Manager, Applied AI Strategy and Operations

Cloudera

Alabama

On-site

USD 144,000 - 180,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO Policy

Flexible WFH Policy

Mental & Physical Wellness programs

Phone and Internet Reimbursement

Continued Career Development

Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive

Volunteer Time

Employee Resource Groups

Job summary

Cloudera seeks a Manager, Applied AI Strategy and Operations to lead high-impact, global commercial and operational initiatives accelerating Private AI growth. You will partner with the Chief Business Officer and senior leaders to translate complex signals into actionable recommendations and drive governance, metrics, and adoption across regions.

In this high-autonomy role, you will build scalable processes, oversee the AI adoption funnel, and collaborate with field engineers, solution

Qualifications

Strong problem-solving and structuring skills for complex strategic challenges.
Analytical use of CRM data and customer insights to validate hypotheses.
Ability to communicate with C-suite and leadership to build trusted narratives.
Familiarity with enterprise data platforms, hybrid cloud, and AI/ML ecosystems.
Proficiency with GTM systems and BI tools; SQL is a strong plus.
Autonomy in fast-moving environments with disciplined execution.

Responsibilities

Drive Global Governance & Operating Rhythms for the Applied AI org across AMER, EMEA, and APAC; lead the MBR process.
Manage the AI Adoption Funnel across four stages: Discovery, Solution, Pilot, Production.
Structure analytical frameworks to prioritize target accounts and high-ROI workloads.
Define and standardize strategic metrics around subscription and consumption-based adoption.
Analyze ecosystem partners and co-deployment strategies to maximize ARR.
Collaborate with AE, Solution Engineer, and PS teams to codify scalable delivery patterns.
Support business planning with segment analyses, growth models, and investment decisions.

Skills

Strategic problem-solving

CRM data analysis

Executive storytelling

Enterprise data platforms

GTM systems

SQL

Tools

Salesforce

Clari

Tableau

Power BI

SQL

Job description

Business Area:

Corp. Strategy

Seniority Level:

Mid-Senior level

Job Description:

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world's largest enterprises.

Job title: Manager, Applied AI Strategy and Operations

Job Purpose:

As a Manager, Applied AI Strategy and Operations within the Chief Business Officer and GM, Applied AI's organization, you will lead high-impact, global commercial and operational initiatives with a direct emphasis on accelerating Cloudera's Private AI growth.

Our Applied AI organization is a fast-moving, dedicated group of Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs), Industry & Applied AI Specialists, and business strategy leaders committed to establishing Cloudera as the trusted standard for Private AI in the enterprise. In this high- autonomy, high-trust role, you will act as the strategic and analytical backbone behind our field engineering motions. You will prioritize the right initiatives across our strategic accounts, establish robust governance and operating rhythms, conduct deep-dive portfolio and sales pipeline analyses, and synthesize complex technical and commercial signals into actionable recommendations for Cloudera's senior leadership.

Key responsibilities:

Drive Global Governance & Operating Rhythms: Establish, evolve, and manage the programmatic operating rhythm for the global Applied AI organization across AMER, EMEA, and APAC. Lead the monthly business review (MBR) process-from metric gathering and CRM ingestion through deep quantitative analysis and executive synthesis for senior leadership.
Manage the AI Adoption Funnel: Partner with regional FDE and Applied AI Specialist leadership to track, analyze, and optimize customer progression through our four core execution stages: Discovery & Strategy, Solution & Value, Pilot & Prove, and Production & Scale.
Account Prioritization & Use Case Frameworks: Structure analytical frameworks grounded in real customer signal-joining technical discovery sessions, reviewing triage outcomes, and working directly with field engineering teams to filter and isolate high-ROI Private AI workloads. Conduct rigorous analyses to down-select and prioritize target accounts across our Top 100 strategic enterprise lists.
Define & Standardize Strategic Metrics: Collaborate with central Revenue Operations and AI GTM Sales Strategy to define, refine, and standardize key performance indicators around subscription and consumption-based Private AI adoption. Track organizational progress against critical milestones, including customer pitch meetings, on-site Use Case Workshops, Applied AI Hands-on Labs, and deployed production solutions.
Ecosystem & Commercial Strategy: Analyze and support go-to-market operational alignment with major AI infrastructure and ecosystem partners (including NVIDIA Blueprints and VAST). Evaluate revenue share models, joint sales plays, and co-deployment strategies to maximize platform pull-through and annual recurring revenue (ARR) expansion.
Cross-Functional Leadership & Solution Productization: Act as an embedded, highly trusted thought partner to technical and commercial leaders. Design and implement scalable processes for tracking team allocations and solution productization, ensuring repeatable delivery patterns are codified and communicated across Account Executives, Solution Engineers, and Professional Services globally.
Business Planning & Executive Storytelling: Build comprehensive segment analyses, growth models, and strategic business cases to support critical investment decisions, headcount planning, and resource allocation across regional pods.

Preferred Qualifications:

Strong problem-solving and structuring skills, with a proven ability to scope complex, ambiguous strategic challenges and identify root causes within technical go-to-market organizations.
Highly analytical and excellent at leveraging facts, CRM data, and customer insights to generate and validate strategic hypotheses regarding enterprise AI adoption and workload consumption.
Proven ability to communicate and build trust with stakeholders at all levels-including C-suite executives, technical engineering leaders, and regional sales VPs-by turning granular data and research into actionable insight and a well-structured executive storyline.
Deep familiarity with enterprise data management platforms, hybrid cloud architectures, data lakehouses (e.g., Apache Iceberg), and the broader AI/ML ecosystem capabilities.
Strong quantitative, financial modeling, and data manipulation skills; proficiency in GTM systems (e.g., Salesforce, Clari), business intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI), and SQL is a strong plus.
Demonstrated capacity to operate with high autonomy in dynamic, fast-moving environments, building structure and operational rigor from the ground up rather than inheriting legacy processes.

Preferred Experience:

6+ years of progressive work experience in sales strategy, revenue operations, business operations, or management consulting, with a demonstrated track record of driving cross-functional alignment and measurable business impact.
Direct experience supporting specialized technical sales, pre-sales, or post-sales delivery teams-particularly within Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE), Solution Architecture, or Applied AI Specialist organizations.
Deep domain experience in enterprise software, big data analytics, machine learning/AI, or hybrid cloud infrastructure companies.
Proven expertise working with cloud subscription, consumption-based (usage-driven), or product-led growth (PLG) business models, specifically tracking workload transition from pilot to production scale.
Experience supporting enterprise commercial or technical organizations through rapid 2-3x+ revenue growth periods and global expansion across AMER, EMEA, and APAC regions.
Note: Candidates without direct commercial ownership experience will still be strongly considered if they demonstrate long, deep tenure supporting commercial or technical sales leaders in a closely comparable enterprise GTM model.
This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is:

Washington: $144,000 - $180,000
New York: $144,000 - $180,000
California: $144,000 - $180,000

Individual compensation within the published range is determined by the candidate's skills, experience, qualifications, and primary work location. In addition to base pay, sales roles are eligible for Cloudera's commission plan, while non-sales roles are eligible for the corporate incentive plan. All employees receive a comprehensive benefits package

What you can expect from us: