SC AI Strategy Consultant

AI Strategy Consultant
Location: Onsite, Andover (min 3 days per week)
Security Clearance: current SC clearance is mandatory
Project duration: 4 weeks

Role Overview
This role is required to support a new first phase discovery and strategy engagement as an AI advisor, accountable for delivering defined outcomes within the engagement scope.The consultant will participate in first-phase AI strategy activities with other project members, translating complex business challenges into actionable, AI-enabled solutions. Combining deep technical expertise and senior stakeholder advisory, the consultant will shape the AI agenda from discovery through to strategic roadmap delivery, ensuring all recommendations are technically sound, commercially viable, and ready for transition into implementation.

Key Responsibilities
* Lead AI discovery and assessment activities, facilitating structured workshops with senior stakeholders to identify and prioritise high-value use cases against business objectives, technical feasibility, and organisational readiness.
* Develop the AI elements of the strategy deliverable, including high level target-state architecture, data and platform requirements, an outline AI operating model, and a responsible AI governance framework tailored to the client's regulatory and operational context.
* Support the production of a high level business case and phased delivery roadmap, articulating value drivers, investment requirements, risk mitigations, and dependencies to support executive decision-making.
* Provide technical guidance across the AI landscape including generative AI, agentic systems, retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning, MLOps, and on-premise/cloud-native ML platforms, ensuring recommendations are grounded in implementation reality.
* Collaborate with the client's internal teams (programme management, data engineering, architecture, delivery, change) and third-party partners to ensure the strategy is adoptable and transitions cleanly into delivery phases.
* Establish success criteria and measurement frameworks so the client can track AI value realisation beyond the engagement.

Required Experience & Qualifications
* Demonstrable experience in technology consulting or comparable advisory roles, with at least 3 years focused on AI/ML strategy, data-driven transformation, or advanced analytics.
* Experience in Defence, National Security, or other regulated sectors with understanding of security-cleared environments and sovereign technology constraints.
* A track record in delivering strategy engagements end-to-end in complex, regulated, or high-security environments.
* Deep technical fluency across modern AI/ML stacks: on-premise and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), MLOps tooling, LLM orchestration frameworks, data engineering pipelines, and AI governance.
* Exceptional ability to translate technical complexity into strategic narratives for non-technical senior stakeholders.
* Strong commercial and delivery awareness, including experience with outcome-based models and phased programme planning.

Due to the nature and urgency of this post, candidates holding or who have held high level security clearance in the past are most welcome to apply. Please note successful applicants will be required to be security cleared prior to appointment which can take a minimum 10 weeks. LA International is an award-winning partner of choice for many of the world's most influential companies and government organisations. Holding Enhanced Government Security Accreditation, we are recognised as the European market leader in the delivery of Security Cleared talent to organisations that demand the very highest levels of security, compliance and assurance.

An award-winning organisation, having secured the prestigious Queens Award for Enterprise: International Trade over multiple years. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable and accessible workplace where everyone feels valued and supported. We welcome applications from all individuals, regardless of background or identity, and we encourage candidates who may not meet every listed requirement to still apply. If you require any adjustments or support during the recruitment process, please let us know and we will work with you to ensure a fair and accessible experience.

Please Note: If a high volume of applications is received, only candidates shortlisted will be contacted.