Lead Business Applications Consultant - Microsoft AI Business Solutions

Within the Kainos Microsoft AI Business Solutions capability, we help customers understand complex challenges and achieve meaningful improvements using Microsoft Business Applications, Power Platform, Copilot, AI-enabled business processes and emerging agentic capabilities. This includes helping customers redesign services, processes and ways of working for an AI-enabled future where people, automation and intelligent agents operate together effectively.

As an ABS Business Consultant, you will lead discovery, advisory, shaping and delivery engagements. You may lead standalone advisory activities or act as the lead business-facing consultant within a multidisciplinary team, bringing structure to ambiguity and turning customer needs into achievable delivery approaches, platform strategies, capability strategies, operating models and Centre of Excellence designs.

This role is expected to lead the business consulting thread of an engagement, not simply contribute to it.

You are accountable for shaping business value, adoption outcomes and recommendations that help customers achieve measurable improvements. You work closely with Functional Consultants, Architects and Engineers to translate business outcomes into delivery approaches, whilst maintaining responsibility for customer value, stakeholder alignment and sustainable change rather than solution configuration or technical design.

You will

• Lead discovery, advisory and shaping activities, helping customers define challenges, opportunities and desired outcomes.
• Facilitate workshops and stakeholder conversations, building alignment and influencing decisions across groups with different priorities.
• Evaluate options and make recommendations that balance customer value, user needs, feasibility, risk and cost.
• Lead business-facing activities within multidisciplinary delivery teams, keeping customer and operational needs central to delivery.

• Analyse services, processes and ways of working to define requirements, priorities, measures of success and opportunities for future-state redesign enabled by Copilot, AI-enabled automation and agentic capabilities.
• Lead the redesign of business processes, services and ways of working to take advantage of Copilot, AI-enabled automation and emerging agentic capabilities, ensuring future-state processes are value-led, governed, adoptable and supported by appropriate human oversight.

• Work with Product Owners and delivery teams to shape MVPs, backlogs, roadmaps and delivery approaches.
• Define value cases, success measures, benefit indicators and outcome metrics that help customers understand the impact of change.
• Shape platform and capability strategies that help customers scale Microsoft Business Applications, Copilot and AI-enabled services.
• Define operating models, Centre of Excellence designs, governance approaches and target ways of working that enable sustainable adoption and control.
• Advise customers on how Microsoft Business Applications, Power Platform, AI, Copilot and agentic business processes can improve services, operational outcomes, decision-making and the way work is organised.
• Guide customers through change and adoption activities, including stakeholder engagement, readiness, communications, capability uplift and benefits realisation.
• Communicate clearly about options, constraints and trade-offs, constructively challenging where appropriate.
• Identify and raise ethical, privacy, security, regulatory and human oversight considerations, particularly when shaping AI-enabled solutions, engaging appropriate specialists where required.
• Contribute to proposals, estimates, presentations and business development activities.
• Develop consulting methods and reusable assets, coach colleagues and, where applicable, act as a People Manager.

Essential Requirements

• Experience leading consulting, discovery, advisory or shaping activities within technology-enabled change, including working in multidisciplinary teams across discovery, design and delivery.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills, with the confidence to influence and challenge constructively.
• Strong business analysis and analytical skills, including analysing services and processes, defining requirements, shaping backlogs or MVPs, and redesigning business processes or ways of working for AI-enabled and agentic operating models in complex or ambiguous situations.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Power Platform or wider Microsoft Business Applications, with awareness of Copilot, AI and AI-enabled business processes and services.
• Experience supporting the design of platform strategies, capability strategies, operating models, governance frameworks or Centre of Excellence approaches that help customers adopt, govern and scale Microsoft Business Applications, Power Platform, Copilot or AI-enabled business processes and services.
• Understanding of how business outcomes, value realisation, organisational change, adoption and benefits realisation activities contribute to successful technology transformation.
• Ability to communicate clearly with senior, operational, technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience producing clear customer-facing outputs, such as recommendations, assessments, roadmaps, value cases or discovery findings.
• Awareness of Responsible AI principles, governance considerations and human oversight requirements for AI-enabled business solutions.
• Experience coaching colleagues, sharing knowledge or supporting capability development.

Desirable

• Experience as a lead consultant or lead business-facing role within a multidisciplinary delivery team.
• Experience in platform strategy, capability strategy, maturity assessment, operating model design, Centre of Excellence design, service improvement or transformation shaping.
• Experience defining benefits frameworks, success metrics or value measurement approaches.
• Experience contributing to pre-sales activity, including proposals, estimates, proofs of concept or customer presentations.
• Experience as a People Manager or supporting colleagues' development and progression.
• Practical experience supporting organisational change, adoption or benefits realisation programmes.
• Experience working in complex or regulated environments.
• Relevant certifications in Microsoft Business Applications, Power Platform, AI, business analysis, organisational change, benefits management or process improvement.