Principal Strategy Consultant - Digital Data & AI Advisory

Love solutions that make our world a better place? AtkinsRéalis' Digital, Data and AI Advisory team is growing, and we are looking for experienced, enthusiastic people who can help clients make well‑informed choices about their technology and data landscape. Our work brings together strategy, systems thinking and practical technology insight to help organisations understand their digital maturity, identify opportunities and risks, and make decisions that stand up to scrutiny.

Across our key markets, clients are dealing with an explosion of information and are struggling to harness their data to meet their objectives, whether that’s improving service performance, modernising critical assets or planning major investment programmes. Many of these issues begin as operational or organisational problems, but success depends on how well data is governed, managed, shared and applied.

To strengthen our capability in this area, we are particularly interested in people with strong Data Management experience who can help clients build the foundations needed for better analytics, improved decision‑making and responsible adoption of AI. We are building a multidisciplinary team drawn from consulting, technology and data‑focused backgrounds. You may be a data strategist, information architect, digital consultant or someone with broader experience looking to bring a stronger data lens to strategic work. Curiosity, systems thinking and the ability to connect digital, data and organisational context are all important, along with the ability to nurture trusted relationships with colleagues and clients.

As a Principal Strategy Consultant in our Digital, Data and AI Advisory capability, you'll act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, providing strategic guidance that connects Digital, Data, AI, and business objectives. You'll lead advisory projects and programmes, helping clients navigate complex transformation challenges, ensuring decisions deliver long‑term value. Your advisory role includes shaping operating models and guiding investment strategies. By offering foresight and practical execution, you enable clients to future‑proof their strategies and achieve sustainable success whilst keeping pace with the latest emergent technology.

Your role

• Leading project teams to deliver high‑quality outputs, and ensuring recommendations reflect our values around inclusion, sustainability and social value.
• Working with clients to understand how data is created, governed and used across their organisation, and identifying opportunities to improve how decisions are supported by data.
• Leading the development of data‑focused strategies, visions and roadmaps that improve data quality, strengthen governance, enable effective data sharing and support future analytics and AI initiatives.
• Shaping structured business cases and investment priorities for data‑related initiatives, ensuring recommendations are evidence‑based and linked to clear outcomes.
• Applying systems thinking to uncover the digital and data implications of challenges that may initially appear operational, technical or process‑led.
• Helping clients evolve their operating models so that responsibilities for data ownership, stewardship and governance are clearly defined and embedded.
• Working with colleagues across advisory, markets and technical disciplines to create approaches that link digital and data strategy to delivery.
• Supporting the Digital, Data and AI Advisory capability in staying ahead of emerging trends, contributing to thought leadership, and helping maintain our competitive edge in the market.
• Making clients aware of the full breadth of AtkinsRéalis capability, opening opportunities to grow our footprint and demonstrate additional value.

About You

• Strong consulting skills, able to frame complex and ambiguous problems, turn analysis into clear recommendations, and lead or influence senior stakeholders.
• Data Management expertise, including developing data strategies, governance frameworks and leading approaches for improving organisational data capability.
• An ability to adapt and tailor knowledge and expertise to new industry areas and client maturity levels.
• A good understanding of how emerging technologies and modern digital approaches depend on trusted, well‑managed data.
• Awareness of the ethical and responsible considerations that shape how data and digital solutions are used.
• An understanding of enterprise or business architecture concepts and how they relate to data, processes and organisational design.
• Experience in one or more of our key markets (Defence, Aerospace, Security, Energy, Utilities, Highways, Rail or the Public Sector) is an advantage.