Lead Technology Strategist

You are a Lead Technology Strategist with great breadth and depth of expertise across the digital landscape.

You anticipate future needs and opportunities based on your deep understanding of current experience-oriented technology solutions and emerging trends, your innate curiosity around the possibilities afforded by newer technologies, and your ability to discern technology advancements with true promise. You have the instincts to push ideas to the forefront while keeping solutions practical and achievable.

In this role, you’ll partner with One North’s largest and most complex clients to identify and shape opportunities to transform their businesses through optimized marketing technology solutions and the introduction of emerging technologies, including AI. As part of our collaborative strategy team, you’ll work alongside experts in CX/EX, UX, Brand, Content, and Data, welcoming the diverse perspectives that lead to the strongest solutions.

While you won’t be directly managing people, you’ll serve as a team leader – mentoring colleagues, driving innovation, and shaping the future of One North’s Technology Strategy practice. Combining deep technology strategy expertise, consulting chops, and business insights, you will help spearhead technology strategy success, propelling our clients forward.

This role will ideally be based in the Chicago area, but we are open to remote locations across the U.S.

• Continually develop expertise across emerging technologies, with a specific focus on AI, to guide clients toward practical but future-focused innovation.
• Maintain an understanding of technology solutions that support customer, employee, and user experiences (CMS, CRM, ERP, browser-based and mobile applications, websites), with an emphasis on (but not limited to) technology solutions that One North supports, to recommend ecosystem updates and adjustments to clients.
• Help translate AI/emerging technology capabilities and limitations into clear implications for client strategy, operations, and customer or employee experiences.
• Continually develop and evolve compelling materials and frameworks to communicate and clarify possibilities associated with rapidly changing technology landscapes.
• Contribute to One North’s technology strategy offerings and thought leadership.
• Participate in and support ongoing innovation and capability development.

• Lead comprehensive technology assessments of current client ecosystems to identify opportunities to transform or optimize client experiences.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to define forward-thinking, comprehensive experience solutions that depend on current ecosystem adjustments and/or emerging technologies/AI.
• Guide clients through framing of future-oriented solutions design for confirmed initiatives, including thoughtful incorporation AI/emerging technologies.
• Lead strategic technology workshops to shape actionable proof-of-concept or implementation roadmaps for defined experience concepts (impact analysis, dependency identification, etc.).
• Integrate AI thoughtfully into team workflows and project delivery, coaching others on effective, responsible use in strategy, design, and analysis.
• Foster strong client and team relationships through clear communication; establish yourself as a trusted advisor in the emerging technology space.
• Manage multiple strategic initiatives with clear expectations, timelines, and success metrics.

• Mentor junior strategists, providing feedback on their work and career guidance.
• Contribute to business development through thought leadership and strategic proposal development.
• Represent One North internally and throughout the community in thought leadership (conferences, talks, blogs, libraries/tools).
• Travel up to 15% of the time to support strategic engagements.

• Empathy:
  You internalize human experiences and perspectives to advocate and drive change.
• Business Insight:
  You apply business and customer knowledge to advance client goals.
• Clarity:
  You operate effectively and create focus and certainty in the face of ambiguity.
• Communication:
  Yo…