Delivery Lead - AI

Delivery Lead - AI

Location: New York, United States

Type: Full-time

Department: Technology

Job Summary

The Delivery Leader – AI Engineering is a senior executive accountable for the end-to-end delivery of complex, high-impact AI Engineering programs across a portfolio of strategic client accounts. This leader bridges technical depth with delivery excellence—ensuring that AI solutions are shipped on time, within scope, and with measurable business value. Operating at the intersection of engineering, product, and client strategy, this individual drives consistency, quality, and growth across multiple concurrent programs.

This role demands a rare combination of hands-on AI/ML knowledge, enterprise delivery discipline, and executive client relationship management. The Delivery Leader cultivates high-performing teams, establishes delivery frameworks scaled for AI complexity, and serves as the senior accountability point across accounts

Responsibilities

Portfolio & Program Delivery

• Own end-to-end delivery accountability across a portfolio of AI Engineering projects spanning multiple client accounts and industry verticals
• Establish and govern delivery frameworks, methodologies, and standards tailored for AI/ML program complexity (e.g., iterative ML pipelines, model governance, data readiness gates)
• Drive project planning, milestone tracking, risk management, and executive reporting across all active engagements
• Proactively identify delivery risks—technical debt, scope creep, resource gaps—and execute mitigation strategies
• Ensure consistent application of delivery best practices: agile ceremonies, sprint cadences, retrospectives, and continuous improvement loops

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the executive delivery sponsor for strategic accounts, building trusted C-suite and VP-level relationships
• Lead quarterly business reviews (QBRs), program status briefings, and executive steering committees
• Translate complex AI/ML delivery status into clear business narratives for non-technical client stakeholders
• Act as the primary escalation point for delivery issues, exercising judgment to resolve conflicts quickly while preserving client relationships
• Partner with account management and sales teams to identify expansion opportunities and support commercial growth

People & Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a multi-disciplinary team of delivery managers, ML engineers, data engineers, and solution architects
• Build a high-performance delivery culture centered on ownership, transparency, and continuous learning
• Collaborate with resource management to ensure optimal staffing of AI talent across accounts
• Foster psychological safety and inclusive team dynamics, enabling diverse teams to do their best work
• Identify capability gaps and partner with L&D to upskill delivery teams on emerging AI technologies and practices

AI Engineering Oversight

• Provide technical oversight and architectural guidance on AI/ML solution design, ensuring technical decisions align with delivery timelines and client objectives
• Govern model lifecycle management across accounts: from data ingestion and model training to evaluation, deployment, and monitoring
• Champion responsible AI practices including fairness assessments, bias mitigation, explainability requirements, and compliance controls
• Stay current with frontier AI developments (LLMs, agentic AI, multimodal systems) and advise clients on strategic adoption paths
• Partner with enterprise architecture teams to ensure AI solutions integrate securely within client technology ecosystems

Operational Excellence & Growth

• Define and track KPIs for delivery health across the portfolio: on-time delivery, utilization, client satisfaction (NPS/CSAT), and margin performance
• Drive standardization through reusable delivery assets, playbooks, and accelerators that reduce time-to-value across AI engagements
• Contribute to practice development: thought leadership, case studies, go-to-market narratives, and proposal development
• Support hiring and team growth, establishing the delivery function as a center of AI delivery excellence

Eligibility Requirements

Required

• 10+ years of experience in technology program delivery, with at least 4 years leading AI/ML or data engineering programs at scale
• Proven track record managing multi-million-dollar, multi-account delivery portfolios in a consulting, systems integration, or technology services environment
• Deep understanding of the AI/ML project lifecycle: data strateg