Project Lead - AI Strategy & Operating Models

Role & responsibilities

Project Lead
Employment Type: Full-time

About Zinnov

Zinnov is a global management consulting firm that helps organizations make decisions that get used and deliver results that matter. For over two decades, we’ve partnered with leading enterprises, high-growth technology companies, and investors to answer some of the toughest questions they face:

Where should we invest?

How do we scale globally?

What capabilities will win in the next decade?

Our work shapes market entry strategies, global operating models, M&A decisions, and long-term growth bets. We’re known for being data-led, execution-focused, and outcome-driven — not opinion-heavy slideware.

At Zinnov, how you work matters as much as what you deliver. We value independent thinking, crisp communication, and early ownership. With 450+ professionals across 10 global offices, we work across industries including Digital Services, ER&D, Enterprise Software, Semiconductors, Healthcare, BFSI, Automotive, Media & Telecom, and Private Equity.

Zinnov isn’t for everyone. It’s for people who want steep learning curves, honest feedback, and the chance to see their work influence real business decisions — not just presentations.

Why Globalization Excellence (GE)

Zinnov’s Globalization Excellence (GE) practice helps enterprises build, scale and transform Global Capability Centers (GCCs) end-to-end — from Design & Discovery to Build, Scale, to transform.

In GE, you don’t work in silos. You:

Own complex, end-to-end client journeys

Work across GCC advisory, managed services, and advise on BOT / outsourcing models

Influence leadership decisions that shape long-term talent and operating strategies

This is where strategy meets execution — and where talent plays a defining role.

About the Role

Help global enterprises rethink how work gets done in an AI-driven world. You will support AI strategy, workforce planning and AI-native GCC engagements—assessing how GenAI, automation and AI agents change processes, roles, productivity and operating models, then turning insights into actionable business cases and transformation roadmaps. This is a management consulting role, not an AI engineering position.

In a few years here, you will see more decisions about where and how work gets done than most executives see in a career: what works, where things stall, and which mistakes get expensive. You will help clients determine which work AI can augment or automate, what people and capabilities they will need, and how AI-native GCCs should operate. The goal is not to agree with the initial brief; it is to identify the better decision and help make it real.

Our standard is to be the person a client calls before the decision is made. Ask: What is the real problem behind the request? What can we tell them that they do not already know? What should they not do?

What You’ll Do

A CXO may ask what AI can change in a 400-person support operation or whether a new GCC should be designed around 80 AI-enabled roles rather than 150 conventional ones. Your job is to answer the question—and find the more important question underneath it.

• Frame the problem. Scope AI transformation and workforce challenges; interview stakeholders, test assumptions, and assess AI readiness, process suitability and business priorities.
• Build the case. Assess task-level automation and augmentation potential; model workforce demand, role evolution, productivity, skills gaps, cost implications and AI use-case value, distinguishing evidence from estimates.
• Make the call. Recommend AI adoption priorities, future-state human–AI operating models and AI-native GCC capabilities; articulate trade-offs, risks and what clients should avoid.
• Run the work. Own consulting workstreams or smaller projects, managing analysis, client updates, milestones, risks and high-quality executive-ready outputs.
• Follow through. Translate recommendations into workforce transition plans, reskilling priorities, governance and phased implementation roadmaps; track whether anticipated benefits materialize.
• Build the practice. Contribute to proposals, reusable AI workforce models, research and perspectives on AI-led engineering productivity, future of work and GCC transformation.

Preferred candidate profile

What You’ll Bring

• 3–8 years in management consulting, strategy, AI/digital transformation advisory, workforce or organization transformation, or related business strategy roles.
• Practical understanding of GenAI, AI copilots, agentic AI and automation—and how they change workflows, roles, workforce capacity and enterprise operating models.
• Strong structured problem-solving and quantitative skills: workforce scenarios, cost/productivity modelling, business cases and clear recommendations.
• Experience owning deliverables or workstreams, engaging stakeholders and communicating credibly with senior decision-makers.
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; strong research, synthesis and executive storytelling skills.

Preferred: AI strategy or workforce planning engagements; organizational redesign; GCC or global operating model exposure

What Success Looks Like

At 6 months: Independently own an AI transformation or workforce analysis workstream; produce defensible productivity and workforce scenarios; deliver recommendations that influence a client decision with minimal rework.

At 12 months: Lead multiple workstreams or a smaller engagement; shape an AI workforce or AI-native GCC transformation roadmap adopted by a client; demonstrate evidence of business impact and contribute a reusable practice asset.