Head of Deployment Strategy

Location: San Francisco

Work Model: Onsite, in-person

Industry: AI / audio data infrastructure

Compensation: $300K base, $400K OTE, plus equity

About the Company

Our partner is a venture-backed AI data company building the audio datasets that leading AI research teams rely on. The business has grown more than 3x since its Series B, and the team has grown from roughly 25 to 75 people in the last five months, with plans to reach about 100 by year end. Its customers include some of the largest model-building organizations in the industry, with individual agreements in the $5M to $15M range. Over the next 18 months, the company plans to grow from a data provider into a full audio platform that helps customers evaluate, understand, and integrate the data they use.

The Opportunity

This is the Head of Deployment Strategy, the leader of the company's go-to-market function and the owner of its top-line revenue number. Today the business is relationship-driven and largely inbound: the priority is deepening and expanding long-term partnerships with highly technical research organizations. You will take over leadership of the largest deals from the executive team, and within the next six to nine months help open an outbound motion to a new generation of AI companies.

You will lead a team of four deployment strategists, growing to six to eight, and shape how it splits into engagement managers focused on expanding existing accounts and enterprise account executives focused on new business. This seat sits above director level. The buyers are research leaders who do not respond to traditional selling, so success here depends on intellectual depth, credibility, and strategic judgment as much as commercial drive. The function is still being defined, which means you will make foundational decisions about how the organization is built.

Responsibilities

Own the top-line revenue number and lead the company's largest and most strategic customer relationships

Close and expand complex, multi-million-dollar agreements with sophisticated, highly technical buyers

Build relationships with AI researchers and executives across customer organizations, and expand usage across their research teams

Lead, hire, and scale the deployment strategy team from four to six to eight people, structuring it into engagement management and enterprise sales

Design and launch the outbound motion to new AI companies as team capacity grows

Bring customer needs back to the research and product teams to shape the roadmap for future datasets and platform products

Partner with the executive team to define the function's structure, processes, and variable compensation model

Requirements

Roughly 13 or more years of professional experience, including 6-9 years of ascending experience at a top-tier strategy consulting firm

Entrepreneurial experience at an early-stage company, owning a business line end to end

Direct ownership of deal cycles and revenue outcomes, not only advisory work on go-to-market

Credibility and learning agility to build trusted relationships with highly technical researchers and senior executives

Strong strategic and analytical thinking, with a thoughtful, consultative approach rather than a transactional sales style

Comfort operating in ambiguity and making foundational decisions about a new organization

Willingness to work onsite in San Francisco