Lead- Partner Talent & Certifications

EXL; Dadri; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,500,000; Full time

Job summary

EXL is seeking a Lead- Partner Talent & Certifications to shape and scale EXL's partner talent and certification strategy across AI, data, cloud, analytics, and engineering ecosystems. You will drive demand-supply alignment, governance, and executive reporting, while building scalable programs and partner-focused talent pipelines.

The role requires leadership in capability development, partnerships, and program management, with global scope and significant cross-functional collaboration across

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Technology, Business, Human Resources, or a related discipline.
• 8–12 years of experience in technology enablement, capability development, partner management, or related fields.
• Experience building and scaling certification or specialized-talent programs in Data, AI, Cloud, or digital engineering.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute EXL's enterprise partner talent strategy translating market demand into capability plans.
• Build scalable pipelines of partner-specialized practitioners, engineers, consultants, and leaders.
• Forecast capability demand and align certification investments with client pursuits and pipelines.
• Lead certification campaigns, academies, and renewals across geographies.
• Connect certified talent with client opportunities and internal projects.

Skills

Partner Talent Strategy

Certification Portfolio

Program Governance

Vendor Management

Data Governance

Generative AI

Cloud Platforms

Executive Reporting

Strategic Influence

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Tech/Business/HR

Tools

Power BI

Excel

Job description

Lead- Partner Talent & Certifications

will lead EXL's enterprise-wide partner talent and certification strategy across AI, Data, Cloud, Analytics, Engineering, and Agentic AI ecosystems. The role will build and scale partner-specialized talent aligned with market demand, client opportunities, delivery priorities, partner commitments, and future workforce requirements. The individual will serve as the central orchestration point across Capability Development, Technology Partnerships, business units, delivery leadership, and strategic technology partners. The role will directly contribute to talent readiness, partner status, funding realization, capability differentiation, and revenue enablement.

Key Responsibilities:

• Partner Talent Strategy: Define and execute EXL's enterprise partner talent strategy, translating market demand, growth priorities, and alliance commitments into multi-year capability and certification plans.
• Specialized Talent Supply: Build scalable pipelines of partner-specialized practitioners, engineers, consultants, architects, technical leaders, and GTM talent across priority technologies and proficiency levels.
• Demand-to-Skill Alignment: Work with business, sales, solution, and delivery leaders to forecast capability demand and align certification investments with client pursuits, project pipelines, solution roadmaps, and deployment needs.
• Partner Ecosystem Leadership: Act as the capability interface for strategic technology partners and maximize learning assets, vouchers, credits, bootcamps, funding, co-investment opportunities, badges, competencies, and partner-tier requirements.
• Certification Portfolio Management: Own the enterprise certification portfolio, including pathways, nominations, readiness interventions, exam governance, renewals, badge validation, partner-portal mapping, and active certification health.
• Capability Architecture: Create progressive pathways from foundation awareness to practitioner, advanced, architect, and specialist credentials, supported by academies, labs, assessments, mentoring, and applied learning.
• Enterprise Program Leadership: Lead certification campaigns, partner academies, acceleration cohorts, deep-dive sessions, hackathons, certification weeks, and targeted interventions across business units and geographies.
• Talent Deployment & Impact: Establish mechanisms to connect certified talent with client opportunities, delivery roles, internal gigs, solution development, and partner-led GTM motions.
• Governance & Executive Reporting: Lead cross-functional governance and provide executive visibility into readiness, demand-supply gaps, certification funnels, pass rates, costs, funding utilization, deployment, risks, and corrective actions.
• Team & Operating Model: Build a disciplined operating model, lead internal and external program resources, manage vendors, and create repeatable processes that can scale across partner ecosystems.

Technology Partner Ecosystems Understanding Required:

• Microsoft (Azure, Fabric, Copilot, and AI)
• AWS
• Google Cloud
• Databricks
• Snowflake
• NVIDIA
• Anthropic (Claude)
• OpenAI
• Palantir and other emerging strategic technology partners

Capability & Program Management Skills Required:

• Partner talent and certification strategy
• Certification portfolio and lifecycle management
• Enterprise program governance and PMO
• Partner funding, incentives, and benefit optimization
• Demand-supply and talent deployment planning
• Vendor, budget, and commercial management

Data & Analytics Skills Required:

• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint
• Power BI / Tableau
• Certification funnel, pass-rate, and renewal analysis
• Demand-supply and capability-gap analysis
• Dashboard design and executive reporting
• Data governance, reconciliation, and audit readiness
• Generative AI and Agentic AI
• Large Language Models and enterprise AI use cases
• Cloud platforms and modernization concepts
• Data engineering, analytics, and modern data platforms
• AI/ML, MLOps, and AI operations fundamentals
• Responsible AI, governance, security, and risk concepts
• Partner certification frameworks, competencies, and tiering models
• Strong executive presence and business communication
• Strategic thinking with commercial and talent acumen
• Ability to influence senior leaders and drive accountability without direct authority
• Strong partner relationship and negotiation skills
• Data-driven decision-making and structured problem solving
• Ability to lead complex enterprise programs in a global matrix
• High ownership, attention to detail, and execution discipline
• Strong people leadership, coaching, and team-development capability
• Ability to balance long-term strategy with hands-on operational execution

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Technology, Business, Human Resources, or a related discipline.
• 8-12 years of experience in technology enablement, capability development, partner management, learning strategy, workforce transformation, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience building and scaling certification or specialized-talent programs in Data, AI, Cloud, Digital Engineering, technology consulting, or professional services.
• Experience working with global technology partners, business leaders, delivery organizations, and certification ecosystems.
• Relevant cloud, data, AI, program management, or partner certifications will be an advantage.