Deputy General Manager - Network, AI & Strategic Collaborations

Tata Communications Limited; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Tata Communications Limited is seeking a Deputy General Manager to own a portfolio of strategic technology programmes spanning network products, AI solutions, security, and emerging federated architectures.

The role combines deep solutioning with broad collaboration, requiring interaction with enterprise customers, OEMs, hyperscalers, academia, and standards bodies. You will drive end-to-end architectures and measurable commercial outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Electronics & Communication, Information Technology, or related field; MBA/PGDM preferred.
• Experience: 12–16 years in enterprise network products, AI, cloud, or cybersecurity with leadership exposure.
• Technical depth in three of the listed domains (Networking, Security, AI, Federated data, Cloud) with CXO-level engagement.

Responsibilities

• Architect end-to-end solutions for enterprise and carrier customers across Tata Communications portfolio.
• Lead strategic collaborations with OEMs, hyperscalers, academia, standards bodies, and customer co-innovation.
• Oversee productization of AI workloads and AI-enabled network/security operations.
• Drive federated network programs combining multi-domain connectivity, security, and governance.
• Translate strategy into measurable outcomes with dashboards on adoption, revenue impact, and customer satisfaction.
• Mentor and lead senior solution architects and engineering leads across functions.

Skills

Networking and connectivity

Security, identity and trust

AI/ML productization

Federated data architectures

Cloud and hyperscaler architectures

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/EE/IT

MBA/PGDM preferred

Job description

Role Summary

We are looking for a Deputy General Manager who will own a portfolio of strategic technology programmes at Tata Communications, ranging across network products, AI solutions, security and trust, and emerging federated network architectures. The role is equally about deep solutioning and broad collaboration: the successful candidate will architect end-to-end solutions for senior internal stakeholders and enterprise customers, drive multiple high-impact strategic partnerships in parallel (OEMs, hyperscalers, academia, standards bodies, customer co-innovation), and translate Tata Communications' technology strategy into measurable commercial outcomes. The successful candidate will be equally credible in a customer CTO conversation, an OEM negotiation, an engineering design review, and a board-level update.

Key Responsibilities

1. Solutioning and Solution Architecture. Architect and orchestrate end-to-end solutions for enterprise and carrier customers across the full Tata Communications portfolio connectivity, security, AI infrastructure, data platforms, and emerging federated architectures. Lead deep technical discussions with senior management, customer CXOs, and Tata Communications' executive committee. Translate complex requirements into deployable architectures with clear commercial and operational implications.
2. Strategic Collaborations and Partnership Portfolio. Own and drive a portfolio of high-impact strategic collaborations across multiple counterpart types:

• OEMs and technology vendors evaluation, onboarding, joint roadmaps, joint go-to-market.
• Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) — joint solutions and integrated offerings.
• Academic institutions — research collaborations with the IITs, IISc, and international universities on emerging technology (quantum, post-quantum, AI, networking).
• Standards bodies and industry consortia — ITU-T, ETSI, IETF, TM Forum, GSMA, and equivalent.
• Customer co-innovation programmes — joint design and pilot engagements with strategic enterprise and carrier customers.

The candidate will manage several of these collaborations concurrently, set the strategy for each, negotiate technical and commercial terms, and drive them through to measurable outcomes.

1. Productization of AI Workloads. Oversee the productization of AI workloads — model serving, agentic systems, AI-augmented network and security operations, and customer-facing AI features — on Tata Communications infrastructure. Define product requirements, drive engineering execution, manage release governance, and own commercial readiness, including performance, observability, cost, and responsible-AI compliance.
2. Productization of Federated, Intent-Driven Network Programmes. Lead the productization of one or more flagship network programmes that couple multi-domain connectivity, security and identity, federated governance, and intent-driven orchestration across the underlay and overlay. Current programmes include Quantum-Safe Networking, intent-based and policy-driven network automation, SASE evolution, and federated network and data architectures across enterprise and carrier customers. The candidate will be expected to own one of these as the primary workstream while contributing to the others as their portfolio matures.
3. Solutioning Excellence with OEMs and Partners. Convert OEM and partner capabilities into deployable Tata Communications solutions: identify integration points, design joint solution stacks, lead proof-of-concepts, and drive the implementation lifecycle with partner and internal engineering teams. Ensure that partner relationships translate into customer-facing value rather than abstract MOUs.
4. Internal Cross-Functional Leadership. Build durable cross-functional alignment across Engineering, Architecture, Product Management, Sales, Marketing, Legal, Procurement, and Customer Success. Operate as a credible bridge between technical and commercial functions and as a senior-management-facing voice for the product portfolio.
5. Strategy Execution and Results Ownership. Translate organisational strategy into measurable outcomes. Maintain quantitative dashboards on adoption, deployment, revenue impact, customer satisfaction, partner health, and programme execution. Drive quarterly business reviews and proactively unblock cross-functional dependencies. Operate with a clear "outcomes over activity" discipline.
6. Talent and Technical Leadership. Mentor solution architects, product managers, and engineering leads in your matrix. Set the bar for technical depth, customer empathy, partnership stewardship, and executive communication. Champion a culture of solutioning excellence and strategic clarity.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electronics & Communication, Information Technology, or a closely related engineering discipline from a recognised institution. A management qualification (MBA, PGDM, or equivalent) is strongly preferred — the role explicitly requires a mix of computer-science depth and management acumen.
• Experience: 12–16 years of progressive experience in enterprise network products, telecom infrastructure, AI/ML productization, cloud platforms, or cybersecurity, with at least 4 years at a senior individual-contributor or leadership level driving cross-functional and cross-organisational initiatives.
• Technical depth in at least three of the following:
• Networking and connectivity — SD-WAN, SASE, SR-MPLS / SRv6, intent-based and policy-driven network automation (e.g., RFC 9315 IBN, TMF921), streaming telemetry (gNMI / OpenConfig), programmable data planes.
• Security, identity and trust — Zero Trust, identity and access management, federated identity (e.g., W3C DID and Verifiable Credentials), post-quantum cryptography, key and secret management.
• AI/ML productization — model deployment, MLOps, agentic systems, observability, responsible AI.
• Federated and decentralised data architectures — domain-oriented decentralised data ownership, federated data and policy governance, data-as-a-product thinking, policy-as-code.
• Cloud and hyperscaler architectures — AWS, Azure, GCP; multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud connectivity; service mesh and microservice patterns.
• Demonstrated track record of:
• Taking products from concept through commercial deployment at meaningful scale.
• Driving multiple strategic collaborations in parallel — OEMs, hyperscalers, academia, or standards bodies.
• Engaging at CXO level both internally and with enterprise customers.
• Operating in a matrixed, multi-stakeholder environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to federated data and policy architectures, decentralised data ownership models, or domain-oriented data platforms.
• Familiarity with intent-based networking standards (RFC 9315, TMF921), service-mesh patterns applied to network functions, or programmable data planes (P4 / eBPF).
• Familiarity with Quantum-Safe Networking, post-quantum cryptography, or QKD.
• Hyperscaler partnership experience (AWS, Azure, GCP) at the product-engineering level.
• Established relationships with global networking, security, or AI OEMs.
• Active participation in standards bodies or industry consortia.
• Academic-industry collaboration experience (joint research programmes, sponsored research, joint publications).
• Industry recognition through patents, peer-reviewed publications, standards contributions, or conference talks.
• MBA from a Tier-1 institution (IIM-A/B/C/L/I, ISB, INSEAD, Wharton, Booth, or equivalent).
• Prior experience in a Tier-1 telecom operator, cloud hyperscaler, networking OEM, or AI infrastructure company.

Behavioural Competencies

• Self-motivated — operates with high agency across multiple parallel workstreams; does not require oversight to make progress.
• Strategy-driven — translates ambiguity into clear, executable plans across diverse programmes.
• Results-oriented — committed to measurable outcomes over activity.
• Executive communication — credible and concise with senior leadership, OEM executives, customer CXOs, and academic principals.
• Partnership stewardship — builds and sustains long-term collaborative relationships with external counterparts.
• Stakeholder management — earns trust across engineering, product, sales, partners, customers, and standards / academic communities.
• Intellectual curiosity — actively tracks emerging technology (AI, post-quantum, 6G, federated architectures, agentic systems) and brings external insight back into the organisation.
• Comfort with ambiguity — thrives at the intersection of new technology, evolving markets, and multi-counterparty dependencies.