Data Strategy Consultant

Strategy Consultant – Data Strategy & Transformation About Ascendion Ascendion is a leading provider of AI-Native software engineering services. Our capabilities across Applied AI, Software Engineering, Cloud, Data, Experience Design, and Talent Transformation help Global 2000 clients accelerate innovation. Headquartered in New Jersey, Ascendion has a presence across 12 countries and 40+ global offices across North America, Europe, and APAC. We are committed to building technology powered by Generative AI while fostering an inclusive workforce, strong communities, and a vibrant culture. Experience a Community of Change Makers Join a culture of high-performing innovators who bring together diverse ideas, experiences, and perspectives. At Ascendion, collaboration, continuous learning, innovation, and inclusion are at the heart of how we work. Role: Strategy Consultant – Data Strategy & Transformation Experience: 12–16 years overall, including 7+ years leading enterprise data strategy, modernization, or transformation engagements. Location: As per business requirement Travel/Work Authorization: Valid US Visa or passport from another country is mandatory for this role. Role Summary We are looking for a Strategy Consultant to lead enterprise data strategy and transformation engagements from discovery and assessment through target-state definition, roadmap development, and implementation mobilization. The role requires a strong combination of business consulting, stakeholder leadership, and technical understanding across data architecture, governance, engineering, data modelling, analytics, and modernization. The ideal candidate should be able to translate business objectives and technical findings into practical recommendations, prioritized initiatives, and executable transformation roadmaps. Key Responsibilities Lead business and technical discovery workshops to understand business priorities, challenges, capabilities, risks, dependencies, and modernization objectives. Assess the end-to-end enterprise data landscape, including data sources, integration patterns, data platforms, lakehouse/warehouse architecture, governance, data models, semantic layers, reporting, and operating models. Coordinate assessments across architecture, governance, engineering, modelling, and BI, ensuring findings are supported by metadata, lineage, usage, data quality, and operational metrics. Define target-state principles, operating models, domain accountability, governance direction, data-product concepts, and modernization options. Evaluate transformation options based on business value, data risk, technical feasibility, organizational readiness, dependencies, cost, and time-to-value. Develop phased transformation roadmaps covering governance, legacy migration, data quality, platform modernization, BI rationalization, and semantic alignment. Translate recommendations into actionable implementation work packages covering scope, dependencies, ownership, skills, milestones, acceptance criteria, and measurable outcomes. Maintain traceability from assessment findings through recommendations, roadmap initiatives, delivery backlogs, and expected business benefits. Facilitate decision forums, resolve cross-workstream dependencies, and communicate complex business and technical topics to executive and technical stakeholders. Support future data transformation engagements through delivery mobilization, architecture reviews, prioritization, implementation governance, and roadmap refresh. Must-Have Skills & Experience 12–16 years of overall experience with 7+ years in enterprise data strategy, transformation, modernization, or consulting leadership. Strong experience leading enterprise data strategy and multi-workstream transformation engagements. Strong understanding of modern data architecture, including: Lakehouse and cloud platforms Enterprise data warehouses Data integration Semantic layers Data modelling Hands-on/working knowledge of Databricks, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Azure Data Services, and Power BI . Understanding of batch processing, CDC, streaming, APIs, dimensional modelling, medallion architecture, and data products. Strong understanding of data governance covering ownership, stewardship, metadata, lineage, data quality, privacy, security, retention, and lifecycle management. Experience with legacy modernization and migration planning, including dependencies, reconciliation, cutover, rollback, and platform retirement. Strong roadmap planning, value assessment, delivery sequencing, KPI definition, and executive stakeholder management skills. Strong communication, presentation, consulting, and stakeholder management skills. Good-to-Have Skills Experience in manufacturing, supply chain, or enterprise operations data. Experience with Microsoft Purview, Collibra, Alation , or similar data governance platforms. Certifications such as DAMA/CDMP, TOGAF, Azure, Databricks , or related certifications. Experience with federated data governance, data products, DataOps, data observability, and cloud cost optimization. Why Join Ascendion? Be part of a team building next-generation AI solutions and helping enterprises accelerate innovation through Generative AI. Join a diverse community of change makers where technology, collaboration, learning, and innovation come together to create meaningful impact.