AI Strategist – GenAI Advisory & Talent

IQbusiness; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 1 200 000 - 1 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consulting firm in South Africa is looking for a senior AI Strategist to drive GenAI initiatives for clients. In this role, you will work closely with executive teams to shape strategies, design operational models, and embed secure AI practices. The ideal candidate has strong experience in consulting and AI-related roles, with a passion for transforming AI potential into real business value.

Qualifications

• 7-10 years of experience in strategy, consulting, or transformation roles.
• Proven ability to work with executive stakeholders.
• Experience in AI, analytics, or similar initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver executive education sessions on GenAI.
• Develop tailored GenAI vision and strategy for clients.
• Guide use-case discovery and shape business cases.

Skills

GenAI understanding

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Facilitation skills

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in relevant field

Job description

AI Strategist

We’re building out our AI Advisory & Talent team and we’re looking for a senior AI Strategist who can work directly with executive teams to shape how GenAI shows up in their business – from first “aha” through to scaled adoption, secure and responsible.

You won’t be writing code – but you will be the person who connects strategy, operating model, talent, data and technology into one coherent GenAI story.

Role Purpose

The AI Strategist is a senior client‑facing role within the AI Advisory & Talent value proposition.

Their core mission is to turn GenAI potential into performance – helping clients build the systems that deliver meaningful, repeatable GenAI value, faster and more safely.

They work with executive and senior leaders to:

• Demystify GenAI,
• Shape a GenAI Vision and Strategy specific to each client,
• Design a GenAI Operating Model and integrated governance,
• Build Acceleration Plans / Roadmaps optimised for adoption,
• Guide the development and support of GenAI solutions end‑to‑end,
• Embed Secure & Responsible AI, insights, and structured change into the way GenAI is adopted and scaled.

Position in the Organisation

Reports to: Head of AI Advisory & Talent

• Works with:
  • C‑suite and senior executives (CIO, CDO/CDAO, CHRO, CFO, COO, business heads)
  • AI Solution Architect
  • Data, AI, engineering and platform teams
  • Risk, Legal, Compliance, Security and Audit
  • HR, Learning & Talent, Change and Comms
  • PMO / Portfolio and Transformation offices

Key Responsibilities

Demystifying GenAI & Executive Education

• Design and deliver Demystifying GenAI sessions for executives and leadership teams.
• Explain:
  • Core GenAI concepts, capabilities and limitations
  • The business case and value levers for GenAI
  • Risk, governance and responsible AI considerations
• Adapt content, examples and framing to the client’s industry, maturity and concerns.

GenAI Vision & Strategy

• Co‑create a GenAI Vision tailored to each client’s strategy and readiness.
• Lead the development of GenAI Strategy, including:
  • Strategic Intent and Keys to Winning
  • Quick Wins and lighthouse initiatives
  • Priority value pools and initiatives
  • OKRs and outcome metrics
  • Risk mitigation, guardrails and governance choices
• Ensure the strategy is practical, owned by the client, and linked to existing corporate strategy and transformation agendas.

Use‑Case Discovery & Value Shaping

• Run use‑case discovery with cross‑functional teams, using structured canvases and workshops.
• Assess use cases for value, feasibility, risk and change impact.
• Shape and refine business/value cases and prioritisation backlogs.

Acceleration Plan / Roadmap Development

• Develop GenAI Acceleration Plans / Roadmaps that:
  • Sequence initiatives logically and sustainably
  • Integrate technology, operating‑model, capability and change streams
  • Include quick wins, scaling pathways and foundational investments
• Tailor adoption paths to each client – not “one size fits all” – considering culture, risk, regulatory environment and history with prior transformations.

Developing & Supporting GenAI Solutions (E2E)

• Partner with product, data and engineering teams to translate strategy into concrete GenAI solutions.
• Understand and guide the end‑to‑end lifecycle:
  • Problem framing and user journeys
  • Data availability and quality constraints
  • Solution and model design trade‑offs
  • Evaluation, testing and acceptance criteria
  • Deployment, monitoring, support and continuous improvement
• Help identify bottlenecks and structural issues in the E2E process, and recommend improvements.

Secure & Responsible AI and Integrated Governance

• Advise on Secure & Responsible AI practices – from data access and privacy, to model risk, bias mitigation, explainability and human oversight.
• Co‑design integrated governance models that:
  • Align risk, legal, compliance, security and audit with business and technology teams
  • Define decision forums, approval check‑points and escalation paths
  • Integrate with existing governance (e.g., architecture boards, risk committees, portfolio boards).

GenAI Insights, KPIs, OKRs & Value Realisation

• Define GenAI Insights and measurement frameworks (KPIs, OKRs, dashboards).
• Ensure insights cover:
  • Business outcomes (value, productivity, experience, risk)
  • Adoption and usage
  • Data and platform readiness
  • Risk and control adherence
• Establish routines for reviewing insights and adjusting strategy, roadmap and change plans accordingly.

Quarterly Planning Leadership & Operating Rhythm

• Lead or support Quarterly Planning sessions focused on GenAI – often integrated into existing planning ceremonies.
• Facilitate alignment on:
  • Priorities and trade‑offs
  • Capacity, skills and dependencies
  • Risk and compliance implications
• Ensure a consistent operating rhythm for GenAI that blends weekly progress, monthly capability milestones and quarterly strategic review.

Comms Plan Development & Structured Change Management

• Co‑develop communication plans with client communications and change teams, covering key audiences, messages, channels and cadence.
• Apply structured change management methods:
  • Stakeholder analysis and engagement planning
  • Change impact assessment and mitigation
  • Training, enablement and support structures
  • Feedback and continuous‑improvement loops
• Ensure change and comms are not afterthoughts but core enablers of GenAI adoption.

Practice Development & Capability Building

• Contribute to the evolution of the GenAI Keys to Winning Operating System™, including Demystifying content, strategy and roadmap patterns, governance and insights frameworks.
• Coach internal colleagues and client teams in GenAI strategy, operating models, governance and change.
• Capture and share case studies, lessons and repeatable patterns.

Experience & Background

Essential

• Typically 7–10+ years in a combination of:
  • Strategy / management consulting / digital / transformation roles, and
  • AI / analytics / data / GenAI‑related initiatives.
• Proven experience working directly with executive and senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated capability in:
  • Vision and strategy development
  • Operating‑model and/or governance design
  • Roadmap / acceleration planning
  • Workshop design and facilitation
  • Leading or contributing to change and adoption programmes.

Advantageous

• Experience in highly regulated industries (e.g. financial services, telco, public sector) where Secure & Responsible AI and integrated governance are critical.
• Experience with Agile / SAFe, product operating models, and quarterly/PI planning cycles.
• Exposure to AI/ML platforms, MLOps, or enterprise GenAI tooling.

Skills & Competencies

Technical & Conceptual

• Strong understanding of GenAI, AI and data concepts, their potential and limitations.
• Ability to discuss the E2E lifecycle of GenAI solutions with technical and business stakeholders.
• Appreciation of security, privacy, risk and responsible AI requirements.

Business, Strategy & Consulting

• Strong business acumen; able to connect GenAI ideas to real value, cost, risk and experience impacts.
• Skilled in strategy design, prioritisation, OKR framing and roadmap development.
• Comfortable with hypothesis‑driven problem solving and structured narrative‑building.

Leadership, Communication & Facilitation

• Executive presence and confidence with senior audiences.
• Excellent storytelling and communication skills (written and verbal).
• Strong facilitation skills, able to lead Demystifying GenAI sessions, strategy workshops, roadmap co‑design and quarterly planning.

Change, Comms & Influence

• Familiar with change management frameworks and able to apply them pragmatically.
• Able to co‑create and execute communication plans.
• Influences across organisational boundaries with empathy and clarity.

Mindset

• Curious, pragmatic, systems thinker.
• Ethically grounded, with a bias towards secure, responsible, human‑centred AI.
• Collaborative, low‑ego, focused on building client capability, not dependency.

Keys to Winning in This Role

The AI Strategist “wins” when clients move from GenAI hype and experimentation to a clear, governed and value‑producing GenAI Operating System.

1. Demystify GenAI and build confidence
   • The case for GenAI in each client’s context
   • Key GenAI concepts, patterns and risks
   • Typical use cases and anti‑patterns

• Lead Demystifying GenAI conversations and sessions that explain:
• Translate technical concepts into practical, business‑relevant language that enables informed decisions.

Shape a client‑specific GenAI Vision

• Help leaders define a clear, compelling GenAI Vision grounded in their strategy, readiness and risk appetite – not a generic “AI‑first” slogan.
• Ensure the vision includes what GenAI will (and will not) be used for, who it serves, and what transformation it implies for people and ways of working.

Craft robust GenAI Strategy

• Work with leaders to define Strategic Intent, Keys to Winning, and Quick Wins that build belief early.
• Shape priorities, OKRs, priority initiatives and risk mitigation approaches across business, technology, data, risk, talent and change.
• Balance bold moves with safe, responsible experimentation.

Design tailored Acceleration Plans / Roadmaps

• Culture and change appetite
• Regulatory and risk environment
• Data and platform maturity

• Build Acceleration Plans / Roadmaps that are more than templates – tailored adoption plans that reflect each client’s:
• Sequence work so that quick wins, foundational capability and operating‑model shifts reinforce each other.

Guide development and support of GenAI solutions (E2E)

• Understand the full end‑to‑end GenAI solution lifecycle: opportunity shaping, data readiness, model/solution design, evaluation, deployment, monitoring and ongoing support.
• Collaborate with technical teams to shape solution design, acceptance criteria, guardrails and support models – without needing to write code themselves.

Embed Secure & Responsible AI and Integrated Governance

• Ensure Secure & Responsible AI is built into every recommendation: data protection, access control, model risk, bias, explainability, human‑in‑the‑loop.
• Design integrated governance – pragmatic guardrails, decision forums, policies and controls that connect risk, legal, compliance, business and technical teams.

Build GenAI Insights and performance discipline

• Define GenAI Insights – the metrics, dashboards and narrative that show where value, risk, adoption and readiness are moving.
• Shape KPIs and OKRs and help leaders interpret them to steer strategy, investment and change.

Lead Quarterly Planning & Rhythm

• Shape and facilitate quarterly planning (often plugged into existing PI / QBR / portfolio rhythms) to align initiatives, sequencing, funding and capacity.
• Ensure GenAI priorities are realistic, integrated and revisited each quarter based on insights, risk and learning.

Drive Comms and Structured Change Management

• Co‑create communication plans that tell a clear, consistent GenAI story – why, what, how, when, and “what it means for me”.
• Apply structured change management approaches to support adoption: stakeholder mapping, impact assessments, change plans, training and feedback loops.

Note: As all iqbusiness roles require honesty in the handling of or access to cash, finances, financial systems, or confidential information, our recruitment process requires that the following background checks be completed: credit, criminal, ID, and qualification verification.

iqbusiness is committed to sustainable growth and transformation; we embrace diversity and employ previously disadvantaged individuals.