Sr. Manager, AI Forward Deployed Engineering

About the role

The Forward Deployed AI Engineering (AI FDE) team is a highly specialised customer‑facing AI team at Databricks. We deliver professional services engagements to help customers build and productionise first‑of‑its‑kind AI applications with a focus on GenAI. We are looking for a world‑class leader to lead and grow our EMEA AI FDE team.

Key responsibilities

• 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 inform 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.

Required profile

• Extensive experience managing, hiring, and building high‑performing data scientists/ML engineers and leaders, with a track record of scaling organisations through scalable processes.
• 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, with a curiosity to stay up‑to‑date.
• Experience leading teams building production ML solutions in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Proven success developing strategy with senior executive stakeholders to define program‑level goals and align technical vision.
• Demonstrated cross‑functional leadership collaborating with Sales, Product, and GTM teams to drive AI/ML business impact.
• “Company‑first” mindset.
• Graduate degree in a quantitative discipline (Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, Operations Research, etc.) or equivalent practical experience.

Required skills

• Machine Learning
• Generative AI
• Data Science
• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)