Senior Azure AI Consultant

Phoenix enables digital transformation across the UK public sector, empowering organisations to innovate with cloud and hybrid infrastructures, data, AI, security and collaboration technologies. We are now hiring a Senior Azure AI Consultant who will be embedded within our AI practice and work directly with customers to help them adopt and scale AI capabilities. This is a fully customer‑facing role, focused on delivering structured advisory and enablement engagements that span strategy, architecture and hands‑on implementation of Microsoft AI platforms. You will act as a trusted advisor, combining strong consulting skills with deep technical expertise. You will be responsible for delivering end‑to‑end AI engagements independently, from discovery and design through to deployment and configuration, while working closely with the Practice Lead and Technical Architects to shape and refine Phoenix’s AI offerings. What will you be doing? Lead structured AI advisory and enablement engagements, including AI readiness assessments, use‑case discovery workshops and Centre of Excellence (CoE) programmes. Deliver end‑to‑end enablement for Microsoft AI platforms, with a strong focus on Microsoft Foundry and Azure OpenAI Service. Design, deploy and configure Azure AI solutions hands‑on, ensuring customers have working reference environments they can build upon. Facilitate executive‑level workshops and stakeholder sessions to identify AI opportunities and develop business cases. Develop AI adoption roadmaps, governance frameworks and technical reference architectures. Act as a trusted advisor to senior customer stakeholders, translating business challenges into practical AI‑enabled solutions. Work closely with the AI Practice Lead and Technical Architects to design, refine and improve repeatable engagement frameworks and service offerings. Produce high‑quality customer deliverables including strategy documents, technical designs, deployment guides and assessment reports. Stay current with Microsoft AI platform developments, emerging capabilities and wider industry trends. Provide regular feedback on customer needs, market trends and opportunities for new AI services. Support pre‑sales activity including discovery calls, technical demonstrations, proposal input and customer presentations. What are we looking for? Strong customer‑facing consulting skills with the ability to build trust at senior stakeholder level. Excellent communication, presentation and workshop facilitation skills. Proven ability to lead and deliver complex technical engagements independently. Strong hands‑on experience deploying and configuring Azure AI services, particularly Microsoft Foundry and Azure OpenAI. Solid understanding of AI and GenAI concepts including RAG architectures, agents, prompt engineering and responsible AI principles. Experience working across Azure infrastructure fundamentals to support AI workloads end‑to‑end. Commercial awareness and ability to contribute effectively to pre‑sales and service shaping activities. Strategic thinker with a continuous improvement mindset and strong problem‑solving skills. Consultancy or professional services background preferred. Public sector experience (e.g. councils, NHS, education, charities or blue‑light services) desirable. SC clearance, or eligibility to obtain SC clearance, desirable. Practical stuff Where is the role based? Primary location is our HQ in Pocklington (YO42). What about hybrid/remote working? Remote & Hybrid working is supported, with flexibility depending on customer and delivery requirements. How many interviews? Following a screen with the Recruitment Team, you can expect a two‑stage interview process, one online and one in‑person. Important BPSS Check As part of our recruitment process and due to the nature of the work we do, all employees are required to undertake a BPSS check. While some employees may require further security clearance, the BPSS check is mandatory and all offers of employment are conditional upon successful completion. Have you made it this far? If you’re still reading, there’s a strong chance you might be our kind of person. Here’s the thing, research suggests many women and underrepresented groups don’t apply unless they meet every requirement. Even if you don’t tick every box above, we encourage you to introduce yourself. We believe a diversity of perspectives and experiences makes our team stronger and the stronger our team, the more successful we will be.