Chicago Principal Intelligent Data & Automation

Chicago, Illinois Principal Consultant, Intelligent Data & Automation

At AIM Consulting, we are a focused, energetic group of people working together with passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to being an industry leader in technology consulting. We lead by developing and nurturing long-term relationships with our clients and partners. We invest in our employees, fostering career growth through training, personal development, and mentorship. Our employees are encouraged to be creative and driven to succeed. We value honest communication, reward performance, and produce high-quality results and wow our clients. Our days are competitive, fast, fun, and exciting.

Our Chicago office is seeking a Principal Consultant to join our Intelligent Data & Automation practice. This leadership role supports business development, leads client engagements, designs data & AI solutions, and manages a high-performance team of architects, data engineers, data scientists, and analytics engineers.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Technical & AI Leadership

· Solve complex business problems by defining enterprise data and AI strategies.

· Architect cloud-native data platforms and AI-native systems, including LLM, RAG, and automated/agentic AI solutions.

· Lead design of scalable data architectures (lakehouse, streaming, real-time inference) that support advanced analytics and AI workloads.

· Establish best practices for ML/LLM lifecycle management, model evaluation, governance, and responsible AI deployment.

Engagement & Delivery Leadership

· Translate ambiguous business challenges into MVPs and scalable AI-enabled solutions.

· Influence executive stakeholders and guide end-to-end delivery of data and AI programs.

· Manage scope, financial health, delivery quality, and risk across a portfolio of engagements.

Practice & Market Leadership

· Develop thought leadership in AI, advanced analytics, and intelligent systems.

· Represent the firm through industry speaking, publications, and executive client forums.

· Contribute to practice growth, partnerships, and emerging technology positioning.

People & Business Development

· Recruit, mentor, and lead high-performing technical teams.

· Support business development through executive conversations, proposal development, and solution strategy.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Consulting Experience

· 10+ years leading enterprise digital, data, and AI strategy engagements, translating business objectives into scalable architectures and measurable transformation outcomes.

· Demonstrated success advising senior stakeholders on modernization initiatives involving cloud data platforms, advanced analytics, Generative/Agentic AI, and model-driven decision systems.

· Strong strategic problem-solving capability, applying structured frameworks to define operating models, governance structures, and investment priorities across data and intelligent systems.

· Experience leading client discovery, assessing data maturity, identifying AI/ML and LLM opportunities, and shaping pragmatic implementation roadmaps aligned to business value.

· Proven ability to develop proposals and Statements of Work that clearly articulate strategy, architecture, delivery sequencing, and financial impact.

Technical Experience

· Architecture leadership across modern cloud ecosystems (AWS, Azure, GCP) and data platforms (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, Fabric), including lakehouse, warehouse, streaming, and real-time processing patterns.

· Experience designing and operationalizing advanced analytics, ML, and Generative AI solutions, including LLM integration, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector search, agentic AI orchestration, and model lifecycle management (MLOps/LLMOps).

· Ability to integrate AI capabilities into secure, scalable enterprise architectures, balancing performance, governance, and responsible AI considerations.

· Strong technical fluency in modern data engineering ecosystems (SQL, Python, distributed processing, streaming frameworks) to provide effective architectural oversight.

The OTE compensation range for this role is $200,000-$240,000 and is comprised of base salary and bonus with YoY growth. Actual compensation may vary based on experience and skillset as assessed in the interview process. In addition, all our full-time positions at AIM Consulting include the following: Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance (spousal and dependent coverage), 401k with company matching, paid certifications, disability insurance, commuter benefits, paid time off and sick days, paid maternity and paternity leave, and wellness programs.

At AIM Consulting, we value people from all walks of life. We understand not everyone will meet all the above qualifications on day one, and that's okay. We are heavily invested in further education and training, and we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace where you can show up as your true self. If you're passionate about technology, but your previous experience doesn't perfectly align with every qualification listed, we still encourage you to apply.

We are a diverse group of individuals. No two people, ideologies, or thoughts are the same. Our different experiences and perspectives are our strengths. We are passionate about seeing each other succeed and live & breathe our company values; we choose positivity, we take ownership, we are relationship-driven, we build trust, and we are self-aware. We work hard to come through for our clients, and for one another. We are many unique people, with the same common goal in mind – to connect, inspire, and empower our customers by leveraging an amazing workforce to help solve business challenges, drive innovation, and produce results that exceed expectations. Simply put, we are more than a company; we are our clients' trusted advisors.

AIM Consulting is an Equal Opportunity Employer. AIM Consulting provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. AIM Consulting complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. Reasonable accommodation is available for qualified individuals with disabilities, upon request.