Senior Manager, AI Forward Deployed Engineering - London
REQ ID: CSQ128R7
Location: London, United Kingdom - Remote location for candidates to be based in the United Kingdom region ONLY (not remote from any other country)
Mission
The Forward Deployed AI Engineering (AI FDE) team is a highly specialised customer-facing AI team at Databricks. We deliver professional services (PS) engagements to help our customers build and productionize first-of-its-kind AI applications with a focus on GenAI. We work cross-functionally with AI/ML Product, Research, and Engineering to shape long-term strategic priorities and initiatives.
We are looking for a world-class leader to lead and grow our UK AI FDE team. In this role, you will lead customers on their AI/ML transformation with Databricks, push the boundaries of our product, recruit and develop top data scientists/machine learning engineers, and manage a portfolio of key EMEA accounts.
You will report directly to the Director AI FDE.
The impact you will have:
Lead and scale a world-class AI/ML professional services team, including hiring, mentoring, and building a team structure to support long-term growth and execution at scale
Develop and expand executive relationships with EMEA customers and partners (including VP+, CIO/CDO-level stakeholders), acting as a trusted advisor during complex technical engagements and AI transformations
Align with Field Engineering and Sales Leaders to define joint strategies for strategic accounts and ensure strong delivery coordination across functions
Lead strategic AI PS initiatives, practice development, and standardised delivery processes; design scalable engagement models and reusable solutions for repeatability across the global team
Shape cross-functional collaboration by influencing Product, R&D, and GTM—ensuring voice-of-customer insights and delivery learnings help inform the product roadmap and GTM strategy
Own OKRs for AI-services led accounts, revenue, utilisation, and public references
Represent Databricks as a thought leader in AI/ML
What we look for:
Extensive experience managing, hiring, and building a team of high-performing data scientists/ML engineers and leaders, with a track record of scaling organisations through developing scalable processes and cultivating leaders
Ability to scope, guide, and sell technical engagements, manage escalations, and ensure successful delivery in enterprise environments
Deep technical expertise in ML, GenAI, and data science, and curiosity to continue to stay up-to-date in this ever-changing field
Experience leading teams building cutting-edge production ML solutions in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
Proven success in developing a strategy with senior executive stakeholders to define program-level goals, align technical vision, and build trust throughout complex enterprise engagements
Demonstrated experience in cross-functional leadership roles, collaborating with Sales, Product, and GTM teams to drive business impact through AI/ML
“Company-first” mindset
Graduate degree in a quantitative discipline (Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, Operations Research, etc.) or equivalent practical experience
Preferred:
Experience in a customer-facing consulting or professional services leadership role
Experience working with Databricks