Principal Data & AI Consultant

Microsoft Industry Solutions - Global Center Innovation and Delivery Center (GCID) delivers end-to-end solutions by enabling accelerated adoption and productive use of Microsoft technologies. An organization of well over 1000+ exceptional people, GCID presents a great opportunity for highly skilled services professionals to make a foray into consulting, solution development and delivery roles. The Principal Consultant is a senior leader responsible for the successful technical execution and delivery of complex client projects across diverse domains. This role acts as a strategic anchor between clients, architects, delivery managers, project managers, and delivery teams. In the AI-first, Principal Consultants are expected to embed AI-native thinking into delivery models, ensuring solutions are intelligent, scalable, and aligned with business outcomes. The ideal candidate is passionate about technology, demonstrates breadth of expertise, and advocates for solutions that deliver true client value. Microsoft Industry Solutions - Global Center Innovation and Delivery Center (GCID) delivers end-to-end solutions by enabling accelerated adoption and productive use of Microsoft technologies. An organization of well over 1000+ exceptional people, GCID presents a great opportunity for highly skilled services professionals to make a foray into consulting, solution development and delivery roles.   The Principal Consultant is a senior leader responsible for the successful technical execution and delivery of complex client projects across diverse domains. This role acts as a strategic anchor between clients, architects, delivery managers, project managers, and delivery teams. In the AI-first GCID organization, Principal Consultants are expected to embed AI-native thinking into delivery models, ensuring solutions are intelligent, scalable, and aligned with business outcomes. The ideal candidate is passionate about technology, demonstrates breadth of expertise, and advocates for solutions that deliver true client value.

AI-First Delivery Leadership  Embed AI-first principles into delivery workflows, leveraging automation and intelligent orchestration where applicable.  Lead end-to-end delivery of complex projects, ensuring solutions are scalable, robust, and aligned with client business outcomes.  Drive engineering excellence through reusable components, accelerators, and scalable architecture.  Oversee technical execution across multiple projects, ensuring adherence to best practices, quality standards, and compliance requirements.  Collaborate with clients and internal stakeholders to define strategies, delivery plans, milestones, and risk mitigation approaches.  Act as a technical point of contact for clients, translating business requirements into scalable technical solutions.  Ensure delivery models are optimized for modern AI-native execution, including integration of automation and intelligent processes.  Ability to step into at‑risk projects, quickly assess issues, and establish a credible path to recovery or exit.    Engineering Excellence  Champion high-quality engineering practices across all delivery engagements.  Ensure adherence to coding standards, architectural integrity, and performance benchmarks.  Define and institutionalize engineering guardrails that embed secure coding, test‑driven development, observability, and performance best practices by default.  Encourage continuous learning and technical certifications to maintain cutting-edge expertise.  Drive adoption of modern delivery methodologies (Agile, DevOps, CI/CD) to ensure robust and scalable solutions.  Foster a culture of technical rigor, innovation, and accountability within the team.  Innovation & Thought Leadership  Use design thinking to shape user‑centric solutions, aligning business goals, architecture decisions, and delivery