Principal AI Strategist

TEKsystems; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 162,000 - 255,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading business and technology services provider is seeking a Principal AI Strategist to drive AI innovation and strategy for strategic clients. This elite role requires extensive experience in AI leadership and excellent communication skills to engage C-level stakeholders and shape the future of AI offerings. The position is remote, ideal for candidates in the Chicagoland area, and offers a competitive salary range with various benefits.

Benefits

Medical, dental & vision insurance

401(k)/Roth plans

Tuition Assistance

Employee Assistance Program

Short and long-term disability

Qualifications

• 12+ years in strategy consulting or innovation leadership roles.
• 7+ years in AI leadership with hands-on experience.
• Experience with LLMs, Generative AI, and Predictive Analytics.

Responsibilities

• Own key strategic client relationships and engage C-level stakeholders.
• Lead the creation of AI service offerings and delivery workshops.
• Mentor senior strategists and guide organizational AI initiatives.

Skills

Business strategy acumen

AI leadership

Communication

Solution development

Storytelling

Technical understanding of AI stacks

Job description

One North is a digital experience agency that combines curiosity, scale, and agility to shape the future. As part of TEKsystems, a leading provider of business and technology services, we offer boutique solutions to solve complex problems. Our multidisciplinary teams of strategists, designers, and technologists excel in research and discovery, experience strategy, design, experience management, and technology implementation. Whether clients are establishing a vision for an experience or optimizing an existing one, we help businesses understand their audiences, design experiences, maximize technology, and bring their digital ideas to life. The world's most successful companies rely on us to forge the future through electrifying work that sparks innovation and drives results.
Here's what the opportunity supported through our TEKsystems Global Services (TGS) Talent Acquisition Team requires:
Position Overview
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 role 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
Pay and Benefits
The pay range for this position is $162600.00 - $254200.00/yr.
We reserve the right to pay above or below the posted wage 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.
Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan or program terms. Our benefit plans include the following:
· Medical, dental & vision· 401(k)/Roth· Insurance (Basic/Supplemental Life & AD&D)· Short and long-term disability· Health & Dependent Care Spending Accounts (HSA & DCFSA)· Transportation benefits· Employee Assistance Program· Tuition Assistance· Time Off/Leave (PTO, Paid Family Leave)
Workplace Type
This is a fully remote position.
Application Deadline
This position is anticipated to close on Jun 10, 2025.
About TEKsystems and TEKsystems Global Services
We're a leading provider of business and technology services. We accelerate business transformation for our customers. Our expertise in strategy, design, execution and operations unlocks business value through a range of solutions. We're a team of 80,000 strong, working with over 6,000 customers, including 80% of the Fortune 500 across North America, Europe and Asia, who partner with us for our scale, full-stack capabilities and speed. We're strategic thinkers, hands-on collaborators, helping customers capitalize on change and master the momentum of technology. We're building tomorrow by delivering business outcomes and making positive impacts in our global communities. TEKsystems and TEKsystems Global Services are Allegis Group companies. Learn more at TEKsystems.com.
The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.