General Manager - Data & AI Presales

HCLTech; Dadri; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 7,500,000; Full time

Job summary

HCLTech is seeking an experienced General Manager - Data & AI Presales to lead strategic pursuits and drive winning solutions across the Data & AI portfolio. The role entails end-to-end presales ownership, solution development, and executive-level interactions with CXO stakeholders.

The ideal candidate will have strong Data & AI consulting foundations, cloud architecture experience, and expertise in proposal development, pricing inputs, and commercial models.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in Data & AI consulting, solution architecture, or presales.
• Experience leading medium to large transformation pursuits.
• Hands-on ability to architect enterprise Data & AI on cloud platforms.
• Experience in estimation, proposal development, and executive presentations.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end presales lifecycle from qualification to deal closure.
• Translate customer objectives into differentiated Data & AI solutions.
• Design and defend end-to-end Data & AI solution architectures.
• Develop proposals, SOWs, and executive-ready solution documents.
• Lead discovery workshops and solution defense sessions.

Skills

End-to-end solution architecture

Technical pre-sales

Proposal writing

Executive communication

Estimation and commercial modeling

Customer workshops

Problem-solving

Independent strategic pursuits

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

GenAI tooling

Job description

HCLTech is seeking an experienced and highly motivated General Manager - Data & AI Presales to lead strategic pursuits and drive winning solutions across the Data & AI portfolio.

The role is responsible for leading end-to-end presales engagements, orchestrating solution development, collaborating with sales and practice teams, managing customer interactions, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, differentiated proposals. The ideal candidate should possess a strong understanding of Data & AI technologies, consulting-led solutioning, commercial models, and large-scale enterprise transformation programs.

Key Responsibilities

1. End-to-End Presales Ownership

• Own the complete presales lifecycle from opportunity qualification through proposal submission, customer presentations, solution defense, and deal closure.
• Independently drive strategic pursuits without dedicated solution SMEs.
• Translate customer business objectives into scalable, differentiated Data & AI solutions.
• Act as the single point of accountability for the technical solution throughout the pursuit lifecycle.
• Design end-to-end Data & AI solution architectures aligned to customer business and technology objectives.
• Develop architecture across data ingestion, integration, engineering, analytics, AI/ML, GenAI, governance, cloud platforms, security, and operations.
• Select appropriate technologies and define reference architectures, implementation approaches, migration strategies, and operating models.
• Identify delivery risks, assumptions, dependencies, and mitigation strategies.

3. Technical Solutioning

Develop solutions across areas including:

• Data Governance
• Master Data Management
• Data Quality
• Data Migration
• Databricks
• Snowflake
• Advanced Analytics
• Generative AI
• AI Agents / Agentic AI

4. Proposal Development

• Independently author technical proposals, Statements of Work (SOWs), solution documents, executive summaries, and customer presentations.
• Develop solution narratives, value propositions, implementation approaches, and transition strategies.
• Ensure technical accuracy, competitiveness, and alignment with customer requirements.
• Develop effort estimates, staffing models, implementation plans, and pricing inputs.
• Work with delivery and finance teams to validate commercial assumptions.
• Ensure proposed solutions are technically feasible, commercially viable, and delivery ready.

6. Customer Consulting

• Lead discovery workshops, architecture sessions, and solution discussions with customer stakeholders.
• Conduct executive presentations, proposal walkthroughs, and solution defense sessions.
• Advise customers on Data & AI transformation roadmaps and technology adoption strategies.
• Serve as a trusted advisor throughout the sales cycle.

7. Technical Leadership

• Stay abreast of emerging technologies and market trends across Data & AI.
• Develop reusable accelerators, reference architectures, and solution assets.
• Mentor junior presales consultants and contribute to practice capability development.

Experience

• 12+ years of experience in Data & AI consulting, solution architecture, or technical presales within an IT services organization.
• Demonstrated experience independently leading solutioning for medium to large, complex transformation pursuits.
• Hands-on expertise in architecting enterprise Data & AI solutions across cloud platforms.
• Strong experience in effort estimation, proposal development, and executive-level customer presentations.
• Proven ability to engage directly with CXO and senior business stakeholders.

Preferred Certifications

• Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Microsoft Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate

Key Skills

• End-to-end solution architecture
• Technical pre-sales and consulting
• Proposal writing and solution storytelling
• Estimation and commercial modeling
• Executive communication and presentation
• Customer workshops and solution defense
• Problem-solving and analytical thinking
• Ability to independently drive strategic pursuits