PH - Data Strategy Consultant Lead

Thinking Machines is a technology consultancy building AI & data platforms to solve high impact problems for our client. Our vision is for Southeast Asia to become a global hub for data science. To do that, we create data cultures, one organization at a time.

We're a company made up of intellectually curious, civic-minded, forever-learning individuals. We believe that great data science products are built with care for people, and that the best way to drive inclusive innovation is to start with a diverse team.

Our field of work is incredibly dynamic, so we want to work with people who are committed to growing with us. We want to hire people who can demonstrate an ability to learn, then provide them with personalized coaching, growth opportunities, and a great working environment to get them to world-class.

The Data Strategy Consultant (DSC) Lead has three key functions: Sales Excellence, Team Leadership, and Execution. The DSC Lead is not only expected to be accountable for the success of the DSCs as a team, but also for each DSC's individual results in pitching and closing custom data and AI solutions. DSCs do this by running discovery sessions with our clients, designing the most relevant data and AI solutions that Thinking Machines can provide, pitching, and implementing these alongside our clients. DSCs help clients navigate through the increasingly complex landscape of big data and machine learning techniques to determine which investments are worth pursuing like a Generative AI Center of Excellence, Machine Learning Innovation Initiative, or Data Governance Program. The DSC Team is a high-performance team with individuals coming from a wide variety of backgrounds such as management consulting, start-ups, communications, sustainability, healthcare, and development work.

As a Data Strategy Consultant Lead, you will be able to:

• Pitch and solve challenging client problems through customized data & AI solutions: You will need to understand a client's business priorities, identify critical data points, customize our data science offerings to their context, and finally articulate business impact and value to our customers. Examples of work you would be doing include gathering and structuring client information and requirements, researching a client's industry and tech stack, coming up with and testing hypotheses with data, and preparing and pitching proposals communicating our findings and recommendations. All this work supports TM's development and engineering teams, consisting of data engineers, machine learning consultants, and business intelligence analysts (to name a few), as they turn a DSC's ideas into full-fledged data solutions.
• Establish and enforce best sales and delivery practices: You will serve as the standard-bearer for the DSC team by researching, selecting, and enforcing best practices in data & AI solutioning, proposal creation, and client management. You will act as the central figure for learning and development (L&D), guiding essential and technical skills to upskill the team and ensure excellence in all areas of practice. This includes:
  • Researching and experimenting with the latest consulting methodologies to improve how the team scopes complex projects or produces high-impact delivery results
  • Leading quality assurance for proposals
  • Offering consultation hours
  • Facilitating learning within the team, making sure that both senior and junior Data Strategy Consultants are continuously sharing best practices
• Maintain and improve tools and processes: You will oversee the continuous improvement of documents, tools, and processes to accelerate sales, elevate output quality, and ensure the sustainability of all initiatives. By innovating and updating our approach, you'll support the team in performing more efficiently and effectively, while guaranteeing excellence over the long term.
• Gain exposure to a broad range of organizations and industries: We serve clients from both the development and private sector, with key industries such as telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, and banking. Some of the projects we worked on with key clients include AI strategy for UNDP, single customer view design for Philippine Airlines, and customer record clean-up for Globe Telecom. You will work with senior leaders of multinational companies across Southeast Asia and beyond. You'll be in constant contact with potential and current clients, government agencies, international civic organizations, and fellow data firms in the tech sector. You can expect to field deals and/or projects to familiarize, as well as continuously update yourself with what the team needs in terms of skills, tools, and processes.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in management consulting, strategy, product management, venture capital, business intelligence/analytics, and related fields
• Team Management experience: As a DSC Lead, you will be in charge of managing and mentoring Data Strategy Consultants to further develop their competencies in selling Thinking Machines' solutions. You will also be in collaboration with various Growth Team Leads to identify sales or solution gaps to shape the Growth Team into becoming world-class consultants.
• Demonstrated experience in the following key areas:
  • Sales execution and deal coaching: As you craft your pitches, you'll also be responsible for coaching a team of Data Strategy Consultants. This involves providing strategic insights and hands-on support in providing relevant frameworks for problem-solving, presenting solution narratives, and communicating value. The DSC Lead is expected to help the team analyze their performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and share best practices. Examples of tasks include offering constructive feedback on proposals and pitches, and advising on customer engagement techniques. Your performance will be tracked based on your ability and your team's ability to pitch consulting and transformation engagements efficiently, which, in turn, will lead to further client expansion.
  • Sales lifecycle management: You will be collaborating with internal account teams (e.g., account or solution teams) and partners to discover opportunities to drive client expansion and to build a pipeline. You'll be responsible for identifying and developing new client opportunities to advise companies on data and AI transformational change. You can also help execute and coach other team members on how to accelerate the closing of deals.
  • Team learning facilitation: You will craft and implement comprehensive L&D initiatives that focus on identifying unique value propositions, developing compelling proposal narratives, creating strategic data roadmaps, and mastering client management. These programs are designed to build sophisticated consulting capabilities within the team and facilitate best practices sharing.
  • Systems building: You will serve as a thought leader and creator of the consulting-offerings portfolio for our data and AI transformation practices, leveraging insights from clients, internal solutions teams, and partners.
  • Project execution: Oversee all Data and AI Strategy engagements and lead engagements directly (e.g. Data Governance/ GenAI Center of Excellence/ Analytics-as-a-Service/ Digital Strategy), from day-to-day problem solving to ensuring standards of delivery excellence are met. Lead client stakeholder management by bringing in functional knowledge, expertise, and proprietary tools.

Preferred qualifications / nice-to-haves

• Have previous experience working with developers, analysts, software engineers, statisticians, and other roles with a similarly technical background
• Have previous experience at a fast-growing tech startup
• Have domain experience in a non-data field (Are you an expert in Telecommunications? Airlines? E-commerce? Finance? We value having a wide range of career experiences)

We offer the following compensation and benefits:

• Competitive salary — the compensation amount is positively correlated with the difficulty of the job, relevant experience, fit, and skill factors.
• Remote First — due to the global pandemic, we have shifted to a remote-first company for the foreseeable future while we monitor the situation.
• Individual professional development budget— an annual budget for conferences, training courses, books, and software is available to sharpen your skills and build new ones to help you grow in your role.
• Full health benefits — generous health insurance package
• Regular 1:1 meetings with the leadership team to discuss career and personal goals, job progress and any questions and concerns.