AI Solutions Lead (Forward Deployed)

Columbia Construction Company • North Reading, MA

9d • $110,000 - $200,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The AI Solutions Lead will shape and drive Columbia Construction’s AI strategy, adoption, governance, and value realization across the business. Reporting directly to the CFO and partnering closely with Operations, IT, and executive leadership, this new role will build Columbia’s AI program from the ground up, with executive sponsorship and budget. The role will learn Columbia’s construction operations, project lifecycle, workflows, and business processes to identify practical opportunities for AI across project sites and back-office teams.

This is a forward-deployed, player-coach position: the AI Solutions Lead will spend time embedded with teams in offices and on project sites, observe how work is done, build prototypes, and establish the strategy, governance, and roadmap that guide the program. The role will begin as a department of one and may grow as the work justifies it. Its aim is to make AI useful to project managers, estimators, superintendents, and support teams, while delivering measurable business impact and responsible adoption.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience in technology, product, consulting, data, or operations roles, including meaningful hands-on solution building and implementation.
• Demonstrated success leading technology or AI initiatives in settings that required quickly learning a new industry, operating model, or workflow and producing measurable business impact.
• Significant familiarity with modern AI tools, including LLMs, enterprise AI platforms, automation tools, and integrations for embedding them in business processes.
• Working understanding of data structure, quality, and governance, and of what is required to make data usable for AI.
• Track record of leading organizational change, building alignment, influencing stakeholders, and supporting adoption of new tools and working methods.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, comfort building rather than merely maintaining, and ability to make decisions with incomplete information.
• Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication and presentation skills, with the credibility to represent AI at Columbia.
• Sound judgment regarding risk, confidentiality, and client obligations.
• Collaborative, proactive leadership style aligned with Columbia’s core values.
• Curiosity, humility, and willingness to learn how construction teams work; prior construction experience is not required.

Nice To Haves

• Strong foundation in AI and technology through formal education, professional experience, or both, with the ability to evaluate models and platforms, design solutions, build prototypes, and lead technical decisions.
• Experience establishing an AI program at a peer firm or being an early member of one, particularly in an industry undergoing operational or digital transformation.
• Experience evaluating vendors and managing pilots.
• Experience with enterprise systems such as ERP, CRM, project management, or collaboration platforms; familiarity with Procore, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, or comparable systems is a plus.
• Hands-on experience with tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Power BI, Power Automate, Zapier, n8n, Python, SQL, or APIs.

Responsibilities

• Develop and own Columbia’s AI strategy in partnership with executive leadership, making recommendations about investment, pilots, scaling, and opportunities to set aside.
• Establish and run a citizen development program with sanctioned tools, clear guardrails, and support for employees building workflow solutions.
• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize AI, automation, reporting, and analytics opportunities across construction-specific tools and enterprise platforms.
• Build prototypes, including custom GPTs, automations, and light integrations, and partner with IT, developers, data teams, and technology partners to move successful prototypes into production.
• Lead AI initiatives from pilot through implementation and adoption, ensuring end-user engagement and measurable business impact.
• Address data structure, quality, and governance in AI initiatives, partnering with IT and Data Governance to understand Columbia’s data foundation.
• Establish policies, training, and governance for responsible AI use that protects client data, contractual obligations, and the company.
• Build company-wide AI fluency through communication, training, and direct support for field, office, and leadership staff.
• Partner with leaders across operations, finance, preconstruction, estimating, project management, accounting, marketing, business development, and safety to identify, develop, and scale useful AI ideas.

Benefits

• A culture that values personal and professional balance.
• Teams that support one another, share knowledge, and celebrate wins.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed