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Serve as the embedded change lead to drive AI adoption across a business unit: design change strategy, redesign roles and workflows for AI-augmentation, build capability programs, enable managers, run workforce planning, and measure adoption and impact while embedding responsible AI practices.
AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.
At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.
We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.
The AI Adoption Lead is AHEAD’s embedded human answer to the gap between AI deployment and realized value. This is a people-first, business-embedded transformation role, part change manager, part coach, and part internal consultant, dedicated to a specific business unit (BU). Reporting to the VP, Talent and Workforce Transformation, the AI Adoption Lead ensures that the business unit’s employees are genuinely ready to work alongside AI: with the right skills, redesigned roles, reimagined workflows, and the confidence to operate in a continuously evolving environment.
Duties/Responsibilities
- Design and consult on a BU-level AI change strategy, moving employees from AI experimenters to AI accelerators
- Develop and run stakeholder engagement plans, including resistance mapping and influence strategies
- Build a network of champions and superusers within the BU to sustain adoption momentum
- Monitor adoption signals and adjust interventions based on real-time uptake data
- Address employee anxiety and build psychological safety around AI-augmented work
- Conduct systematic task deconstruction across BU roles to identify what AI automates, augments, or creates
- Redesign job descriptions and role profiles to reflect new human–AI responsibilities
- Work with BU leaders to define new AI-augmented job families and career pathways
- Identify roles at risk of displacement and proactively design transition pathways
- Assess BU-level AI fluency and identify skill gaps across functions, levels, and workforce segments
- Commission or co-design targeted learning programs — technical, workflow, and mindset
- Integrate AI capability-building into daily workflows, not just stand-alone training events
- Develop manager enablement specifically for leading AI-augmented teams
- Track and report on capability uplift against BU transformation milestones
- Build a culture of active participation in AI transformation, not passive compliance
- Surface and address fear, mistrust, and equity concerns across BU employee groups
- Embed responsible AI practices, transparency, human validation, governance, into team norms
- Coach and equip managers to lead AI-augmented teams, orchestrating humans and AI agents together, not just using AI tools themselves
- Run dedicated BU manager learning programs focused on judgment, coaching, and human–AI workflow oversight
- Own the BU's AI adoption measurement framework, design and instrument metrics, not just report on them
- Instrument and analyze adoption data (usage, frequency, depth) to make it accessible and actionable
- Surface informal and shadow AI use within the BU and channel it into governed, productive adoption
- Track adoption health across workforce segments including tenure, function, generation, and role level
- Feed BU intelligence upward into the Hive Transformation Office to inform org-wide strategy
AI Change Strategy & Adoption
Role & Job Redesign
Capability & Skill Building
Culture & Responsible AI
Manager Enablement
Adoption Measurement & Intelligence
Education and Experience
- Master's or PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Organizational Behavior, or a related field - or equivalent applied experience
- 4-8 years in change management, internal or management consulting, HR transformation, org effectiveness, or related people and OD roles
- Demonstrated experience leading large-scale technology or digital transformation from the people side
- Strong grasp of change management frameworks and ability to adapt them to AI contexts
- Experience in role design, job architecture, or organizational assessment
- Ability to build trust and credibility with business unit leaders and frontline employees as a consultative thought partner
- Data literacy with comfort using adoption metrics and workforce analytics to drive decisions
- Personal proficiency with AI tools and genuine enthusiasm for AI-augmented work
- Experience embedded in a business unit or in a client-facing consulting capacity (not just HR or CoE roles)
- Exposure to agentic AI, automation workflow design, or human-in-the-loop process redesign
- Background in learning & development or capability-building at scale
- Applied experience in assessment, survey design, or behavioral measurement
- Industry knowledge aligned to the target business unit
- Certification or coursework in AI transformation leadership
Minimum Required:
Preferred:
The compensation range indicated in this posting reflects the On-Target Earnings (“OTE”) for this role, which includes a base salary and any applicable target bonus amount. This OTE range may vary based on the candidate’s relevant experience, qualifications, and geographic location.
Why AHEAD:
Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.
We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.
USA Employment Benefits include:
- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- 401(k)
- Paid company holidays
- Paid time off
- Paid parental and caregiver leave
- Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/ for additional details.
Use of AI:
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, assessing responses, or to capture recordings and create transcriptions or summaries during interviews. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.
If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please refer to the Candidate Privacy Notice or contact us at [email protected].
You may opt-out of the review or analysis of your application and resume by AI tools by using the General Application. Please include the role you wish to apply for in the Additional Information field. You may also choose to opt-out of recording and transcription at any time, including after joining an interview. Candidates will not be penalized for choosing to opt-out.
AHEAD Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, United States, 60611
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