Maria Teresa Rains — AI Solutions Consultant & Senior Solution Architect

AI solutions consultant. Senior solution architect. Digital product leader.

Maria Teresa Rains

Seventeen years designing enterprise customer experience for federal, state, and commercial organizations — and now building the AI-assisted systems that run underneath them. Discovery through deployment, with the architecture drawn before the first line of configuration.

17+years in enterprise delivery
U.S. Citizenno work visa needed
Public Trustactive clearance
IRS & Oregongovernment engagements
U.S. CitizenAuthorized to work anywhere in the United States.
No work visa neededNo sponsorship required, now or in the future.
Public Trust ClearanceActive and cleared for federal engagements.
Flexible scheduleOpen to full-time, contract, part-time, and any time zone.

Professional summary

Senior technology leader, solution architect, and AI automation consultant with 17+ years delivering enterprise CRM, digital customer experience, product management, and business automation. Applies generative AI, large language models, conversational technologies, and intelligent workflow design to solve business problems, improve customer experience, accelerate delivery, and remove manual work. Operates at the intersection of business strategy, product management, solution architecture, and delivery — for federal, state, and commercial organizations.

AI & automation

Generative AI and LLMs applied to real operating problems: use case identification, prompt engineering, AI-assisted research and documentation, conversational design, and human-in-the-loop review where judgment still belongs to a person.

Digital product

Product strategy, roadmaps, and lifecycle management. Business challenges translated into epics, user stories, acceptance criteria, and a prioritized backlog that reflects customer value, dependencies, risk, and what is actually feasible.

Solution architecture

Enterprise CRM and customer experience design across Microsoft Dynamics 365, omnichannel platforms, and integrated systems — with traceable requirements, tested business rules, and validated releases.


The AI toolkit, and what each one is for

Tools are chosen for the job, not collected. Each of these earns its place in a specific part of the delivery cycle — from the first research pass through to the video that explains the finished thing to a client.

C

Claude

Long-form reasoning across requirements, solution alternatives, and technical documentation. Used where the analysis has to hold together across a whole engagement, not a single prompt.

O

OpenAI & ChatGPT

Rapid ideation, user story and acceptance criteria drafting, test scenario generation, and structured content production against a defined output format.

P

Perplexity AI

Sourced research for market analysis, vendor and platform evaluation, and competitive positioning — with citations that hold up in a stakeholder review.

H

HeyGen

AI presenters for training modules, enablement libraries, and client walkthroughs. Turns a written adoption plan into something people will actually watch.

F

Google Flow

Generative video for concept films, product storytelling, and campaign work — visualizing a solution before it exists so stakeholders can react to something real.

H

Higgsfield

Cinematic motion and controlled camera work for brand and product pieces, where the output needs a directed look rather than a generic render.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 GoHighLevel Zapier APIs & webhooks JIRA Trello Monday.com Microsoft 365 SharePoint ID.me MFA & SSO Canva CapCut Vimeo WordPress

One customer interaction, carried all the way through

This is the shape of every automated process she builds. Each stage hands off cleanly to the next, and the AI sits inside the chain rather than bolted onto the end of it.

01

Customer interaction

02

Digital experience

03

CRM record

04

Automation

05

AI assistance

06

Business rules

07

Human review

08

Transaction

09

Communication

10

Follow-up


Professional experience

Tiverity
April 2023 — present

Lead Senior Solution Architect

  • Leads discovery and solution design, translating complex business requirements into scalable technology solutions and clear functional specifications.
  • Partners with product owners, program leadership, architects, developers, QA, vendors, and end users across the full technology lifecycle.
  • Converts business challenges into product capabilities, user stories, acceptance criteria, workflows, and solution recommendations.
  • Supports backlog development and prioritization against customer value, business priority, dependencies, risk, and technical feasibility.
  • Identifies where AI, automation, and self-service can improve customer and employee experience — then designs the workflow that delivers it.
  • Uses AI-assisted tools to accelerate research, requirements analysis, documentation, solution ideation, test scenario development, and stakeholder communication.
Internal Revenue Service — Senior Solution Architect Lead, Digital Customer Experience SME
  • Subject matter expert for digital customer engagement, Live Chat, omnichannel service, and enterprise digital interactions in a federal environment.
  • Led development of the Live Chat channel, streamlining operations and improving customer support efficiency.
  • Evaluates customer journeys for friction points and opportunities in self-service, automation, conversational experiences, and digital accessibility.
  • Provides solution expertise across digital identity and authentication — ID.me, multi-factor authentication, and single sign-on.
  • Manages Agile delivery artifacts in JIRA: epics, stories, requirements, dependencies, defects, testing, and releases.
State of Oregon — Senior Microsoft Dynamics Solution Consultant, CRM SME (contract, 2026 — present)
  • Supports enterprise modernization as a Dynamics 365 consultant and CRM subject matter expert.
  • Analyzes complex business processes and translates them into scalable CRM and digital capabilities.
  • Contributes to Requirements Traceability Matrix development, business rules, acceptance criteria, test conditions, and solution validation.
  • Applies generative AI to accelerate research, requirements analysis, documentation, and test-condition development.
  • Supports UAT, quality assurance, business process validation, and technology governance.
Boss Me Up Services LLC
2026 — present · Las Vegas

Founder — AI, automation & digital solutions consultant

  • Designs and implements AI-assisted business processes using Claude, ChatGPT and OpenAI technologies, Perplexity AI, CRM platforms, and automation tooling.
  • Identifies practical generative AI use cases from business objectives, operational bottlenecks, customer needs, and workflow inefficiency.
  • Applies prompt engineering to produce accurate, contextual, structured, and reusable outputs rather than one-off results.
  • Acts as digital technology consultant and product owner for client initiatives, from discovery through design, configuration, testing, deployment, and optimization.
  • Builds end-to-end automated processes covering inquiry, intake, qualification, documentation, agreements, payments, reminders, notifications, and follow-up.
  • Constructs CRM automation in GoHighLevel with Zapier, APIs, webhooks, forms, custom fields, and triggers — with human review built in where judgment is required.
eGain Corporation
January 2021 — April 2023

Project Manager / SMB Manager

  • Managed technology and digital customer experience projects from discovery and planning through implementation and optimization, on time and within budget.
  • Served as liaison among customers, product management, engineering, implementation, support, and business stakeholders.
  • Translated customer challenges into product requirements, feature requests, workflows, enhancements, and implementation plans.
  • Implemented customer success practices built on proactive engagement, strengthening client relationships and reducing churn.
  • Contributed customer and market insight to roadmap discussions, and carried the voice of the customer into internal product decisions.
eGain Corporation
February 2017 — January 2021

Solution Consultant — omnichannel solutions

  • Ran customer discovery sessions to surface business challenges, pain points, technical requirements, and desired outcomes.
  • Designed solutions across digital engagement, knowledge management, self-service, customer service, and conversational experience.
  • Delivered strategic omnichannel builds integrating Avaya with live chat, email, and chatbot channels.
  • Analyzed cross-channel interaction data to identify improvement opportunities and implement recommendations that lifted service performance.
  • Traveled to client headquarters and contact centers to evaluate digital channel use and coach teams toward better practice.
  • Delivered solution demonstrations, workshops, technical sessions, and executive presentations.
eGain Corporation
December 2011 — February 2017

Implementation Consultant & Pre-Sales Consultant

  • Gathered, analyzed, and documented functional and business requirements, then configured and implemented enterprise customer experience solutions.
  • Delivered discovery sessions, product demonstrations, solution workshops, and technical evaluations for prospective clients.
  • Partnered with sales teams on proposals and response documents, articulating value propositions and differentiators.
  • Conducted market and competitive research to inform solution design and positioning.
  • Produced process documentation, training materials, and implementation guidance; supported system testing, UAT, deployment, and knowledge transfer.

Core competencies

Artificial intelligence

  • Generative AI & large language models
  • AI use case identification
  • Prompt engineering
  • AI workflow design
  • Conversational AI & chatbots
  • AI-assisted research and documentation
  • Human-in-the-loop review design

Digital product

  • Product strategy and roadmaps
  • Product lifecycle management
  • Backlog management and prioritization
  • Epics, user stories, acceptance criteria
  • Sprint planning and release planning
  • UAT and product validation
  • Defect, risk, and dependency management

Solution architecture

  • Enterprise solution architecture
  • Requirements engineering and RTM
  • Business process analysis and mapping
  • Gap analysis and solution evaluation
  • API and systems integration
  • Business rules and workflow design
  • Digital transformation planning

Customer experience

  • CRM strategy and architecture
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365
  • Omnichannel and live chat
  • Customer journey design
  • Self-service and knowledge management
  • Customer portals and digital forms
  • Digital identity and authentication

Delivery & leadership

  • Agile, Scrum, and Kanban
  • Waterfall program delivery
  • Cross-functional team leadership
  • Stakeholder management
  • Training and enablement programs
  • Executive presentation and reporting
  • Risk assessment and mitigation

Government & compliance

  • Public Trust clearance, active
  • Federal regulatory and compliance standards
  • Data security and privacy practice
  • Technology governance
  • Public sector stakeholder engagement
  • Contractor and vendor coordination

Credentials

Education
Bachelor of Science, EducationSt. Louis De Marillac College, Philippines · 1998
Certification
Certified ScrumMasterScrum Alliance (CSM)
Clearance
Public Trust ClearanceActive
Work authorization
U.S. CitizenNo work visa or sponsorship needed
Availability
Flexible scheduleFull-time, contract, or part-time · any time zone
Based in
Las Vegas, NevadaAvailable for remote and on-site engagements
AI Solutions Consultant AI & Automation Consultant AI Product Manager Digital Technology Product Manager Senior Solution Architect Generative AI Consultant AI Customer Experience Consultant Conversational AI Consultant Digital Transformation Consultant CRM & AI Solutions Consultant

What colleagues and clients say

Twelve LinkedIn recommendations from the people she reported to, worked alongside, and delivered for — at the IRS, Tiverity, eGain, Peraton, and the NCAA Eligibility Center.

I am pleased to provide my highest recommendation for Tess. She has consistently demonstrated a strong work ethic, unwavering dedication, and a deep commitment to both the company and our clients.

In addition to her professionalism and reliability, she is highly technically proficient, bringing both skill and precision to her work. She quickly understands complex systems and consistently applies her knowledge to deliver high-quality results.

She is a true team player—always willing to step in, support her colleagues, and contribute wherever needed. Her positive attitude and collaborative spirit make her not only a great employee, but also a genuinely great person to work with. Time and again, she goes above and beyond expectations, taking initiative and delivering results that reflect both her professionalism and her pride in her work.

Any organization would be fortunate to have her on their team. I am confident that she will continue to be an invaluable asset wherever her career takes her.

Pete Schamberger President & Chief Executive Officer, Tiverity Managed Maria Teresa directly · March 2026

The best people to work with are the ones that not only learn but they also teach. Tess Rains is just such a person. What most impressed me is her ability to listen, learn, and then take it to the next level and teach us to where we needed to go next for building our live chat program. She cultivated a strong environment of engagement and is never shy with providing clear guidance, she always delivered projects successfully and on time, and with little oversight required on my part.

IRS was looking to increase live assistance via live chat supporting multi-channel platforms to meet taxpayers at their channel of choice. The Direct File platform was the first tool to support customer assistance by live chat only. Tess worked with the Direct File team closely to train them how the platform worked and how to best use it. She became their wikipedia of how to best use the live chat tool. Direct File had a successful rollout with a Level of Service (LOS) captured at 96%.

This is only one example as Tess provided leadership across multiple engagements as the live chat program grew every year. I highly recommend anyone looking to solve a problem and would work with her again any time.

Sean Crowley Management and Program Analyst, Internal Revenue Service Managed Maria Teresa directly · October 2025

I had the privilege of working closely with Tess Rains on a major Live Assistance (Live Chat) rollout project, where she served as both a subject matter expert and project leader. Tess consistently demonstrated exceptional technical depth, calm leadership, and strong execution discipline throughout the engagement.

She led the end-to-end deployment of the Live Chat solution, ensuring the project was delivered on schedule and to a high standard. What truly set Tess apart was her commitment beyond delivery — she proactively extended herself to train end users, ensure adoption, and build confidence across teams ahead of launch. She also provided refresher sessions when needed and made herself available outside normal work hours to ensure a smooth rollout and ongoing stability.

Tess is dependable, unrelenting in her pursuit of quality outcomes, and a genuine team player. She is a tremendous asset to any organization, and I would welcome the opportunity to work with her again on future projects.

Chudi Obiofuma Technical Project Management, Advisor @ Peraton | MBA, PMP Client of Maria Teresa's · February 2026

I have worked with Tess in multiple roles at eGain. She is an extremely dedicated, hard working individual. Tess is so smart and quick to learn new things. She was able to pick up quickly on how the different eGain applications worked. In fact she learned them so well, she was able to train others on how to use the software both internally and externally (customer training).

Tess is great at managing teams, I worked with her in Professional Services. She understands both customer relationships and internal team building. Its rare to find someone that is good at speaking/communicating well both internally and externally and Tess is excellent at both.

Tess is great at problem solving too. She figured out how best to put together a beta program for existing customer base for a new solution we were implementing. Then worked with myself and a solution architect to roll out the solution to customers one by one.

Tess would be a great asset to your organization either as a project manager, people manager, solutions architect or trainer, I would gladly hire her in the future.

Kelly Nishimura, MBA, PMP, CSM Director of Program Management, Product Engineering & Cloud, eGain Corporation Senior to Maria Teresa · April 2026

I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with Tess Rains over the past 10+ years. Over the years, Tess has been instrumental in bringing several teams together, streamline their responsibilities and ensure everything runs seamlessly. This always resulted in the utmost satisfaction of the end customers.

She is always available to talk to co-workers, business users and development teams to provide the required help and guidance. Her written and spoken communications are clear, crisp and concise. Tess has been an excellent trainer and is willing to go the extra mile to ensure every required person is thoroughly trained. She is always willing to take on new projects and works very hard to ensure they are completed on time.

She is very friendly, easy to work with and approachable. Many cross functional teams feel comfortable initiating their conversations with Tess. Tess is a remarkable team player that believes in the success of the team. She delivered excellent results in many roles be it a solution architect, project manager or customer success manager. I highly recommend Tess to any company that appropriately hires her. I am positive she will be a great asset to any role that she decides to assume.

Sankar Mandalika Data Analyst · Customer Support Engineer · IT Solutions Architect · Technical Account Manager Worked with Maria Teresa on the same team · March 2026

I have known Tess since I worked at eGain in 2013. She has always been a great leader and professional trainer. At eGain, she led Professional Services implementations, project management and training efforts.

When Tiverity and Treasury was needing another SME (Subject Matter Expert), I recommended her. She was hired and led federal government contact center complex IT projects working with agencies, business unit leaders and technical SMEs.

No matter how challenging or complex the projects were, she kept her head down and worked to make the projects successful. She was also great at pleasing business unit leaders and project sponsors. Even when I moved to Treasury, she was pleasant to work with on projects.

Pierre Bunag Management | Product Manager | Lead Solutions | Team Leader Senior to Maria Teresa · March 2026

In working with Tess, she showed a high level of skill in project management: Tess led an effort for a completely new business unit's installation of the specific software solution at a larger client that was successful in that it grew YoY from only Live Chat customer engagement in 2024 to Live Chat, Chatbot and Secure Messaging solutions in 2025.

She was the main person with both PM skills and technical skills in the specific software solutions on an effort for a Live Chat installation of eGain SaaS omnichannel customer engagement hub in an International use case for a business unit, in which the customer experience status quo was tolls on a non-toll free phone line, and the new solution was the digital Live Chat with eGain SaaS. This project launch to Production was December 2025, and was successful in that the business unit expressed formal interest in expanding use cases of Live Chat.

She was the main person with both PM skills and technical skills in the specific software solutions for a business unit that had a requirement that needed a workaround due to template versions; this project started in late 2024 and launched in Spring 2025. She was one of the two main people who mapped out a workaround for that challenge, and the project was able to complete successfully, with satisfaction from that business unit and ongoing usage of these software solutions for Live Chat to this very day.

Solutions consulting: In the above mentioned project examples, it was not always a clear linear path when down to the details of configuration, when requirements change over the course of the project. The projects required a range of solutions from a technical workaround to added licenses to tapping into foundational product knowledge when the business unit in the project had big questions at pivotal points in the project.

Training: Tess did Train the Trainers for most, if not all, of business units with a new installation of the specific software solution. Demos in high level training situations were also done by Tess for executive audiences at the client: decision makers on the direction of a wide range of software solutions and how those would stack up with business needs.

Erik Schlenker Omnichannel Support Specialist, Tiverity | Security+ Certified Worked with Maria Teresa on the same team · March 2026

I had the pleasure of working with Tess in her role as Lead Sr. Omnichannel Solutions Consultant, and I can confidently say she is exceptional at what she does. She consistently demonstrated strong cross-functional collaboration skills, bringing together stakeholders from business, product, and engineering to drive alignment and deliver results.

One of her standout strengths is her ability to translate complex business requirements into clear, actionable technical solutions. She has a sharp understanding of both the strategic and technical aspects of omni-channel initiatives, enabling her to bridge gaps and ensure seamless execution across teams.

In addition, Tess played a key role in conducting training sessions and delivering impactful demos. She has a natural ability to communicate complex concepts in a clear and engaging way, helping both technical and non-technical audiences quickly understand and adopt solutions.

Beyond her technical and functional expertise, Tess is highly dependable, proactive, and solution-oriented. She approaches challenges with a thoughtful mindset and always keeps the broader business goals in focus. I would highly recommend Tess to any organization looking for someone who can effectively connect business needs with technical delivery while fostering strong collaboration across teams.

Amit Mohite Databricks | AWS | IRS Contractor & FedRAMP Expert Maria Teresa was senior to Amit · March 2026

I am delighted to provide this recommendation for Maria Teresa Rains. I have worked with “Tess” for the past 2 years on a very high-profile government project. She has truly been a remarkable leader and project manager. Her extensive knowledge and expertise in eGain has been invaluable to our team.

She led the development and implementation of multiple use cases for the project; and provided top-notch training and support not only for our Headquarters staff but also to the Customer Service Representative end-users. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Tess and I am confident that she would be a valued asset in any organization.

Jenell Coker Senior Tax Analyst, Internal Revenue Service Client of Maria Teresa's · February 2025

I have had the pleasure of working with Teresa (Tess) and am very impressed by her work ethic and skillset as an Omnichannel Solutions Architect. Tess is involved in the implementation of Live Chat and Chatbot. She pays close attention to detail and is an exceptionally knowledgeable professional who can be relied upon. This is demonstrated in her ability to work on multiple complex projects at once until they are successfully launched.

In addition to being a skilled professional, Tess is well liked by her colleagues and leadership, and any business would be fortunate to have Tess onboard.

LaShelle Lewis, MBA, MA, CSM, CSPO AI & Product Management Certified | Agile Certified | CX Strategist | Product Owner Worked with Maria Teresa on the same team · March 2025

For three years, Tess was my project manager for the NCAA Eligibility Center's contract with eGain. I have NEVER been as supported, informed and assisted by an external PM in my entire career as much as I was with Tess.

She is a person of high integrity, vast and deep product knowledge, and is extremely loyal to eGain, but, more importantly, continuously ensured she was aware of what our organization's needs and future aspirations were, related to eGain. I cannot recommend working with Tess highly enough. She will be the top professional, but never loses sight of the fact she is human and so are her clients. Working with Tess is a joy and a pleasure.

Nora Loechel Director of Strategic Communications, IIDC at Indiana University Client of Maria Teresa's · December 2022

Tess has a keen eye for details and has an unique ability to manage multifaceted/complicated projects. Demonstrates exceptional knowledge about how complex systems and processes work.

I have very much enjoyed working with her, during key projects that required critical thinking, quick action and flawless execution. Tess is well liked by her peers and superiors alike, and has demonstrated countless times that she is a colleague that can be relied upon.

Geoffrey Dang Technical Consultant Worked with Maria Teresa on the same team · February 2024

Open to consulting engagements, contract work, and senior roles in AI, digital product, and solution architecture. U.S. citizen with an active Public Trust clearance, no visa sponsorship needed, and a flexible schedule.

Let's talk about
what you're building

Maria Teresa Rains · mariateresarains.com References available on request