and shipping the AI systems that remove it. You'll report directly to the CEO, and you'll be the one in the room when a client makes a decision about how AI changes their business.

What you'll do

• Partner with leaders and their teams to map how their business actually runs, and pinpoint the highest-impact work to start with.
• Design the operating system: define the data model, standards, and governance that make AI reliable, then build workflows and agents on top of it.
• Build and ship production AI agents and AI-powered workflows.
• Integrate the tools a business already uses (CRMs, file storage, calendars, sales, and more) into one connected system.
• Turn data into clear answers and dashboards that let a leader see what's on track in seconds.
• Redesign broken workflows, then automate the better version.
• Own the client relationship. Lead syncs, deliver updates, and handle escalations directly.
• Drive adoption across client organizations. Manage user training, documentation, and track user usage signals closely.

What you bring (required)

• 5+ years of professional experience, including 3+ years in business operations, project management, or owning a core function inside a company.
• Hands-on experience designing and shipping AI agents and AI-driven workflows in production, not just prototypes. You know how to write agent instructions, set guardrails, and give agents memory and context so they're reliable.
• Strong technical proficiency. You build integrations, work directly with APIs (auth, webhooks, reading docs), write logic and expressions, and debug your own automations. Experience with n8n, Make, Zapier, or similar; coding ability is a strong plus.
• Data fluency. You can model how data flows across a business and analyze it to surface insight. Using SQL or advanced spreadsheets is a plus.
• Client-facing experience. You've owned external relationships and communicated with stakeholders and executives directly.
• Cross-functional experience. You've worked across multiple departments and operate well without a fixed lane.
• Startup experience. You've operated in an early-stage, resource-constrained environment (ideally small startups) and can wear many hats while still shipping high-quality systems.
• A sharp problem-solver who can take a messy business situation and turn it into a shipped system, fast.

Nice to have

• Hands-on experience with Notion AI agents and databases.
• Direct consulting or agency experience.
• Familiarity with LLM tooling (Claude, OpenAI APIs, vector stores, RAG).
• A portfolio of systems, automations, or products you've built and shipped.

Equal Employment Opportunity.

We are committed to providing employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, military or veteran status, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

We believe diverse teams build better systems. We actively welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities, and we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone can do their best work. We encourage candidates who may not meet every listed qualification to apply.