Director, Enterprise AI Delivery & Strategy

C3 AI; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Generous equity plan

Job summary

C3 AI in Chicago seeks a Director of Forward Deployed Engineering to own a portfolio of strategic customer relationships from signature to production and expansion, leading a team of engineers who deliver complex enterprise AI deployments. You will set executive-level roadmaps, manage scope, and run C-suite briefings while ensuring delivery milestones and risk management.

This role requires deep enterprise software experience, strong leadership, and the ability to build trust with customers and

Qualifications

• 10+ years in management consulting or FDE/delivery leadership for enterprise software or professional services
• Experience leading multi-workstream delivery for Fortune 500 or large public-sector clients
• Executive presence with experience running C-suite briefings and guiding scope/priorities
• Direct experience with AI agent deployment, LLM-based systems, or enterprise AI platforms in production
• Comfortable with code and reading technical design documents to scope work

Responsibilities

• Own delivery outcomes across a portfolio of strategic accounts from signed SOW to production and expansion
• Set engagement structure (scope, milestones, dependencies, value hypotheses) and enforce scope discipline
• Run executive briefings and steering committee updates for accounts at the C-suite level
• Own escalation management and drive engagements back to green when at risk
• Manage a team of Forward Deployed resources including hiring, onboarding, and career development
• Allocate staffing based on priority, risk, and growth stage, with flexible reallocation as needed
• Coach FDTLs and FDEs on running accounts with rigor and maintaining delivery quality
• Lead headcount planning and build a bench strong enough to weather attrition
• Conduct technical discovery and map customer workflows to define MVP scope for new use cases
• Translate business objectives into sequenced technical roadmaps for execution
• Hold architecture discussions to evaluate trade-offs and mitigate scope/feasibility risks
• Hands-on when necessary to validate data models or integrations

Skills

Executive leadership

Delivery leadership

Client relationship management

AI/enterprise software

Strategic planning

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or related

Job description

C3 AI in Chicago seeks a Director of Forward Deployed Engineering to own a portfolio of strategic customer relationships from signature to production and expansion, leading a team of engineers who deliver complex enterprise AI deployments. You will set executive-level roadmaps, manage scope, and run C-suite briefings while ensuring delivery milestones and risk management.

This role requires deep enterprise software experience, strong leadership, and the ability to build trust with customers and