Head of Deployment Strategy

david-ai; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Top-notch health, dental, and vision coverage

401k access

Meals through DoorDash

Unlimited company-sponsored fitness classes

Job summary

David AI, located in San Francisco, is looking for a Head of Deployment Strategy to lead their Forward Deployed team. This role entails responsibility for customer engagement, team leadership, and developing operational strategies. Requirements include over 8 years of relevant experience, strong knowledge of AI model lifecycles, and exceptional communication skills. Preferred candidates will have experience at fast-growing startups and proficiency in SQL or Python. Benefits include unlimited PTO and comprehensive health coverage.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience in deployment strategy or go-to-market roles.
• Experience managing a team focused on customer outcomes and revenue.
• Strong understanding of AI model development lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of Deployment Strategists.
• Own customer relationships and ensure their growth.
• Build operational models for deployment strategy.

Skills

Deployment strategy

Customer relationship management

Project management

Technical communication

Team leadership

Education

Education in CS, Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, or other STEM fields

Tools

SQL

Python

Job description

About David AI

David AI is the first audio data research company. We bring an R&D approach to data–developing datasets with the same rigor AI labs bring to models. Our mission is to bring AI into the real world, and we believe audio is the gateway. Speech is versatile, accessible, and human—it fits naturally into everyday life. As audio AI advances and new use cases emerge, high‑quality training data is the bottleneck. This is where David AI comes in.

David AI was founded in 2024 by a team of former Scale AI engineers and operators. In less than a year, we’ve brought on most FAANG companies and AI labs as customers. We recently raised a $50M Series B from Meritech, NVIDIA, Jack Altman (Alt Capital), Amplify Partners, First Round Capital and other Tier 1 investors.

Our team is sharp, humble, ambitious, and tight‑knit. We’re looking for the best research, engineering, product, and operations minds to join us on our mission to push the frontier of audio AI.

About our Forward Deployed team

Our Forward Deployed team works side‑by‑side with customers on their most critical initiatives, turning complexity into clarity and strategy into action. Embedded deeply within customer organizations and connected tightly to product, research, and engineering, we ensure that every engagement creates meaningful impact for customers and accelerates the evolution of David AI.

About this role

David AI is hiring a Head of Deployment Strategy to lead our Forward Deployed team and own the outcomes across our portfolio of customer relationships. You will be accountable for overseeing how we engage with customers—including strategic planning, research and execution—and for ensuring the health and growth of those accounts.

This is a player‑coach role. You'll set the direction, build the operating cadence, and develop the team while directly owning key customer relationships. You will collaborate cross‑functionally with research, engineering, product, and operations to ensure David AI consistently delivers high‑quality products and exceptional outcomes for our customers.

In this role, you will

• Hire, lead, and develop a team of Deployment Strategists, setting clear expectations and ensuring consistent execution across the customer portfolio.
• Own retention, expansion, and overall health of David AI's customer relationships.
• Build and steward the Forward Deployment team’s operating model including account planning, pipeline management, QBRs, etc.
• Develop our playbook for customer engagement models, spanning pricing and packaging for one‑off dataset sales to long‑term customer commitments.
• Partner closely with the research team to design experiments and deliver data‑driven recommendations on customer evaluation needs.
• Build and foster strong relationships at the most senior levels within customer organizations, stepping in directly on the highest‑stakes accounts.
• Develop new opportunities across accounts by identifying where David AI's data and research insights can add value.

Your background looks like

• 8+ years of relevant experience in deployment strategy, forward deployment, or go‑to‑market roles, with 3+ years managing a team responsible for customer outcomes and revenue targets.
• A track record of owning complex customer relationships, and consistently delivering.
• Familiar with the AI model development lifecycle, with strong technical intuition for what makes high‑quality training data for advanced AI systems.
• Demonstrated excellence in verbal and written communication, with the ability to operate credibly with senior stakeholders at Fortune 50 companies.
• Proven project management expertise with high attention to detail and exceptional organizational ability—both for your own work and in managing the output of a team.
• Deep experience building and managing cooperative relationships across technical teams and senior executives.
• Success thriving in dynamic, undefined situations, contributing to both the design and execution of solutions.

Bonus points if you have

• Experience at a fast‑growing startup or technology company.
• Education or professional experience with CS, Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, or other STEM fields.
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, or other data science‑related programming languages.

Benefits

• Unlimited PTO.
• Top‑notch health, dental, and vision coverage with 100% coverage for most plans.
• FSA & HSA access.
• 401k access.
• Meals 2x daily through DoorDash + snacks and beverages available at the office.
• Unlimited company‑sponsored Barry’s classes.