Manager, Applied AI Strategy and Operations

Cloudera

Des Moines (IA)

On-site

USD 144,000 - 162,000

Full time

41 hours ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO policy

Unplugged Days

Flexible WFH Policy

Mental & Physical Wellness programs

Phone and Internet Reimbursement

Continued Career Development

Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive

Volunteer Time

Job summary

Cloudera seeks a Manager, Applied AI Strategy and Operations to lead global governance, portfolio analyses, and execution rhythms for its Private AI organizations. You will coordinate with regional leadership and field engineering to optimize commercial and technical motions across AMER, EMEA, and APAC.

You will develop frameworks for KPI tracking, analyze revenue opportunities, and synthesize data into executive storytelling for senior leadership, enabling informed investment and growth

Qualifications

6+ years in sales strategy, revenue operations, or management consulting.
Experience supporting technical sales, pre-sales, or post-sales delivery teams.
Domain experience in enterprise software, big data analytics, or hybrid cloud.
Proven ability to communicate with C-suite executives and translate data into insights.
Experience with cloud subscription, consumption-based, or PLG models.

Responsibilities

Establish and manage global governance and operating rhythms for Applied AI organization across regions.
Track, analyze, and optimize customer progression through Discovery, Solution, Pilot, Production stages.
Structure analytical frameworks to prioritize target accounts across Top 100 lists.
Define and standardize KPIs around Private AI adoption and ARR metrics.
Analyze partnerships and co-deployment strategies with AI ecosystem players.
Lead cross-functional initiatives with Account Executives, Solution Engineers, and Services.
Support investment decisions and headcount planning with data-driven business cases.

Skills

Problem-solving

Analytical thinking

Stakeholder communication

Data management

GTM systems

SQL

Tools

Salesforce

Clari

Tableau

Power BI

Job description

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.

Business Area:

Corp. Strategy

Seniority Level:

Mid-Senior level

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.
The right person in this role has an opportunity to make a huge impact at Cloudera and add value to our future decisions. If this position has piqued your interest and you have what we described - we invite you apply!
This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

Salary Range: