Lead Consultant

⚡Who We Are

Util-Assist is a leading consulting and services partner to electric, water, and gas utilities across North America. We help utilities navigate digital transformation—empowering them with smart technology, data-driven solutions, and customer-first services. From outage communications to billing support and grid security, we’re reshaping how utilities serve their communities.

At Util-Assist, our people are our power. We foster a flexible, supportive workplace grounded in four core values: Deliver Excellence, Put People First, Do the Right Thing, and Be Humble. Recognized as a Great Place to Work®, we offer rewarding, purpose-driven careers where you can grow, innovate, and make a real impact.

Learn more at www.util-assist.com.

🛠️The Opportunity

We are seeking a skilled Lead Consultant to join our growing Consulting team! As a Lead Consultant, you will be responsible for leading the client relationship and working with members of the Consulting Team to provide client support on various projects. The incumbent is the lead consultant on engagements of all sizes and is accountable to ensure project objectives are achieved and consistent with organizational service standards. The lead consultant's primary role is the day-to-day management of client projects supervising the work of the Senior and Associate Consultants, as well as the Analyst and other staff assigned to that client. The Lead Consultant is the project leader and the primary technical subject matter expert.

📋What You’ll be Doing

• Develop comprehensive AMI business cases that quantify financial, operational, and customerexperience benefits across metering, billing, field operations, and grid modernization.
• Build detailed cost–benefit models incorporating capital expenditures, O&M impacts, lifecycle costs, depreciation, and longterm financial projections.
• Evaluate multiple deployment scenarios (e.g., pilot, full rollout, phased deployment, targeted replacement) to support executive decisionmaking.
• Build detailed pricing models to compare vendor proposals for AMI, MDM and CIS projects.
• Evaluate bids for completeness, financial viability, and alignment with utility requirements, including capital, O&M, integration, and lifecycle costs.
• Create robust financial models to evaluate AMI, CIS, MIV vendor proposals.
• Analyze ROI, NPV, IRR, and payback periods to determine the financial viability of AMI investments.
• Assess cost drivers such as meter procurement, communications infrastructure, installation labor, integration, and ongoing support.
• Model avoided costs and operational efficiencies, including reduced manual reads, improved billing accuracy, theft detection, and outage management improvements.
• Legacy Infrastructure Retirement: Experience modeling the financial impact of retiring manual/AMR systems and managing stranded assets.
• Operational Migration: The ability to quantify the shift in field operations and labor as a utility moves from "boots on the ground" to a digital fixed network.
• Translate technical AMI requirements into financial impacts that are clear for executives, regulators, and stakeholders.
• Prepare financial evidence and supporting documentation for regulatory filings related to AMI investments.
• Develop clear, defensible financial narratives that align with utility strategy, customer benefits, and regulatory expectations.

🧠What You Bring

• Undergraduate degree/diploma in Computer/Data Science, Business Administration, Engineering or a related technical field
• 8+ years’ experience leading large scale, complex advanced metering initiatives, preferably in a professional service consultant organization
• Expert knowledge of consulting standard practices and procedures
• Advanced knowledge of the utility industry, terminology, workflow and operations
• Advanced knowledge and the ability to lead all areas of an implementation life cycle (procurements, contracting, deployment, system integrations)
• Demonstrated knowledge of meter-to-cash processes; and multiple vendor products for the primary Utility system components that UA consult on (i.e. AMI HES, CIS, MDM, ADMS, etc.); as well as expert knowledge on how the various combinations of these products impact process, solution design and inform the OCM effort. Knowledge is backed by 3-5 years of experience in project work.
• Advanced ability to simplify and document business requirements, processes, and standard operating procedures for core AMI systems
• Expert-level understanding of utility operations, including Meter-to-Cash (M2C), AMI systems, and key utility IT principles such as lifecycle planning, estimating, and architecture
• Strong knowledge of project management and change management best practices, including scoping, project metrics, and creation of change requests
• Expert ability to develop contracts, Statements of Work (SOWs), and senior-level executive presentation content

🌟Who You Are

• Expert verbal, written, and presentation communication skills
• Strong leadership, facilitation, and stakeholder relationship-building skills
• Effective problem-solving, decision-making, and critical-thinking abilities
• Ability to coach, mentor, and train team members
• Ability to navigate competing priorities, manage multiple initiatives, and support stakeholders in risk-related discussions