Technology, data, and AI are moving quickly, but many middle-market companies need more than big ideas; they need practical guidance they can trust, afford, and implement. Smith + Howard Advisory is seeking a senior Technology & AI Strategy Consultant to serve as a trusted advisor to CEOs, CFOs, and operational leaders, helping them modernize their technology environments, unlock the value of their data, and identify practical applications for AI across their organizations.

This is a highly visible, client-facing role in which you'll lead engagements end to end, from discovery through executive readout, assessing existing technology ecosystems and helping leadership teams make confident decisions that improve efficiency, scalability, and growth.

Unlike traditional consulting environments, success here isn't about managing large analyst teams; it's about bringing deep expertise, leveraging modern AI-enabled tools, and delivering meaningful outcomes directly to clients.

The ideal candidate brings the credibility to advise CEOs and CFOs, the independence to own an engagement solo, and the judgment to know when technology will create real value, when the foundation isn't ready, and how to help clients move forward with confidence.

What You'll Do

Advise executive leadership teams on technology, digital transformation, and AI strategy with the credibility to guide CEOs and CFOs toward practical, value-driven decisions.

Assess business processes, systems, data environments, and AI readiness to identify opportunities for meaningful improvement.

Develop roadmaps that align technology and AI investments with business objectives, including the judgment to distinguish practical near-term AI use cases from those that require stronger data foundations first.

Evaluate software platforms, AI tools, vendors, integrations, and operational workflows based on fit, dependency, efficiency, and decision-making value rather than demo quality alone.

Use AI fluently in your own delivery work to compress research, synthesis, document analysis, and deliverable production, and describe concretely how it has changed your own cycle times.

Design, build, and apply agentic AI workflows or architectures that improve how work gets done, while understanding where agent-based solutions create value and where they introduce unnecessary complexity or risk.

Help clients understand, prioritize, govern, and implement practical AI solutions, including appropriate use policies, confidentiality boundaries, and risk review in collaboration with client counsel, recognizing that we are not a law firm.

Lead workshops, stakeholder discussions, and strategic planning sessions that translate technical concepts, including agentic architecture, into clear guidance for non-technical executives without overselling or over-simplifying.

Serve as a trusted advisor throughout implementation and change initiatives, helping clients understand not only what is recommended, but how to move forward, why the approach matters, and what conditions need to be in place for the work to succeed.

What Makes This Role Unique

Direct access to executive decision-makers.

High-impact consulting engagements with diverse middle-market clients.

Opportunity to shape how organizations adopt and leverage AI.

Autonomy to lead engagements and drive recommendations.

Ability to combine strategic thinking with hands-on problem solving.

Backing of a nationally recognized advisory firm with a collaborative entrepreneurial culture.

Key Responsibilities

Own delivery end to end - scoping, discovery interviews, analysis, deliverable, and executive readout. You do the analysis and write the deck.

Run 60–90-minute structured interviews with executives and functional owners, and synthesize them into a current-state picture nobody inside the company has ever seen assembled.

Assess platforms, integration state, data readiness, and compliance posture (HIPAA, PCI, client confidentiality) at a diagnostic level.

Build multi-year roadmaps that a non-technical operating audience can act on, with investment and expected return stated in business terms, not IT terms.

Navigate client dynamics and adoption challenges, recognizing that even strong recommendations can fail if they are not adopted. You will need to understand how departments may perceive AI, frame the work in a way that builds trust, and sequence implementation so recommendations can take hold.

Drive the development of follow-on work by recognizing where the client may benefit from additional guidance or support. Although this role does not carry a sales quota, strong delivery often creates opportunities to expand the engagement, and you will help shape the scope, rationale, and path forward.

Serve as an additional senior advisor on complex engagements, bringing perspective and strategic support where the client, practice team, or broader firm would benefit from another experienced voice.

Qualifications

15+ years at a major consulting firm - IT strategy, digital transformation, ERP and platform selection, and merger integration. Experience with large enterprise clients is expected, but you will now be applying it at one-fiftieth the scale and one-tenth the budget.

Operating experience on top of your consulting career, such as time as a COO, CIO, CTO, CRO, or head of a business unit. You have had to live with a system decision, not just recommend one.

Credibility with a CEO and a CFO within the first meeting, and the ability to hold it without a firm logo doing the work for you.

Thrive as a single senior resource, working without an analyst, a manager, or a larger team structure. This role is a great fit if you enjoy owning the work yourself and find that kind of independence energizing, rather than relying on a team to build alongside you.

Middle-market instincts. These clients are frugal; decisions are personal, and the founder is often in the room, so enterprise process overhead will be rejected.

Familiarity with the platforms this segment actually runs, including Dynamics 365, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, QuickBooks, CPQ and PDM tools, and the integration layer between them.

Preferred Qualifications

Partner, principal, director, senior manager, or equivalent tenure at a major technology consulting firm.

C-level operator experience.

About Us

Smith + Howard Advisory partners with emerging-growth and middle-market organizations to solve complex business challenges and accelerate performance. Through our Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, and Executive Search practices, we provide strategic consulting, interim leadership, and project-based expertise that helps organizations scale with confidence.

Compensation:

$200 - $400 per hour

This role may be filled at the Director or Senior Director level. The range reflects the varying levels of experience, responsibility, and complexity associated with each level; compensation will align accordingly. Compensation is also adjusted based on geographic location and regional market rates.

Full-time W-2 employees are eligible for a benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, employer paid basic life and short-term disability plus additional ancillary plans such as voluntary life insurance, long-term disability, critical illness, cancer, and accident insurance. Part-time employees are eligible for critical illness, cancer and accident insurance. Full-time salaried W-2 employees are eligible for holiday pay, paid time off, and annual bonuses. Full-time hourly and part-time hourly W-2 employees are eligible for paid time off and annual bonuses.

If you are an independent consultant looking to collaborate with a high-caliber team, or a corporate Controller ready to transition into flexible, project-based consulting, Smith + Howard offers the opportunity to do challenging, meaningful work with a variety of clients while maintaining balance and autonomy.

Visit Smith + Howard | Tax, Accounting, Advisory + Assurance to learn more.