Senior Manager, AI Strategy & Business Development

1205 Avanade Canada Inc. Company; Toronto; On-site; CAD 178,000 - 211,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Benefits package

Job summary

Avanade Canada is seeking a seasoned AI business development leader to originate and grow AI opportunities within strategic accounts. You will partner with sales to shape account-specific AI strategies and move conversations from pilots to broader transformations.

You will engage with C-suite and senior technology leaders, translating business priorities into credible AI roadmaps, and collaborating with architects and SMEs to define approaches and delivery paths.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in AI, ML, data science, or related tech consulting disciplines.
• Established credibility engaging with senior business and technology executives.
• Proven experience in consulting, professional services, or client-facing environments.

Responsibilities

• Originate new AI opportunities within existing and prospective accounts.
• Partner with sales to develop account-specific AI growth strategies.
• Lead AI opportunity qualification, discovery, and deal shaping.

Skills

AI strategy

Business development

Opportunity origination

Presales

Executive communication

Tools

Microsoft Azure

Databricks

Power BI

Job description

What You'll Do

Origination and Business Development

• Identify and originate new AI opportunities within existing and prospective client accounts.
• Partner closely with sales and account teams to develop account-specific AI growth strategies.
• Build relationships with senior client stakeholders and uncover business challenges that can be addressed through AI.
• Lead AI opportunity qualification, discovery, value articulation, and deal-shaping activities.
• Help clients prioritize AI use cases based on business value, feasibility, adoption requirements, risk, and scalability.
• Develop compelling AI narratives, points of view, and executive-level propositions that differentiate our capabilities in the market.
• Expand our AI footprint within strategic accounts by moving conversations from isolated experimentation to broader transformation programs.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the AI market, our technology partners’ evolving portfolios, client priorities, and competitive offerings.

Presales and Solution Shaping

• Lead executive discovery sessions, AI strategy workshops, innovation sessions, and solution envisioning engagements.
• Translate business priorities into credible AI transformation roadmaps and actionable consulting opportunities.
• Shape AI pursuits from initial client conversation through qualification, proposal development, oral presentations, negotiation, and transition to delivery.
• Create and present business cases that connect AI investments to measurable business outcomes.
• Collaborate with architects and subject matter experts to define solution approaches, estimates, delivery roadmaps, commercial models, assumptions, and risks.
• Ensure proposed solutions are technically credible, commercially viable, and aligned with the client’s ability to adopt and scale AI.
• Support proposal responses, executive presentations, demonstrations, proofs of concept, and client-facing solution narratives.
• Work with our technology partners, including Microsoft and Databricks, to develop and advance joint AI opportunities.

Executive Client Leadership

• Act as a trusted AI advisor to C-suite and senior client stakeholders.
• Help clients navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape and distinguish practical opportunities from market hype.
• Advise clients on AI strategy, operating models, adoption, governance, value realization, and responsible deployment.
• Facilitate conversations that connect AI capabilities to business strategy, workforce transformation, customer experience, operational efficiency, and growth.
• Build credibility with both business executives and senior technology leaders.
• Maintain trusted client relationships beyond individual pursuits to support long-term account growth.

AI Thought Leadership and Market Presence

• Represent the Data & AI practice in client briefings, executive events, industry forums, and partner discussions.
• Develop reusable points of view, offerings, demonstrations, and sales enablement materials.
• Contribute to the evolution of our AI go-to-market strategy and priority solution plays.
• Bring informed perspectives on Generative AI, Agentic AI, AI-enabled business processes, intelligent applications, and enterprise AI platforms.
• Help sales and account teams confidently position AI capabilities and initiate meaningful conversations with their clients.
• Coach consultants, architects, and sales professionals on AI storytelling, value articulation, and opportunity development.

Delivery and Practice Collaboration

• Apply practical delivery experience to ensure proposed AI solutions can move successfully from concept to production.
• Provide senior oversight during the early stages of strategic AI engagements and support a strong transition from sales to delivery.
• Participate in architecture and delivery reviews for high-profile or strategically important AI programs.
• Help teams identify delivery risks, adoption barriers, data dependencies, governance requirements, and Responsible AI considerations.
• Collaborate with AI engineers, data scientists, data engineers, architects, designers, change specialists, and industry experts.
• Support the development of reusable AI accelerators, demonstrations, reference architectures, and industry solutions.

What You'll Bring

• 10 or more years of experience across Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, advanced analytics, or related technology consulting disciplines.
• Established professional credibility in AI, with the ability to engage confidently with senior business and technology executives.
• Proven experience in consulting, professional services, technology advisory, or a comparable client-facing environment.
• Demonstrated success in opportunity origination, presales, business development, solution selling, or consulting sales.
• Experience shaping complex AI opportunities, including discovery, qualification, solution development, estimation, proposal creation, presentations, and commercial discussions.
• A track record of helping expand relationships and generate new work within strategic client accounts.
• Strong understanding of Generative AI, Agentic AI, enterprise AI adoption, and the evolution of AI-enabled business processes.
• Ability to translate complex AI concepts into clear business value, compelling executive narratives, and practical transformation roadmaps.
• Experience collaborating directly with sales executives, account leaders, technology partners, technical specialists, and delivery teams.
• Strong executive presence, communication, facilitation, storytelling, and presentation capabilities.
• Delivery experience with enterprise AI programs, providing a practical understanding of architecture, implementation, deployment, adoption, governance, and value realization.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to balance client value, technical feasibility, delivery risk, and commercial outcomes.

Technology and AI Experience

The ideal candidate will have credible experience across several of the following areas:

• Generative AI and Large Language Models
• Agentic AI and multi-agent solutions
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation and enterprise knowledge grounding
• AI orchestration, integration, evaluation, observability, security, and governance
• Responsible AI principles and enterprise risk management
• AI development and agent platforms within our Microsoft and Databricks partner ecosystems
• Enterprise data and AI platforms, including Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks
• AI-enabled process transformation, copilots, intelligent automation, and workflow agents

Benefits and Total Rewards | Avanade Canada Avanade is the leading global provider of digital, cloud, AI and advisory services, industry solutions and design-led experiences across the Microsoft ecosystem. Founded in 2000 as a joint venture between Accenture LLP and Microsoft Corporation, Avanade has more certifications, Gold-level competencies and most valued professionals (MVPs) than any other Microsoft partner. To learn more about being a part of Business Leadership team, check out these videos Interested in knowing what’s going on inside Avanade? Check out our blogs: Avanade Insights – exchange ideas that drive tomorrow’s innovation https://www.avanade.com/en/blogs/avanade-insights Inside Avanade – explore what life is like working at Avanade https://www.avanade.com/en/blogs/inside-avanade Compensation at Avanade varies depending on a wide array of factors, which may include but are not limited to the specific office location, role, skill set, and level of experience. As required by local law, Avanade provides a reasonable range of compensation, based on full-time employment, for roles that may be hired as set forth below.The recruiting efforts for this position are intended to fill a brand new position. Information on benefits is here. British Columbia / Ontario - CAD 177,500 - CAD 210,700 We anticipate this job posting will be posted until at least 11/15/2026. . At Avanade, we advance the world through the power of people and Microsoft. Join us to shape your skills and the future with bold ideas and innovative solutions. Our partnership with Microsoft and Accenture empowers you to unlock your full potential. Working at Avanade offers the chance to build a career path that suits your skills and interests and the freedom to be your authentic self. We are committed to your growth, well-being, and success. This is where passion meets opportunity, technology meets humanity, and every challenge is a chance to make a genuine impact on colleagues, clients, and communities. Together, we do what matters.