Director / Associate Partner Data & AI Engineering

Valcon; Utrecht; Hybrid; EUR 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company car

Mobility budget

Sabbatical option

Expanded holidays

Sports membership

Remote work abroad

Professional and social events

Job summary

Valcon is seeking a Director/Associate Partner in Data / AI Engineering to act as the trusted executive advisor to top-tier clients, shaping data platforms and AI capabilities at scale. You will lead a high-performing practice, drive revenue, and mentor senior professionals across multiple accounts.

You'll oversee architecture decisions, deliver strategic initiatives, and foster innovation in data and AI services while aligning with enterprise goals.

Qualifications

• Master’s or Ph.D. in a quantitative science or related field.
• 10+ years designing and delivering enterprise data platforms and AI engineering.
• Proven track record in cloud architectures and data platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP).
• Ability to translate business goals into data/AI roadmaps and revenue opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Act as executive sponsor and technical escalation point for data engineering, AI engineering, and data platform architecture.
• Drive commercial growth through client workshops and winning proposals for large engagements.
• Mentor and lead a senior data/AI engineering team including Managers and Principals.
• Advise on enterprise-grade data architectures and secure, scalable integrations.

Skills

Data Engineering

AI Engineering

Leadership

Sales

Education

Master’s or PhD in quantitative science

Tools

Azure

AWS

GCP

Job description

Are you ready to scale high-performing Data / AI Engineering practices, cultivate C-suite relationships to drive new business, and lead enterprise-wide data and AI transformations?

As a Director/Associate Partner Data / AI Engineering, you serve as the trusted executive advisor for our top-tier clients, aligning their strategic business goals with modern data platforms, data and AI engineering capabilities. You will help lead, shape and scale a high-performing engineering practice, empowering your management team to deliver exceptional results across multiple accounts. With your finger on the pulse of data and AI innovation, you will shape our consultancy’s thought leadership and architect new services that drive significant market expansion.

What will you do?

• Executive Sponsorship & Technical Oversight: Act as the executive sponsor for key engagements, taking ultimate accountability for commercial success while serving as the highest-level technical escalation point for complex data engineering, AI engineering, and data platform / cloud architecture challenges.
• Commercial Growth & Sales: Drive top-line growth by leading highly technical client workshops, identifying strategic opportunities, and crafting winning proposals for large-scale enterprise engagements.
• High Management Advisory: Cultivate long-term relationships with key decision-makers, acting as their trusted partner by translating deep technical data / AI Engineering concepts into enterprise technology strategy and measurable business outcomes.
• Advanced Architecture & Integration: Analyse and advise on enterprise-grade data architectures, ensuring the seamless, secure, and scalable integration of data platforms, AI services, and analytics solutions into the client’s existing processes and application landscape.
• Expert Solution Design: Steer the design of state-of-the-art data and AI solutions, leveraging your strong content knowledge to design and validate target architectures, and challenge technology or platform choices.
• Leadership & Mentorship: Lead and inspire a high-performing Data / AI Engineering practice, providing strategic direction while deeply mentoring Managers and Principals on data / AI engineering, AI solution delivery, cloud-native data platform architecture, and modern engineering practices.

Career paths

We provide for two career paths:

• Director: Leverage your strong communication skills and deep technical expertise to deliver projects end to end, manage senior stakeholders, architect and design complex solutions, and supervise the implementation of state-of-the-art Data / AI Engineering solutions for our most complex client challenges.
• Associate Partner: Act as the strategic compass for our clients, guiding executive stakeholders through their data platform, AI engineering, and cloud transformation journey, driving adoption, and unlocking new business opportunities.

What do we offer you?

• Personal development: a tailor-made growth path with training, courses, certification and mentoring by experienced colleagues.
• An innovative work environment: collaborate with a team of experts pushing boundaries in data, technology, and consulting.
• Immediate impact and responsibility: you’ll make a difference for our clients from day one and are entrusted with responsibilities that challenge you to bring the best out of yourself.
• Inspiring work culture: a supportive, flexible, and no-nonsense environment that fosters your growth and fully allows you to be yourself.

Additionally, we offer:

• A company car or mobility budget.
• A workplace that prioritizes and respects your work-life balance (for example by offering you the option of taking a sabbatical or expand the amount of holidays per year).
• An affordable sports membership that allows you to participate in 50 different sports offered by over 10,000 partners.
• The opportunity to work remotely from abroad for 10 days per year.
• A vibrant community that organizes both professional and social events.

Experience

• A Master’s or Ph.D. degree in a quantitative science such as Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, Econometrics, Physics, or otherwise a Business Data / IT degree.
• Deep Technical Mastery: 10+ years of experience in the design, architecture, and deployment of complex, enterprise-grade data platforms, cloud-native data solutions, and AI engineering solutions, with a proven track record of maintaining hands‑on technical relevance.
• Extensive knowledge of modern data engineering concepts, cloud infrastructures (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP), engineering, and emerging AI technologies (e.g., Generative AI, LLMs), with the ability to critically evaluate and challenge technical architecture choices.
• Proven ability to align complex technical solutions with overarching enterprise strategies, translating business objectives, regulatory frameworks, and technology constraints into scalable data and AI engineering roadmaps.
• A track record of successfully managing, coaching, and elevating senior data and AI engineering professionals (Managers, Leads, and Principals), fostering both their technical growth and consulting capabilities.
• Substantial experience in a professional services or consulting environment, demonstrating the gravitas required to advise, influence, and build trust with C-suite executives and key stakeholders.
• A strong capability to spot commercial opportunities within both existing and net-new accounts, confidently leading executive visioning workshops, and converting high-level business challenges into concrete, revenue-generating engagements.

Keywords

• Data Engineering, AI Engineering, Data Platform, Leadership, Sales, Management