PH - Data Strategy Consultant

Working at Thinking Machines

Thinking Machines is a technology consultancy building AI & data platforms to solve high-impact problems for our clients. Our vision is a future where data-driven decision-making is a norm and where AI is used to support humans in making excellent decisions. To do that, we create data cultures, one organization at a time.

We’re a company made up of intellectually curious, civic-minded, forever-learning individuals. We believe that great data science products are built with care for people, and that the best way to drive inclusive innovation is to start with a diverse team.

Our field of work is incredibly dynamic, so we want to work with people who are committed to growing with us. We want to hire people who can demonstrate an ability to learn, then provide them with personalized coaching, growth opportunities, and a great working environment to get them to world-class.

Role Description

A Data Strategy Consultant (DSC)'s core responsibility is to translate client needs into tailor-fit data strategies that turn into measurable impact. DSCs do this by running discovery sessions with our client, designing the most relevant data and AI solutions that Thinking Machines can provide, pitching and implementing these alongside our clients. DSCs help clients navigate through the increasingly complex landscape of big data and machine learning techniques to determine which investments are worth pursuing like Generative AI, Machine Learning, or Data Governance. 

We are a high-performance team with individuals coming from a wide variety of backgrounds such as management consulting, start-ups, communications, sustainability, healthcare, and development work.

As a Data Strategy Consultant, you will be able to:

• Solve challenging client problems through customized data science solutions: You will need to understand a client's business priorities, identify critical data points, and customize our data science offerings to their context. Examples of the type of work you would be doing include gathering and structuring client information and requirements, researching about a client's industry and tech stack, coming up with and testing hypotheses with data, and preparing and pitching proposals communicating our findings and recommendation. All this work supports Thinking Machines' development and engineering teams, consisting of data engineers, machine learning consultants and business intelligence analysts (to name a few), as they turn a Data Strategy Consultant's ideas into full-fledged data solutions.
  
• Sharpen your executive stakeholder management skills: Technology-related decisions are never made in isolation, as they affect both business and technical stakeholders as well as the broader community. You'll hone your people wrangling skills by working with individuals with business and IT backgrounds and of varying levels of seniority and decision-making capacity.
• Gain exposure to a broad range of organizations and industries: We serve clients from both the development and private sector, with key industries such as telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, and banking. Some of the projects we worked on with key clients include AI strategy for UNDP, single customer view design for Philippine Airlines, and customer record clean-up for Globe. You will work with senior leaders of multinational companies across Southeast Asia and beyond. You'll be in constant contact with potential and current clients, government agencies, international civic organizations, and fellow data firms in the tech sector.
• Own internal product development and process improvement initiatives: The Data Strategy Team leverages a wide variety of frameworks, templates, tools and processes to match the fast pace of Thinking Machines' growth. You will have many opportunities to pitch new service lines, shape decisions around internal processes and platforms, and create guides and templates that will be used by both current and future Data Strategy Consultants and TM employees, working closely with the CEO and VP of Growth as well as other relevant members of the senior leadership team.
  
  
  

Role Requirements

Minimum qualifications

• At least 3 years of experience in management consulting, strategy, product management, venture capital, business intelligence/analytics and related fields
• Experience in consultative sales and/or delivery process (e.g., business development, project management, account management, product management), working directly with C-suites, senior leaders, or key decision makers
• Proven success in leading discovery sessions, client workshops and interviews as part of structured consulting engagements, guiding stakeholders through use case exploration and solution alignment
• Demonstrated ability to lead or manage client-facing projects end-to-end—including scoping, timeline and deliverables tracking, and internal team coordination
• Problem-solving and strategic thinking skills: Do you have a knack for finding structure in chaos? Do you stay calm when faced with all kinds of datasets, visualizations or straight-up number mess? While we don't expect you to code and build machine learning models or data pipelines, you'll need to develop a conceptual understanding of data science as you'll be working with internal teams to figure out the best solutions and recommendations for our clients.
  
• Business acumen: Business knowledge is a key skill for a DSC. You need strong understanding of different business models, processes, and industries to effectively identify the value of AI and analytics in a client's context and translate complex analyses into actionable business insights.
• Strong external communication skills: Your main job will be to communicate Thinking Machines' suite of products and services to a variety of audiences. Whether you’re pitching to C-suite executives or getting buy-in from IT stakeholders, you'll need solid spoken and written communication skills to translate the technicalities of data science to the language of the boardroom and back into specifications and project timelines.
• Open communication skills: We're a fast-moving team that relies on each other for ideas and double-checking. We appreciate tactfully opinionated people.
  
• Quick learning agility: If you are naturally curious and love to learn, this is an environment you will thrive in. You're not expected to know everything, but we expect you to fill in the gaps quickly, with guidance from our leadership team. You'll be part of a very talented team, make sure to learn something new everyday!
  
• Strong sense of initiative: There are many things to do from all sides! We want someone who is highly collaborative with an entrepreneurial, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude.
  
  

Preferred qualifications / nice-to-haves

• Have previous experience working with developers, analysts, software engineers, statisticians and other roles with a similarly technical background
• Have previous experience at a fast-growing tech startup
• Have domain experience in a non-data field (Are you an expert in Telecommunications? Airlines? E-commerce? Finance? We value having a wide range of career experiences)
  
  

Benefits and Perks

We offer the following compensation and benefits:

• Competitive salary — the compensation amount is positively correlated with the difficulty of the job, relevant experience, fit, and skill factors.

• Hybrid Set-Up — Hybrid-remote means employees are required to come in an average of two days a week for client engagements and internal in-person days intended for collaboration, socials, and strategic planning.

• Individual professional development budget — an annual budget for conferences, training courses, books, and software is available to sharpen your skills and build new ones to help you grow in your role.

• Full health benefits — generous health insurance package upon hiring, with options to include dependents.

• Apprenticeship and yearly performance reviews with the leadership team to discuss career and personal goals, job progress and any questions and concerns.