How to Apply
A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.
Job Summary
The Business Consultant serves as a lead strategic and operational consultant within Medical School Administration (MSA), independently coordinating and conducting complex, cross-functional planning and improvement initiatives that advance administrative effectiveness, technology enablement, and institutional priorities across the Medical School.
The position provides consultation to administrative leaders, managers, faculty, and staff on strategic and tactical planning, business process design, technology-enabled improvement, implementation, and decision-making. The Business Consultant leads initiatives from problem definition and current-state assessment through options analysis, recommendation development, implementation, adoption, and evaluation.
A significant component of the position supports the Office of Enabling Technology (OET). The Business Consultant provides advanced consultation on the responsible and effective use of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, automation, digital collaboration tools, data-enabled workflows, and related capabilities. The position translates complex business needs into strategic use cases, evaluates organizational value and risk, coordinates institutional partners, and leads implementation and adoption efforts that improve administrative work.
The role requires comprehensive knowledge that crosses strategic planning, business analysis, process improvement, project leadership, organizational change, technology adoption, and responsible AI use. The position operates with substantial independence, applies sound judgment to matters of significance, and builds effective working relationships across a complex and decentralized academic medical center.
Responsibilities*
Strategic Planning & Business Consulting | 25%
- Lead business consulting and strategic analysis for complex, cross-functional priority initiatives within MSA.
- Provide consultation to administrative leaders, managers, faculty, and staff regarding strategic and tactical planning, operating models, process design, technology enablement, and decision-making.
- Independently define project approaches, conduct current-state and future-state assessments, clarify desired outcomes, and develop actionable recommendations.
- Analyze and synthesize quantitative and qualitative information, organizational considerations, external practices, and emerging trends to inform leadership decisions.
- Develop business cases, options analyses, strategic recommendations, implementation roadmaps, and executive-level presentations.
- Identify organizational strengths, weaknesses, risks, opportunities, and dependencies that may affect successful implementation.
- Research and apply relevant practices from higher education, academic medicine, healthcare, technology, and business operations.
- Translate complex and ambiguous issues into concise, decision-ready guidance for senior leaders and stakeholders.
Office of Enabling Technology, AI & Technology Adoption | 30%
- Serve as a lead business consultant for the Office of Enabling Technology, advising MSA units on the strategic and responsible use of existing and emerging technologies.
- Lead discovery and consultation with business stakeholders to identify complex operational needs, workflow challenges, organizational risks, and opportunities for technology-enabled improvement.
- Develop and evaluate strategic use cases for artificial intelligence, automation, digital tools, dashboards, data-enabled workflows, and other emerging capabilities.
- Assess and prioritize technology-enabled opportunities based on business value, feasibility, user impact, data considerations, responsible-use principles, organizational readiness, and alignment with MSA priorities.
- Provide advanced consultation on AI-enabled administrative work, including appropriate use cases, human oversight, workflow integration, adoption considerations, and coordination with institutional privacy, security, legal, technology, and data-governance partners.
- Translate operational needs into business requirements, decision criteria, implementation approaches, and recommendations for senior leaders and technology partners.
- Lead cross-functional implementation of selected technology-enabled improvements, establishing the project approach, coordinating institutional partners, managing dependencies and risks, and driving implementation and adoption.
- Design adoption strategies, user resources, communications, demonstrations, and learning supports that strengthen technology and AI proficiency across MSA.
- Establish measures of adoption, user experience, operational value, and effectiveness; use findings to recommend adjustments and continuous improvement.
- Monitor relevant developments in artificial intelligence, automation, enterprise collaboration, and digital administration and advise OET and MSA leaders on potential implications and opportunities.
Coordinate with Data Governance and other institutional partners when initiatives involve institutional data, dashboards, AI-enabled processes, or enterprise technology standards; this role does not replace established technical, privacy, security, legal, or governance authorities.
Complex Project & Initiative Leadership | 25%
- Independently lead complex, cross-functional projects from initial assessment and strategy development through implementation, adoption, and evaluation.
- Define project scope, governance, decision rights, workplans, timelines, milestones, deliverables, success measures, and reporting structures.
- Coordinate leaders, faculty, staff, subject-matter experts, and institutional partners across organizational and professional boundaries.
- Lead working groups and project teams, guide decisions, clarify accountability, and maintain documentation of risks, dependencies, responsibilities, and next steps.
- Anticipate barriers and organizational impacts, resolve issues within the scope of authority, and elevate significant decisions or risks with clear recommendations.
- Provide consultation and direction to project participants and may coordinate the work of other staff, consultants, or vendors assigned to initiatives.
- Lead implementation of new programs, processes, tools, and operating models and establish mechanisms for evaluating outcomes and sustaining improvements.
Manage a portfolio of concurrent initiatives while maintaining accountability for quality, stakeholder alignment, timelines, and results.
Process Improvement & Organizational Effectiveness | 15%
- Lead analysis and redesign of complex administrative processes, services, and workflows to address duplication, inefficiency, risk, inconsistency, and user experience.
- Facilitate process mapping, root-cause analysis, service design, and future-state planning with cross-functional stakeholders.
- Develop recommendations that balance strategic priorities, stakeholder needs, institutional requirements, risk, feasibility, and available resources.
- Lead implementation of redesigned processes, establish performance measures, monitor outcomes, and recommend further improvement.
- Develop scalable frameworks, standards, tools, templates, and documentation that strengthen consistency and organizational capability across MSA.
Identify opportunities to extend successful practices across additional administrative units or portfolios.
Executive Communication, Engagement & Change Leadership | 5%
- Prepare executive summaries, strategic recommendations, reports, presentations, briefing materials, process documentation, and decision materials for senior leaders and stakeholders.
- Lead consultations, discovery sessions, working meetings, presentations, demonstrations, and stakeholder discussions involving complex or sensitive issues.
- Develop change and adoption approaches that address communication, workflow, behavior, readiness, capability, and sustained use.
- Build credibility and productive partnerships with administrative leaders, faculty, subject-matter experts, technology partners, governance bodies, and end users.
- Represent OET and MSA initiatives in internal forums and, when appropriate, with external partners, professional associations, vendors, or peer institutions.
Required Qualifications*
- Master's degree in business administration, health administration, public administration, information systems, data science, organizational development, educational technology, or a closely related field.
- Five to eight years of progressively responsible professional experience in strategic planning, business consulting, project or program leadership, operational improvement, technology enablement, artificial intelligence adoption, or related work.
- Demonstrated experience independently leading complex, cross-functional projects or consulting engagements from problem definition through implementation and evaluation.
- Demonstrated experience advising leaders and stakeholders, analyzing complex business problems, evaluating alternative courses of action, and developing strategic recommendations.
- Demonstrated knowledge of artificial intelligence and emerging technology concepts, responsible-use considerations, workflow integration, human oversight, organizational adoption, and associated privacy, security, data, and change-management implications.
- Experience translating business needs into strategic use cases, business requirements, implementation approaches, and adoption strategies for technology-enabled solutions.
- Comprehensive knowledge of strategic planning, business analysis, process improvement, project leadership, and organizational change, with the ability to integrate expertise across fields.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to organize and synthesize complex quantitative and qualitative information.
- Excellent written, verbal, consultation, facilitation, and executive-presentation skills.
- Demonstrated ability to build relationships, influence without direct authority, and lead work across a complex, decentralized, and matrixed organization.
- Ability to exercise substantial independent judgment, discretion, initiative, and professionalism on matters of significance while managing multiple priorities and deadlines.
Desired Qualifications*
- Experience in higher education, healthcare, academic medicine, or another large, complex, and decentralized organization.
- Experience leading administrative AI, automation, digital transformation, or enterprise technology-adoption initiatives.
- Experience with generative AI tools, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Copilot, workflow automation, enterprise collaboration platforms, dashboards, or related productivity technologies.
- Experience developing AI or technology use-case frameworks, evaluation criteria, adoption measures, governance coordination processes, or responsible-use guidance.
- Experience facilitating executive-level discovery, process redesign, service design, working groups, or cross-functional governance forums.
- Experience developing business cases, implementation roadmaps, performance measures, and decision-support resources.
- Project management, Lean/process improvement, change management, business analysis, data/AI, or related training or certification.
Modes of Work
Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.
Additional Information
Classification Positioning
This position is structured at the Strategic Planner Lead level. It independently coordinates and conducts complex planning and consulting initiatives, provides consultation to leaders and stakeholders, applies comprehensive knowledge across multiple fields, and leads work from problem definition through implementation and evaluation. The role exercises independent judgment on matters of significance and influences business operations across MSA.
The Lead designation is supported by the role?s responsibility for complex cross-functional consulting, advanced AI and emerging-technology evaluation, strategic use-case development, leadership consultation, implementation and adoption oversight, and coordination across institutional technology, privacy, security, legal, data, and governance partners. The position is business- and strategy-facing; it does not replace technical architecture, systems administration, cybersecurity, privacy, legal, or data-governance authorities.
The working title Business Consultant remains intentionally broader than the OET portfolio so the position can lead additional MSA strategic and operational priorities as organizational needs evolve.
Additional Information
Key Competencies
Strategic Consulting: Provides credible, evidence-informed consultation and converts ambiguous organizational challenges into strategic choices and executable recommendations.
Comprehensive, Cross-Field Expertise: Integrates strategic planning, business operations, technology enablement, process improvement, project leadership, change, and adoption.
AI & Technology Enablement: Evaluates AI and technology opportunities through the lenses of business value, responsible use, human oversight, workflow integration, risk, and adoption.
Complex Initiative Leadership: Establishes direction and structure for complex work and leads initiatives from concept through implementation, evaluation, and sustained use.
Decision Quality: Analyzes alternatives, exercises independent judgment on matters of significance, and presents clear recommendations, implications, and trade-offs.
Organizational Effectiveness: Designs practical improvements to processes, services, workflows, operating models, and organizational capability.
Stakeholder Influence: Builds credibility across organizational and professional boundaries and influences outcomes without relying on direct authority.
Change & Adoption Leadership: Anticipates the human and organizational requirements of implementation and creates conditions for sustained adoption.
Executive Communication: Translates complex issues into clear, concise, decision-ready communications for senior leaders and diverse stakeholders.
Background Screening
Michigan Medicine conducts background screening and pre-employment drug testing on job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent job offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background screenings. Background screenings are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Report Act. Pre-employment drug testing applies to all selected candidates, including new or additional faculty and staff appointments, as well as transfers from other U-M campuses.
Application Deadline
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.
U-M EEO Statement
The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.