AI Transformation Lead

Higher Research Recruiting; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Higher Research Recruiting's client, a fast-growing startup, is building an operating system for AI-driven businesses and seeks a founding, hands-on leader to define data models, governance, and workflows. You will ship AI agents and AI-powered workflows, integrating existing tools and delivering dashboards that show progress for executives.

You will own client relationships, drive cross-functional initiatives, and lead adoption through training and documentation in a fast-paced startup

Qualifications

• 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.
• Strong technical proficiency; experience with APIs and integrations.
• Data fluency with SQL or advanced spreadsheets.

Responsibilities

• Map how the business runs and identify high-impact work to start.
• Define the operating system: 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 into one connected system.
• Turn data into clear answers and dashboards that show status in seconds.
• Redesign broken workflows, then automate the better version.
• Own the client relationship and lead updates and escalations.
• Drive adoption across client organizations with training and documentation.

Skills

5+ years exp

AI agents design

AI workflows production

APIs & integrations

SQL data fluency

Client-facing

Cross-functional

Startup experience

Problem solver

Tools

n8n

Make

Zapier

Notion AI

OpenAI APIs

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.

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.