Managing Director, Data & AI - Corporate Business Enablement; Kansas

Company Overview

Burns & McDonnell is a globally respected AEC firm delivering complex infrastructure, energy, industrial, and public-sector projects. The company operates entrepreneurially as 22 distinct business units. Leadership has prioritized an enterprise data strategy that preserves this agility while harmonizing shared project execution (80–90% consistent across units) to unlock operational excellence, client value, and new revenue opportunities through advanced analytics and AI.

The Managing Director, Data & AI will define and execute an enterprise-wide data and information strategy that turns data into a durable competitive advantage. The role spans data governance, information management, master data management (MDM), analytics, and AI, embedding data-driven decisioning across both project delivery (Professional Services/Engineering, Program Management, EPC) and corporate functions (Finance, HR, Legal, Risk Management, Supply Chain/Procurement, Marketing/BD, IT, HSE, and others).

This leader will harmonize common project-execution data and processes across 22 business units while enabling flexibility where go-to-market approaches differ.

• Enterprise Coverage: Project delivery plus corporate functions (Finance, HR, Legal, Risk, Supply Chain, Marketing/BD, IT, HSE, etc.).
• Project Focus
  • Professional Services/Engineering
  • Program Management
  • EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction)
• Core Mandate: Create a unified, governed, high-quality data foundation; deploy analytics/AI to improve execution, reduce variance, increase win rates, accelerate cash flow, and enable new business models.
• Key Responsibilities
  • Strategy & Operating Model
  • Define a 3-year enterprise data strategy and target operating model covering data architecture, governance, MDM, analytics/AI, and data culture.
  • Balance enterprise standardization (shared execution data) with local agility (market-specific pursuits) across 22 units.
  • Build and manage a prioritization roadmap  months) with value cases, milestones, and adoption metrics.
  • Governance, MDM & Information Management
  • Stand up an enterprise data governance council, policies, standards, and stewardship roles.
  • Implement MDM for key domains (Projects, Clients, Suppliers, Assets, People, Financials, Contracts, Risk).
  • Establish data quality, lineage, and metadata practices; ensure a single source of truth for project and corporate data.
  • Design scalable data platforms and pipelines (batch/real-time) to support analytics and AI across business and corporate functions.
  • Analytics, AI & Value Creation
  • Operationalize advanced analytics and AI (predictive/prescriptive insights, ML, GenAI where appropriate) in project execution and support functions.
  • Prioritize high-impact use cases; pursuit/win-rate optimization, estimate accuracy, schedule & cost predictability, change-order/claims analytics, safety & quality insights, resource optimization, working-capital & cash-flow acceleration, risk early warning, talent/workforce planning, and legal/contract intelligence.
  • Embed insights into workflows and systems when appropriate (ERP, project controls, EPM, CRM, HRIS, EAM) to drive decisions, not just dashboards.
  • Stand up a Data & AI Center of Excellence and community of practice across units.
• Leadership, Culture & Change
  • Hire and develop a multi-disciplinary team (data engineering, platform, governance/MDM, data science/ML, analytics translators, product owners, etc.).
  • Drive data literacy and change programs across project and corporate teams; communicate value transparently.
• Risk, Security & Compliance
  • Partner with Info Sec, Legal, and Risk to integrate privacy, security, compliance, and responsible AI into all data practices.
  • Protect client and proprietary data across jurisdictions and contracts.
• Investment & Partnerships
  • Own the data & analytics budget; partner with IT to influence the vendor ecosystem (cloud, MDM, integration, analytics/AI).
  • Evaluate emerging technologies and standards to maintain a future-ready capability.

Core Responsibilities

• Develop, manage, and execute a strategic business plan for the department.
• Identify, develop, and direct the implementation of business strategies, including operational strategies and procedures, marketing strategies and pricing strategies, and business development and client retention strategies.
• Manages the development and execution of the department business plan to achieve stated targets and standards for financial performance such as sales, revenue, and profitability.
• Partner with leadership to ensure opportunities are being adequately and appropriately pursued and supported.
• Provide leadership to the team; direct and coordinate work assignments and review performance to ensure the efficient, cost-effective utilization of staff.
• Responsible for profitable growth of the department; manage staff levels, staff loading, and staff assignments to meet client requirements while maintaining profitability goals.
• Implement, apply, and support company, global practice…