We're hiring a Head of AI Product & Architecture Consulting!
Employment Type: Full-Time/Direct HireLocation: Richmond, VA, Atlanta, GA, Washington, DC, New York City & Charlotte, NC Metro AreasLocation Type: Hybrid - 1-2 days onsite per week - Home Office/Local Ippon office About the position:The Practice Head of AI Product & Architecture will lead Ippon's APA practice, combining deep expertise in software development, product engineering, agile delivery, architecture, and applied AI. This role is responsible for growing a high-performing consulting team, shaping the practice's methods and offerings, and ensuring delivery excellence across complex client engagements.
The ideal candidate is a proven leader with strong consulting instincts and a track record of delivering meaningful technology outcomes. They bring deep grounding in modern engineering practices and software craft, alongside hands-on AI experience - applied practically across product development, software delivery, customer experiences, and enterprise operations.
Roles and Responsibilities:Practice Leadership & Team Development- Lead and grow the practice across people, offerings, delivery standards, and market positioning.
>- Continuously improve consulting methods, delivery playbooks, technical standards, and ways of working in collaboration with Customer Success and Senior Leadership.
>- Build a strong team culture grounded in software craft, product thinking, architectural discipline, and practical AI adoption - with an emphasis on psychological safety, accountability, and measurable improvement.
>- Recruit, develop, coach, and retain high-performing consultants, engineers, architects, product leaders, and delivery practitioners.
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Delivery Excellence- Provide senior oversight across client engagements involving software development, product engineering, AI-enabled delivery, modernization, and architecture.
>- Ensure solutions are maintainable, secure, scalable, and aligned to client outcomes, promoting modern practices such as continuous delivery, test automation, observability, and platform thinking.
>- Use metrics such as DORA, flow metrics, and business outcome measures to drive evidence-based improvement.
>- Help clients adopt flexible, sustainable delivery models that balance speed, governance, quality, and business value - coaching cross-functional teams on effective collaboration across product, engineering, architecture, security, and compliance.
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AI Leadership- In collaboration with the CTO, shape APA's approach to applied AI across product engineering, software development, architecture, and delivery transformation.
>- Help clients identify and pursue practical AI use cases that improve delivery speed, product quality, customer experience, or operational efficiency.
>- Guide teams in the responsible use of AI-assisted development tools, agentic workflows, and intelligent applications, with clear understanding of associated risks including governance, security, privacy, and regulatory considerations.
>- Partner with Ippon's data and cloud leaders to connect APA's AI capabilities with strengths in AWS, Snowflake, and data architecture.
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Client and Thought Leadership- Support sales pursuits, proposals, and executive conversations - translating ambiguous client needs into clear engagement strategies, delivery plans, and measurable outcomes.
>- Act as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders at the intersection of product, engineering, architecture, data, cloud, AI, and governance.
>- Define and package APA offerings across AI-enabled product engineering, software modernization, delivery effectiveness, and engineering excellence.
>- Drive brand awareness through thought leadership initiatives including events, blogs, white papers, and client success stories.
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Competencies we are looking for:Minimum Qualifications:
- 5+ years of consulting experience
>- 5+ years of experience leading software engineering, product engineering, architecture, or technology consulting teams.
>- 5+ years of experience building, managing, coaching, and growing high-performing technical teams.
>- 7+ years of experience and deep understanding of modern software development practices, including software architecture, software craft, DevOps, CI/CD, testing strategies, and cloud-native delivery.
>- 7+ years of experience with product development and product-oriented ways of working.
>- Strong working knowledge of agile delivery practices, with the judgment to adapt methods to fit client context rather than applying process mechanically.
>- Hands-on experience with AI tools, AI-enabled software development, intelligent applications, or applied enterprise AI use cases.
>- 7+ years of experience in financial services, banking, insurance, capital markets, or related regulated industries
>- Excellent organizational skills, including the ability to manage people, priorities, offerings, delivery quality, and practice operations simultaneously.
>- Strong client-facing communication skills, including the ability to engage credibly with executives, product leaders, engineering leaders, architects, and delivery teams.
>- Experience supporting business development, proposal creation, solution design, or account growth in a consulting environment.
>- Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
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Preferred Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field
>- Experience leading a consulting practice, capability, center of excellence, or large technology delivery organization.
>- Experience using DORA metrics, SPACE, flow metrics, or other engineering effectiveness frameworks to improve delivery performance.
>- Experience with AI-assisted development tools, agentic workflows, LLM-enabled applications, or enterprise AI governance.
>- Familiarity with AWS, Snowflake, modern data platforms, and cloud-native architecture.
>- Experience with modernization programs, legacy system transformation, platform engineering, or large-scale digital product delivery.
>- Experience creating market-facing offerings, white papers, executive presentations, workshops, and assessment frameworks.
>- Understanding of regulatory requirements and compliance standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) within the Financial Services and Insurance industries.
>- Knowledge of IT strategy and management
>- Demonstrated experience of presenting talks at conferences, publishing white papers, and public speaking.
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What we offer:- Competitive salary - Great starting salaries for well qualified candidates
>- Generous Paid Time Off policy - Ippon offers flexible time off to help you be your best
>- Health, dental, and vision insurance - We are dedicated to helping our employees live healthier lives through comprehensive health programs
>- 401k with company match - Ippon offers an industry leading 401(k) matching plan
>- Family Leave - We support the importance of family and offer maternity, paternity and family medical leave plans
>- The chance to work in a startup-esque environment with a fun, smart, and healthy work environment, focused on our values, teamwork, and 5406 custom Slack emojis
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$175,000 - $210,000 a year
Salary range listed is base salary.
Role is eligible for a company performance bonus, as well as MBO's.
