Consultant - AI Solutions & Architecture - 1898 & Co. (Kansas City)

About the role

At 1898 & Co., we help our clients unlock the power of data and analytics to shape smarter business strategies and drive innovation. Our Business Intelligence & Analytics team works with electric utilities, energy companies, and other critical infrastructure clients to design, implement, and deliver advanced analytics and AI-enabled solutions.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research into the application of analytics to new domains, with a focus on electric utilities and critical infrastructure.
• Apply a pragmatic problem-solving approach to create value while ensuring robustness and data integrity.
• Document and summarize findings, develop visualizations, and communicate insights effectively to stakeholders.
• Envision and design AI-enabled solutions that address challenges such as grid modernization, asset management, outage prediction, renewable integration, and customer engagement.
• Work closely with clients to translate business needs into AI/analytics opportunities and define solution roadmaps.
• Collaborate with technical experts to ensure solutions are practical, scalable, and aligned with client goals.
• Stay informed on emerging AI technologies and evaluate their impact on utility operations.
• Lead workshops and presentations to communicate solution concepts and inspire stakeholder engagement.
• Provide leadership, mentoring, and guidance to project teams and junior staff.
• Champion a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and exploration of AI’s potential.
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.
• Ensure QA/QC process adherence and compliance with company policies, quality standards, and safety requirements.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• 5 years of experience in analytics, AI/ML, or utility operations with a strong focus on solution development and strategy.
• Proficiency with Python and support data and analytics libraries.
• Strong familiarity with the electric utility industry, its data domains (AMI, SCADA, GIS, asset/customer systems), and its operational challenges.
• Working knowledge of AI and analytics methods (machine learning, predictive modeling, data visualization) with the ability to collaborate effectively with technical experts.
• Passion for continual learning and applying new AI/analytics advancements to solve real-world industry challenges.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage both executives and technical teams.
• Consulting or client-facing experience strongly preferred.

Preferred Skills & Experiences

• Demonstrated application of analytics processing engines such as Spark, Hadoop, Flink, Storm.
• Experience with commercial analytics tooling such as SAS, SPSS.
• Experience with Business Intelligence tools such as ThoughtSpot, Tableau or Power BI.
• Familiarity with the analytics stack from at least one cloud provider.
• Demonstrated application of data wrangling and supporting tools.
• Demonstrated application of statistical analytics and machine learning.
• Experience with a variety of machine learning algorithms and an understanding of the application of other algorithms.
• Experience with the domain of problems of an Electric Utility strongly preferred.
• Experience in utility analytics in a technology vendor or utility environment.
• Proficient in SQL, Python, Python data science libraries. Experience with R or other languages.
• An understanding of geospatial analytics is preferred.
• Ability to work with team members and clients to assess needs, provide assistance, and resolve problems.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Desire to understand why things work the way they do.
• Ability to present and explain technical concepts to business audiences.