[Hiring] Advisory Consultant - Research Transformation & AI @Escalent

Role Description

We are looking for a seasoned professional with expansive Strategy Research and/or Consulting experience, strong exposure to Workflow and Product Development, high degree of AI-and-tech savviness, and a Consultative and Impact oriented mindset. The ideal candidate will play an instrumental role in servicing Escalent’s plans to develop, integrate, adopt, and productize AI and innovation tools/capabilities/offerings, thereby allowing research, consulting, and corporate teams as well as our clients to benefit from AI’s capabilities to foster better, smarter, and efficient workflows.

Unlike typical advisory/consulting profiles, this role is not focused on core research and consulting. Instead, it will report to the SVP and Head of AI and Innovation and be a core part of an enterprise-wide team that’s focused on formulating Escalent’s AI strategy, approach, and roadmap from the perspective of integrating AI tools/capabilities into research/consulting/corporate function workflows as well as developing in-house and monetizable AI products/solutions.

Detailed Responsibilities

• Assume end-to-end ownership of key strategic initiatives in AI/automation/innovation, with a leading role in scoping, planning, executing, and scaling.
• Develop a strong understanding of Escalent group’s products, tools, solutions, and technological roadmap, and leverage it to pivot all AI initiatives, workflows, features, and products.
• Demonstrate a strong capability to link findings and recommendations to desired business impact.
• Present findings and recommendations, while explaining approach and rationale, to senior/executive leadership as and when needed.

AI Product Development

• Scope out research-focused AI products/features/agents with a clear understanding of the use case, intended audience, and desired operational/business impact.
• Work with industry/methodology/technique SMEs, if needed, to chalk out the product/feature/agent workflow, input-output mix, desired functioning, and forward-looking roadmap.
• Where applicable, co-develop the development/implementation and scaling plan, in collaboration with the tech, development, and product teams.
• Where applicable/possible, adopt a hands-on approach on low-code/no-code/vibe-code agent development tools/environments to create the tool/agent.
• Craft and co-implement alpha and beta testing plans, and internal and external rollout roadmaps, to ensure controlled testing, scaled launch, robust adoption, and continuous improvement.
• Double up as an alpha tester focused on ‘breaking’ the product/feature/agent to ensure adequate stress-testing under various edge cases.
• Own the feature and scaling roadmap, and hold the product, tech, development, and infrastructure teams accountable for their respective tasks and timelines.
• Organize and administer demos, show-n-tells, and lunch-n-learns among internal/external audiences to socialize the product/feature/agent, resolve queries, foster adoption, and gather constructive and actionable feedback.

AI Advisory

• Support revenue growth and client delight by providing product/domain/subject matter expertise on AI/innovation as part of account farming conversations.
• Contribute to client RFPs/proposals on all things AI, innovation, and automation.
• Address AI-related questionnaires and contract reviews to alleviate any client or compliance concerns regarding the use of AI by demonstrating Escalent’s deliberate, outcome-focused, human-centered, and strategically and technologically robust approach to AI.

3P Toolkit Due Diligence and Expansion

• Identify relevant AI/innovation tools for any use case, via desk research and internal outreach.
• Liaise with various tool vendors to understand functional possibilities, evaluate use case fitment, and assess commercial viability.
• Partner with Compliance and IT teams to vet and whitelist specific tools for test/trials.
• Conceptualize a trial program and secure licenses for testing.
• Partner with domain/functional/corporate teams to test various tools to assess their effectiveness and value-add.
• Address internal queries on AI, innovation, and automation tools/techniques/approaches to ensure teams know when (and when not) to use AI, how to use it effectively + efficiently + ethically, which tool/feature/product/agent to leverage, and where to avoid pitfalls.

AI Thought Leadership

• Work with enterprise marketing and other internal team(s) to prepare AI/innovation product dossiers, thought leadership POVs and blogs, consultative whitepapers, etc.
• Exhibit a strong passion for AI and innovation, and stay updated on the latest developments, trends, product/model launches, etc. and their plausible impact on Escalent’s AI strategy/approach/roadmap.

Internal and SharePoint Documentation

• Prepare, maintain, and improve documents on AI-related processes, guidelines, and protocols.
• Author self-learn collateral on the in-house and approved 3P tool mix, such as tool one-pagers, tool usage decision flowcharts, SharePoint pages and content, etc.

AI Upskilling

• Contribute to Escalent’s ongoing and ever-expanding AI upskilling initiatives by conceptualizing ideas, developing collateral, and administering sessions.

Qualifications

• MBA / Post Graduation from a reputed management institute.

Requirements

• 8-12 years in delivering Strategic Research & Insights engagements across industries, focused on international markets.
• Solid experience leading project-based engagements and delivering findings to senior/executive client and internal stakeholders.
• Strong exposure to driving revenue growth through account farming, business development support, and productized offerings.
• Strong exposure to internal process innovation/automation.
• Some experience in cross-functional, enterprise-wide initiatives.
• Must Have: strong exposure to Qualitative and Quantitative Primary Research, Desk Research, and Process Analytics/Innovation.
• Good-to-Have: hands-on experience with AI and innovative tools.
• Big Plus: experience with low-code/no-code/vide-code agent development, and working with tech/development/product teams.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Team leader with strong interpersonal skills.
• Logical and creative thinker with astute analytical aptitude.
• Consultative approach to problem solving.
• Strong attention to detail.