Principal Technical Consultant - Application Modernization

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.
At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD. 
We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived. 
We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD. 
This leadership role within the Application Modernization practice focuses on guiding clients through the transformation of their application portfolios, with a strong emphasis on direct, hands-on technical contribution and execution. The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in modern application architectures, cloud-native technologies, and modernization strategies, leading engagements from strategy through technical implementation, coding, and solution delivery, while also driving business development and contributing to the practice's growth.

Responsibilities

• Client Engagement and Project Leadership:
• Facilitate application portfolio assessment, modernization strategy development, target architecture design (including microservices, serverless, containerization), roadmap creation, and planning workshops.
• Lead discovery sessions to deeply understand client business objectives, pain points, existing application landscape (including legacy systems), and technical constraints.
• Ensure client expectations regarding modernization outcomes (e.g., cost savings, agility, scalability), timelines, technical approaches, and potential challenges are clearly defined and managed.
• Actively engage in hands-on technical delivery, including writing code, configuring cloud services, building proof-of-concepts (PoCs), and performing complex integrations related to application modernization.
• Lead technical project teams in delivering Application Modernization consulting services and implementation projects, covering various modernization patterns (e.g., Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, Rearchitect, Rebuild, Replace), with a focus on technical leadership and execution.
• Drive and manage project objectives, gather detailed functional and non-functional requirements for modernized applications, track project tasks/milestones, manage status reporting, identify dependencies, and ensure engagements deliver tangible business value through successful modernization, on time.
• Break down complex application modernization challenges into manageable workstreams, identify key factors (e.g., technical debt, data migration complexity, organizational change readiness), and determine the optimal modernization approach for specific applications or portfolios.
• Perform final review, editing, and sign-off on project deliverables such as assessment findings, modernization strategy documents, target state architecture blueprints, migration plans, and critically, hands-on code reviews and working PoC results.
• Present modernization strategies, proposed architectures, project updates, and final deliverables effectively to both technical stakeholders and client executive management.
• Lead, mentor, and guide consultants and client team members, including pair programming and technical guidance on specific implementation challenges, fostering best practices in modern software development, cloud-native principles, and specific modernization techniques.
• Business Development:
• Support business development activities by leading client discovery meetings specifically aimed at identifying, qualifying, and shaping application modernization opportunities.
• Act as the subject matter expert for Application Modernization offerings during the sales cycle, contributing to project scoping, effort estimation, defining value propositions, developing proposals, and presenting compelling solutions to prospective clients. This includes designing and potentially building technical demonstrations or prototypes for prospective clients.
• Develop and nurture strong client relationships, positioning AHEAD as a trusted advisor, and effectively communicate the business and technical benefits of application modernization to C-Level executives and IT leadership.
• Practice Development and Thought Leadership:
• Actively contribute to the development and enhancement of AHEAD's Application Modernization service offerin