Value Architect (AI Strategy & Value Realisation)

Job description

SUMMARY Value Architects determine where AI creates meaningful business impact, which opportunities should be pursued, and how success will be measured. They work alongside client executives, Industry Reinvention Leads, Domain Architects and delivery teams to build the value case that funds a transformation. The role combines strategic thinking, commercial acumen and benefits realisation expertise to ensure every transformation initiative is grounded in a credible value case and linked to measurable business outcomes. Beyond individual engagements, the role defines the value methodology, benchmark library and ROI verification standards that underpin Avanade Next's outcome-based commercial model. The person appointed will build a capability that helps clients make better investment decisions before delivery begins and provides objective evidence of value after deployment. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Partner with clients, Industry Reinvention Leads, Domain Architects, Trust Architects and Forward Deployed Engineers to identify opportunities, quantify value potential and prioritise initiatives. Build the value hypothesis and business case during shaping, and set the baseline the outcome will be measured against. Analyse value pools, strategic priorities, operational constraints and implementation feasibility to determine where AI creates the greatest impact. Sequence initiatives and use cases by value and feasibility, and make the prioritisation case to the client. Support executive decision-making with structured analysis of opportunity size, expected outcomes, investment required, delivery risk and return profile. Track realised against projected benefit through delivery, and report it transparently at every gate. Hold the go / stop line — recommend stopping, re-scoping or re-prioritising work where the expected value is no longer achievable. Support outcome-based, value-based and gain-share commercial models with the numbers that make them defensible. Translate AI capability into a business narrative that CFOs, COOs and Boards recognise. Contribute verified outcomes and benchmark data to the APAC value library. Work alongside FDEs and Trust Architects throughout, rather than appearing at reporting points. KEY MEASURES Business case established and baselined on every engagement. Benefits tracking active across 100% of production deployments, reported at each gate. Post-deployment validation of business case assumptions, with variance explained. Contribution to the APAC value benchmark library each quarter using verified outcomes. Client acceptance of the value case at hard commitment gates. Executive stakeholders able to make investment decisions with clearly quantified value, risk and implementation assumptions. . SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE 5+ years in strategy consulting, business transformation, value engineering or a strong finance background. Solid financial modelling capability and comfort working with incomplete data. Understanding of AI value drivers, and enough technical fluency to challenge an engineering estimate sensibly. Able to hold a position with senior client stakeholders under pressure. Experience with benefits realisation on programmes where the benefit was actually measured afterwards. Clear written and verbal reasoning — the case has to survive being read without its author present. WAYS OF WORKING Held centrally in the shared workforce pool and deployed across all of Next. Stays with the client across phases — value context compounds and does not reset at handover. Independent by design: expected to disagree with the delivery team when the evidence requires it. Provides objective challenge throughout the engagement, including where the recommendation is to stop. AI-native by default in their own work, including modelling and analysis. Regional travel; deployment location follows the mandate. .