Description
Associate Director, AI & Applied Solutions
We are seeking an Associate Director, AI & Applied Solutions to lead the hands-on application of AI, data, and data science to deliver measurable client value. This is a builder's role: you will architect and prototype (Gen)AI-powered apps and agents, pioneer new techniques in LLMs, shape SSA's tech stack, and serve as an evangelist who mentors colleagues on using AI as a lever for hard and soft benefits-working alongside engagement leaders and clients from C-Suite to front-line.
What You'll Do:
Engagement Leadership
• Partner with engagement leaders to design and deliver advanced quantitative and qualitative analyses across operational, strategic, and economic dimensions-now augmented by AI and data science.
• Serve as the day-to-day face of the firm and primary point of contact, leading teams and building deep relationships with clients across industries.
• Apply SSA's hypothesis-driven problem solving and structured disaggregation to solve complex client challenges.
Hands-On AI, Data & Data Science Delivery
• Build working prototypes for clients-apps, agents, copilots, RAG systems, and analytical tools-using modern (Gen)AI dev tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, LangChain/LangGraph, vector stores, agent frameworks).
• Apply lightweight data engineering and DevOps practices (clean pipelines, version control, CI/CD, evaluation, monitoring) so prototypes are demoable, repeatable, and credible to client engineering teams.
• Execute applied data science: hypothesis generation, model selection, evaluation, and deployment of ML/LLM-based solutions tied to clear business outcomes.
• Synthesize analysis and AI outputs into high-value insights, actionable recommendations, and financial impact projections (hard and soft benefits).
Tech Stack Strategy & AI Innovation
• Shape SSA's tech stack across the AI delivery lifecycle-models, frameworks, data platforms, orchestration, and DevOps/MLOps tooling-with opinionated, evidence-backed recommendations.
• Pioneer new techniques in AI/LLMs: agentic systems, multi-agent orchestration, RAG, fine-tuning, and evaluation frameworks.
• Champion the data engineering and DevOps foundations that make AI work in production-reliable pipelines, well-modeled data, environments, CI/CD, and observability.
• Build internal IP-accelerators, reference architectures, prompt libraries, agent templates, and analytical frameworks.
Client Value & Business Performance
• Above all, deliver measurable client value-revenue growth, cost optimization, risk management, customer/employee experience-using AI, data, and data science as levers.
• Establish KPIs to track AI-enabled transformation and translate technical concepts into compelling narratives for executive and board-level audiences.
Mentoring & Evangelism
• Mentor colleagues firmwide on using AI tools-coding assistants, agents, prompt craft-and develop juniors in both technical and consulting craft.
• Evangelize AI in consulting internally and externally; produce high-quality PowerPoint and live demos for line-manager-to-board audiences.
What You Need:
Experience
• 6-10 years of progressive experience; prior consulting (top management consulting), corporate strategy, or investment banking/PE strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience supporting or leading AI, data, and analytics initiatives-ideally including hands-on building of Gen AI applications, agents, or LLM-powered prototypes shipped to real users.
• Exposure to financial services (P&C, life, banking, wealth) and/or retail, healthcare, or manufacturing is a plus.
Technical Knowledge
• Hands-on fluency with (Gen)AI dev patterns: LLM APIs, prompt engineering, RAG, agentic frameworks, evaluation, and tool/function calling.
• Comfort shipping code with AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot); able to read, write, and review Python and/or TypeScript.
• Working knowledge of data engineering (ETL/ELT, data modeling, orchestration with Airflow/dbt/Dagster, streaming/batch, feature/vector stores) and DevOps/MLOps fundamentals (Git, CI/CD, Docker, IaC, monitoring, AI evaluation/observability).
• Familiarity with cloud data and AI platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, AWS/Azure/GCP AI services) and core ML concepts.
Leadership & Communication
• Superb written and oral communication; able to present to senior executives and credibly demo working software.
• Resilience, critical thinking, and comfort in ambiguous, fast-paced environments with executive exposure.
Education & Other
• Bachelor's degree with excellent academic credentials from a top-tier institution; focus in business, economics, engineering, computer science, data science, or a quantitative discipline preferred.
• Master's in Business Administration, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics/Analytics, Operations, or related field strongly preferred.
• Comfortable with weekly, multi-day travel, including occasional international projects.
SSA & Company provides a competitive salary range for our open requisitions. Actual salary is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, experience, training, education, and other business and organizational needs. The range of starting annual salary for this role is $140,000 - $190,000. Decisions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to the base salary, this position is eligible for performance-based incentives and a competitive benefits package.
