Technical Delivery Manager (AI/ML)

A7 Recruitment Company; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

A7 Recruitment Company is seeking a seasoned Delivery Manager to own end-to-end AI/ML program delivery, translating client goals into actionable roadmaps and milestones.

You will manage scopes, timelines, budgets, and staffing across multiple AI/ML projects while establishing governance with executive-level stakeholders and ensuring alignment with client expectations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science or a closely related technical discipline.
• Postgraduate degree preferred. An MBA or equivalent is an advantage but not required where delivery experience compensates.
• 8+ years in technical program or delivery management.
• 2–3 years minimum specifically managing AI/ML, data science or data engineering programs.
• Client SPOC ownership. Primary client-facing contact for enterprise or CXO-level stakeholders.
• Concurrent program ownership in a matrixed environment.
• Experience in IT services, consulting or an AI/ML solutions provider.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end delivery roadmap for AI/ML programs, including model development, training and fine-tuning, LLM implementations and model evaluation workstreams.
• Translate client requirements and business goals into structured delivery plans, milestones and success metrics.
• Track scope, timelines, budgets and resourcing across multiple concurrent AI/ML projects, flagging slippage early and driving corrective action.
• Establish and maintain governance cadences across all active engagements, including status reviews, steering committee updates and sprint or iteration reviews.
• Serve as the single point of contact for clients, managing relationships from day-to-day contacts through to CXO-level stakeholders.
• Run regular client check-ins, business reviews and escalation calls, presenting delivery status, risks and outcomes.
• Coordinate staffing and hiring pipelines with talent acquisition so the right people are available in time for project ramp-up.
• Read and challenge project guidelines, annotation taxonomies, evaluation rubrics and workflow designs.

Skills

8+ years PM/Delivery

AI/ML programs

Client SPOC

Multi-project mgmt

IT services delivery

Project certifications

Lean Six Sigma

Cloud/MLOps cert

AI/ML lifecycle knowledge

Delivery tools

Executive communication

GenAI delivery

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science or related technical discipline

MBA or postgraduate degree advantageous

Tools

Jira

Asana

MS Project

Confluence

Job description

Responsibilities

1. Program and Delivery Management
   • Own the end-to-end delivery roadmap for AI/ML programs, including model development, training and fine-tuning, LLM implementations and model evaluation workstreams
   • Translate client requirements and business goals into structured delivery plans, milestones and success metrics
   • Track scope, timelines, budgets and resourcing across multiple concurrent AI/ML projects, flagging slippage early and driving corrective action
   • Establish and maintain governance cadences across all active engagements, including status reviews, steering committee updates and sprint or iteration reviews
2. Client and Stakeholder Management
   • Serve as the single point of contact for clients, managing relationships from day-to-day contacts through to CXO-level stakeholders
   • Run regular client check-ins, business reviews and escalation calls, presenting delivery status, risks and outcomes
   • Capture, document and continuously validate client expectations against what is actually being built, closing gaps before they surface as dissatisfaction
   • Build trusted adviser relationships that support account growth and renewal
3. Cross-Functional Orchestration
   • Act as the connective tissue between practice heads, engineering, talent acquisition and operations so that everyone is working off the same delivery plan and priorities
   • Coordinate staffing and hiring pipelines with talent acquisition so the right people are available in time for project ramp-up
   • Work with practice and technical leads to validate solution approaches, technical feasibility and effort estimates before commitments are made to clients
   • Partner with operations on resourcing, utilization, invoicing and billing milestones and contractual compliance
4. Technical Ownership
   • Read and challenge project guidelines, annotation taxonomies, evaluation rubrics and workflow designs rather than routing every technical question to the practice teams
   • Interrogate delivery and quality data directly, and build or modify the trackers and working tools the program needs
   • Troubleshoot technical delivery issues alongside engineers and data scientists, and test the assumptions behind estimates and solution designs
5. Risk, Quality and Proactive Issue Management
   • Identify delivery risks across technical, resourcing, scope and timeline dimensions early, and drive mitigation before they escalated
   • Anticipate client concerns from program signals such as slipping milestones, performance issues or resourcing gaps, and act ahead of formal escalation
   • Own issue and escalation management end to end, coordinating the right internal teams and communicating transparently with the client throughout
   • Drive continuous improvement in delivery processes, templates and playbooks based on lessons learned across engagements
6. Reporting and Governance
   • Maintain accurate, real-time visibility into program health for internal leadership and client stakeholders
   • Prepare and present executive-level dashboards and reviews to both client and internal leadership
   • Ensure contractual SLAs, deliverable timelines and commercial commitments are tracked and met

Minimum Requirements

1. Education
   • Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science or a closely related technical discipline
   • Postgraduate degree preferred. An MBA or equivalent is an advantage but not required where delivery experience compensates
2. Experience
   • 8+ years in technical program or delivery management
   • 2 to 3 years minimum specifically managing AI/ML, data science or data engineering programs
   • Client SPOC ownership. Demonstrated experience as the primary client-facing point of contact for enterprise or CXO-level stakeholders
   • Concurrent program ownership. Proven ability to run multiple cross-functional programs at once in a matrixed environment spanning engineering, practice teams, hiring and operations
   • Services delivery model. Experience in IT services, consulting or an AI/ML solutions provider, where delivery is to a client rather than to an internal product team, is preferred
3. Certifications (Required)
   • Project and program: PMP, PgMP or PRINCE2; OR
   • Process: Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, consistent with the certification ladder used for IKSI senior operations roles
4. Preferred
   • Technical: Cloud or MLOps certification from AWS, Azure or Google Cloud
   • Technical Skills
     • AI/ML lifecycle. Strong working knowledge of model training and fine-tuning, LLM-based solution delivery, model evaluation and MLOps concepts
     • Personal technical working capability. Able to read and challenge guidelines and workflow designs, interrogate delivery and quality data directly, build or modify trackers and utilities, and troubleshoot technical issues alongside engineers rather than delegating every technical decision
     • GenAI delivery exposure. Direct exposure to LLM and generative AI delivery, including RAG pipelines, fine-tuning, agentic workflows and evaluation frameworks, is preferred
     • Delivery tooling. Practical use of Jira, Asana, MS Project or Confluence, plus reporting and dashboarding tools
     • Executive communication. Able to translate technical detail into business impact and present credibly to CXO audiences