AI Practice Lead

Svitla Systems, Inc.; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote or office work

Competitive compensation

Travel opportunities

Professional development

Job summary

Svitla Systems Inc. is seeking an AI Practice Lead to own the solution strategy and sales process for AI engagements with enterprise clients.

This role partners with our sales and account teams to convert early-stage AI interest into a clearly defined, fundable solution — and to lead that process through to close. You will act as the primary technical and business voice in client conversations about AI, working alongside account leadership while taking ownership of solution direction,

Qualifications

• 10+ years in technology consulting, solution consulting, or presales with AI/data/analytics work for enterprise clients.
• Bachelor's in CS preferred; MBA advantageous.
• Proven solution selling ability, able to lead discovery, shape offers, defend proposals with sellers' collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery conversations to identify client's business problems and success criteria for AI engagements.
• Define technical approach, coordinate input from AI architects, ML engineers, and data specialists, and translate into roadmap and business case.
• Develop technical sections of proposals/SOWs and align scope/estimates with delivery leadership.

Skills

Solution selling

Executive presence

Client engagement

AI/ML knowledge

Presales

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science

MBA

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

Svitla Systems Inc. is seeking an AI Practice Lead for a full-time position (40 hours per week) to own the solution strategy and sales process for AI-related engagements with enterprise clients. This role partners directly with our sales and account teams to convert early-stage AI interest into a clearly defined, fundable solution — and to lead that process through to close.

You will act as the primary technical and business voice in client conversations about AI, working alongside account leadership (who own the relationship and commercial process) while taking ownership of solution direction, credibility, and sellability.

Location: New York, NY · Chicago, IL · San Francisco, CA · Austin, TX or Dallas, TX

What You'll Do:

• Solution Discovery: Lead discovery conversations to identify the client's underlying business problem, prior initiatives, key stakeholders, and success criteria for an AI engagement.
• Solution Shaping: Define the technical approach, coordinate input from AI architects, ML engineers, and data specialists, and translate findings into a roadmap and business case for the client.
• Proposals & Deal Support: Develop the technical sections of proposals and SOWs, align with delivery leadership on scope and estimates, and represent the proposal in discussions with clients and procurement teams.
• Executive Engagement: Present to stakeholders ranging from technical teams to C-suite executives, adjusting communication style while maintaining credibility across audiences.
• Delivery Oversight: Remain engaged post-signature as the senior advisory contact on the engagement, identifying risks early and ensuring delivery aligns with client expectations.
• Practice Building: Contribute to the development of AI service offerings, points of view, case studies, and reusable assets, and support the sales team in identifying AI opportunities independently.

Requirements:

• 10+ years in technology consulting, solution consulting, or presales, including meaningful time working on AI, data, or analytics engagements with enterprise clients.
• Education: Preferably a Bachelor's in Computer Science, along with an MBA.
• Proven solution selling ability. You lead with the client's business problem rather than our capability deck, and you can run a discovery conversation, shape an offer, and defend a proposal on your own. Partnering with sellers should feel natural to you — but you shouldn't need one in the room to be effective.
• Genuine fluency in the AI landscape. You can speak credibly about machine learning, large language models, agentic systems, and computer vision at the level of what they do, what they cost, where they break, and what makes a program succeed or stall. Clients will test this, and you need to hold up.
• Executive presence. You can handle a hard question without deflecting, disagree with a client respectfully, and be memorable for the right reasons.
• Sound judgment about scope and risk. You know when an ask is underpriced or under-defined, and you'd rather raise it early than hand our delivery team something that can't succeed.
• A consulting or professional services background, and willingness to travel to clients as pursuits require.

Nice to Have:

• Experience in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, public sector) and comfort with related compliance discussions.
• Hands-on technical delivery experience earlier in your career.
• Familiarity with hyperscaler partner ecosystems (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• A public profile through speaking or writing in the AI/data space.
• Experience helping build a new practice or offering from the ground up.

We offer

• US and EU projects based on advanced technologies.
• Competitive compensation based on skills and experience.
• Regular performance appraisals to support your growth.
• Flexibility in workspace, either remote or our welcoming office.
• Bonuses for article writing, public talks, other activities
• Generous time off, including vacation, national holidays, sick leaves, and family days.
• Personalized learning programs tailored to your interests and skill development.
• Free tech webinars and meetups organized by Svitla.
• Regular corporate online activities.
• Awesome team and a friendly, supportive community!

Why join Svitla

Svitla Systems is a global digital solutions company headquartered in the U.S. and operating across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and APAC. Since 2003, we have served a wide range of clients - from innovative start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Our success is built on partnership. By integrating seamlessly with clients' teams, we create lasting collaborations that drive real results. We are strong advocates of workplace flexibility, remote culture, individual approach to professional and personal growth.

Our global mission is to build a business that contributes to wellbeing of our partners, personnel, and their families, improves our communities, and makes a lasting difference in the world. Together, we are coding a brighter tomorrow - and living it.