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.
You will be a key creative contributor to AHEAD’s Design CoE — delivering high-impact presentation design, visual storytelling, and consulting communication outputs that directly influence pursuit outcomes and client engagement quality. This is a hands-on design role that combines deep craft excellence with an understanding of consulting context and business narrative. You will work at the intersection of data, design, and technology, collaborating closely with consultants, researchers, analysts, and technologists to create best-in-class presentation, visualization, and analytics solutions.
Your work will directly shape how sharply AHEAD’s ideas are expressed, how persuasively its stories land with CXO audiences, and how consistently the firm projects a consulting-grade visual standard across every client engagement.
Design CoE Build-Out & Team Leadership
- Actively contribute to the smooth operation of the Design CoE — following intake workflows, briefing processes, quality review standards, and turnaround benchmarks; suggest improvements to processes as experience grows.
- Collaborate closely with fellow Visual Communication Specialists and Presentation Analysts; model a design culture grounded in creative excellence, delivery discipline, and continuous improvement; support onboarding of junior team members when needed.
- Participate in structured onboarding and training programs; take ownership of personal skill development across design craft, consulting communication, and emerging tools — and share learnings informally with peers.
- Manage personal workload effectively across concurrent consulting engagements and research publications; flag capacity or prioritization conflicts proactively to the Team Lead.
- Consistently meet quality and turnaround benchmarks; actively seek feedback from the Team Lead and stakeholders to raise the bar on every deliverable.
Narrative Excellence & Strategic Design Partnership
- Take primary ownership of complex, high-stakes design work — strategic proposals, executive communications, pursuit decks, and CxO/board-level presentations — delivering polished outputs with minimal iteration cycles.
- Apply narrative excellence across consulting outputs: refining storylines, sharpening executive messaging, enhancing proposal storytelling, and translating insights into compelling slide sequences.
- Transform unstructured inputs — scribbled notes, whiteboard captures, fragmented ideas, raw data, and oral briefs — into cohesive, structured, and visually compelling consulting narratives.
- Collaborate with consulting and sales teams to develop differentiated win themes and visual pursuit strategies that strengthen proposal quality and CXO resonance.
- Engage consulting stakeholders with recommendations on visual and narrative approach; build a reputation as a thoughtful creative collaborator who understands business context, not just design craft.
- Translate analytical outputs into compelling visual stories and interactive experiences that make data and insight accessible and persuasive for client audiences.
- Design interactive visualizations, exploratory data tools, and storytelling interfaces that elevate the quality and impact of AHEAD’s consulting outputs.
Consulting Presentation & Proposal Design
- Execute end-to-end design of high-impact consulting presentations, executive proposals, and client-facing materials — from creative brief and storyboard through to polished, delivery-ready output.
- Ensure all presentation materials comply with AHEAD’s brand guidelines, maintain visual consistency, and project a consulting-grade professional standard across every client engagement.
- Conduct self-review and peer review of design output before delivery; apply zero-defect, brand-compliant standards and incorporate creative feedback constructively to continuously improve output quality.
- Handle the design intake and briefing process for assigned requests — ensuring accurate scope capture, clear expectation-setting on timelines, and proactive communication with requestors throughout delivery.
Visual Innovation & Design IP Development
- Actively contribute to the CoE’s design IP initiatives — building reusable templates, visual frameworks, and self-service assets that scale design quality across AHEAD’s consulting organization.
- Contribute to and maintain AHEAD’s visual asset library: standardized presentation templates, brand-compliant design systems, reusable frameworks, consulting-grade iconography, infographic libraries, and presentation accelerators.
- Adopt and champion AI-powered design and productivity tools within your own workflow; contribute to building a high-velocity, human-in-the-loop design practice that delivers speed, quality, and brand governance.
- Identify and implement design productivity improvements — automation shortcuts, reusable components, smarter iteration approaches — that meaningfully reduce rework and speed up content refinement cycles.
- Stay current with best-in-class visual communication practices at leading consulting and advisory firms; bring forward relevant design innovations and ideas to strengthen AHEAD’s creative edge.
Brand Stewardship & Standards
- Apply and uphold AHEAD’s visual design language across all consulting outputs: presentation templates, color systems, typography standards, iconography libraries, chart styles, and data visualization frameworks.
- Contribute to the maintenance and improvement of design standards, self-service playbooks, and consulting communication frameworks that enable consultants to produce brand-compliant, quality output independently.
- Uphold consistency and quality of AHEAD’s visual identity across all consulting, research, and thought leadership outputs — proposals, client presentations, research publications, CxO Guides, and webinar materials.
Essential
- 6–9 years of progressive experience in presentation design, visual communication, or consulting design, with demonstrated ability to independently deliver high-quality design outputs in a consulting, advisory, or professional services environment.
- Expert-level PowerPoint proficiency — master-slide management, bespoke layout design, complex data visualization, advanced charting, animation, and end-to-end deck construction from scratch to consulting-grade finish.
- Strong working proficiency in design tools for infographics, custom visual frameworks, icons, and publication-quality design assets.
- Demonstrated experience with AI-powered presentation, design automation, and productivity tools used in a professional services or consulting environment.
- Proven ability to translate unstructured inputs — notes, whiteboards, raw data, oral briefs — into polished, executive-ready consulting narratives and presentation materials.
- Familiarity with design standards, brand systems, and template libraries; ability to apply and maintain them consistently across a range of consulting output types.
- A strong portfolio demonstrating consulting-grade presentation design — proposals, executive decks, research publications, and data-rich visual storytelling — produced to a high professional standard.
- Creative excellence — sets a high aesthetic and storytelling bar for personal output; consistently delivers design work that elevates the quality of consulting materials and earns the trust of stakeholders.
- Strategic communicator — understands the business context behind every brief and translates consulting intent into visual narratives that persuade, not merely present.
- Builder's mindset — comfortable working with ambiguity and incomplete briefs; brings a structured, solutions-oriented approach to every engagement and thrives in a fast-moving, high-expectation environment.
- Innovation-oriented — actively explores new design tools, AI capabilities, and automation opportunities; eager to evolve personal workflows and contribute to the CoE’s technological and creative edge.
Preferred
- Bachelor's or master’s degree in engineering, Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Communication Design, or a related creative discipline.
- Prior experience in a consulting firm in a Visual Graphics, Business Presentation Specialist, or senior design contributor role.
- Experience building or managing AI-augmented design workflows, including prompt-based design generation, document-to-presentation conversion, or design automation pipelines.
- Proficiency with consulting-grade data visualization and charting tools, and the ability to translate analytical outputs into polished, presentation-quality visual formats.
Why AHEAD:
Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.
We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.
India Employment Benefits include:
Comprehensive health insurance coverage for employees, with options to extend coverage to dependents
Paid time off and company holidays, along with additional leave benefits as per policy
Flexible work arrangements, supporting work-life balance
Learning and development opportunities to support continuous growth and upskilling
Employee wellness initiatives and programs focused on physical and mental well-being
Retirement and statutory benefits in line with India regulations
Inclusive and people-first culture, with a strong focus on collaboration and ownership
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.
