Practice Director, Data & AI

Accountabilities:: Define and execute practice strategy: Lead the overall strategy, development, and growth of the Data & AI practice, aligning business objectives, customer demands, market trends, and technology roadmaps across three core areas: Data Modernization & Governance, AI Transformation & Solutions, and Data Infrastructure & Operations. Develop scalable service offerings: Create standardized solutions, reusable assets, reference architectures, delivery frameworks, and go-to-market materials that improve sales effectiveness, delivery consistency, operational efficiency, and customer outcomes. Lead data modernization initiatives: Oversee offerings covering data strategy, architecture, integration, engineering, governance, quality, literacy, lineage, cloud data platforms, analytics, business intelligence, and data estate modernization. Drive AI transformation: Shape solutions covering AI readiness assessments, AI strategies and roadmaps, use-case prioritization, Microsoft Copilot adoption, AI agents, agentic workflows, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), enterprise knowledge solutions, intelligent automation, and custom generative AI applications. Oversee AI infrastructure and operations offerings: Guide solutions involving GPU and accelerated computing, AI-ready virtualization, hybrid and private AI environments, AI security, responsible AI, governance, data protection, AI FinOps, observability, and model and agent lifecycle management, in collaboration with adjacent technical practices. Support strategic customer engagements: Provide technical and commercial leadership for complex and high-value opportunities, including customer discovery, solution architecture, executive presentations, proposal development, deal strategy, and pursuit escalation. Advise executive stakeholders: Help customers develop long-term data and AI transformation roadmaps, business cases, investment plans, governance models, and adoption strategies that deliver measurable operational and financial value. Drive sales and go-to-market execution: Partner with sales teams to identify opportunities, strengthen qualification processes, develop compelling solution narratives, improve win rates, and expand recurring and managed services adoption. Build and lead a high-performing team: Recruit, mentor, and develop solution architects and technical professionals, establishing clear role expectations, career paths, training programs, and certification roadmaps. Manage capacity and delivery readiness: Align presales resources, team capabilities, and staffing models with business demand, pipeline growth, delivery requirements, and utilization objectives. Collaborate with delivery leadership to anticipate resource needs and maintain service quality and profitability. Develop strategic technology partnerships: Strengthen relationships with Microsoft and other leading data, AI, infrastructure, and security vendors. Drive joint business planning, co-selling, partner enablement, funding opportunities, certifications, and collaborative go-to-market initiatives. Monitor business performance: Track and report on pipeline development, bookings, revenue, win rates, utilization, profitability, recurring service adoption, partner performance, and customer satisfaction. Use performance insights to continuously improve practice strategy and execution. Promote innovation and operational excellence: Embed automation-first principles, reusable accelerators, governance standards, and continuous improvement practices into presales and delivery processes while representing the practice at customer and industry events. Requirements: Professional experience: At least 10 years of experience in IT architecture, presales, consulting, or technology advisory, including a minimum of 3 years leading a technical practice, presales team, or advisory function in data, analytics, or AI. Leadership experience: Demonstrated success building, managing, and scaling technical teams or professional services practices, with the ability to develop talent, manage resources, and drive measurable business results. Data and AI expertise: Deep knowledge of modern data and AI architectures, including data modernization, integration, engineering, governance, analytics, generative AI, and enterprise AI solutions. Platform knowledge: Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Azure data services, Power BI, and Azure AI Foundry is preferred, alongside familiarity with other leading cloud data and AI platforms. AI architecture capabilities: Strong understanding of generative AI applications, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents, agentic workflows, intelligent automation, and enterprise AI adoption. Infrastructure and security knowledge: Working knowledge of GPU and accelerated computing, AI-ready virtualization, hybrid infrastructure, AI security, responsible AI, AI FinOps, observability, and governance, with the ability to shape solutions in collaboration with specialist teams. Commercial and strategic capabilities: Proven experience developing go-to-market strategies, standardized service offerings, scalable delivery frameworks, and business development initiatives. Strong understanding of pipeline management, revenue growth, profitability, and operational performance metrics. Customer-facing experience: Demonstrated success leading complex customer engagements, transformation programs, solution implementations, executive advisory discussions, and strategic presales activities, particularly within mid-market environments. Partner ecosystem experience: Experience working with leading OEMs, ISVs, cloud providers, and technology partners, including professional services and partner-led business development models. Business acumen: Ability to connect technical solutions with customer priorities, business cases, measurable outcomes, investment strategies, risk management, and long-term operational value. Communication and interpersonal skills: Excellent presentation, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both executive and technical audiences. Cross-functional leadership: Strong ability to collaborate and influence across sales, delivery, operations, cybersecurity, infrastructure, marketing, finance, and partner management teams. Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Business, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience. Certifications: Industry-recognized data and AI certifications are preferred, particularly Microsoft credentials such as DP-600 (Fabric Analytics Engineer), DP-700 (Fabric Data Engineer), or AI-102 (Azure AI Engineer), or equivalent certifications from other leading technology providers. Additional capabilities: Experience implementing repeatable methodologies, automation, governance frameworks, technical enablement programs, and operational processes that improve scalability, delivery quality, and customer satisfaction. Benefits: Competitive compensation: Annual base salary ranging from $200,000 to $230,000 , depending on qualifications, professional experience, skills, local market conditions, and internal compensation considerations. Remote flexibility: Fully remote position based in the United States. Full-time opportunity: Permanent, full-time leadership position with significant strategic and operational responsibility. Career impact: Opportunity to build and scale a strategic Data & AI practice while influencing business direction, technology innovation, and customer transformation. Leadership and development: Opportunity to recruit, mentor, and develop technical talent while shaping career development, training, and certification initiatives. Technology ecosystem: Exposure to leading data, AI, cloud, infrastructure, and security platforms, with opportunities to strengthen strategic technology partnerships. Strategic influence: Direct collaboration with senior leadership, executive stakeholders, sales, and delivery teams. Inclusive workplace: Equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. Accessibility: Reasonable accommodations are available to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role.