AI Delivery Leader (SM / Asso. Dir)

Senior Manager / Associate Director – Operations & AI Delivery Location: Pune Ability to work with global customers and overlap with US business hours as needed. Experience: 12–18+ Years About Aligned Automation At Aligned Automation, we live by our "Better Together" philosophy to build a better world. As a strategic service provider to Fortune 500 companies, we help digitize enterprise operations and drive impactful business strategies. Our purpose goes beyond projects—we strive to deliver meaningful, sustainable change that shapes a more optimistic and equitable future. Our culture is deeply rooted in our 4Cs—Care, Courage, Curiosity, and Collaboration—ensuring that each employee is empowered to grow, innovate, and thrive in an inclusive workplace. About the Role We are looking for a highly capable, hands-on, and customer-focused leader to drive AI-led digital transformation and delivery operations for strategic global customers, primarily within the high-tech industry vertical. This role is specifically meant for a strong AI/ML and technology leader who has evolved from a deeply hands-on engineering, analytics, data science, or AI solutioning background into a broader delivery and transformation leadership role. The ideal candidate must have prior hands-on experience designing, building, deploying, operationalizing, and scaling AI/ML and analytics solutions in enterprise environments, and should be capable of directly leading AI engineers, data scientists, architects, and multidisciplinary transformation teams. This is not a coordination or program management role. We are looking for a leader who can comfortably operate across: AI strategy and solutioning Technical architecture and engineering discussions Delivery execution and governance Customer transformation consulting Operations leadership Team and capability building Presales and account growth The individual will lead one or multiple customer engagements focused on AI-enabled operational transformation across customer support, aftermarket services, service operations, field support, service supply chain, and enterprise operations domains. Key Responsibilities AI & Data Science Leadership Act as the overall AI and transformation delivery leader across customer engagements. Lead and guide teams comprising: AI Engineers Data Scientists ML Engineers Data Engineers GenAI Specialists Solution Architects Automation Engineers Analytics Consultants Operations SMEs Provide strong technical and functional leadership to AI and engineering teams, including solution direction, architecture guidance, prioritization, and technical governance. Drive design and implementation of scalable AI/ML and GenAI solutions for enterprise transformation use cases. Be capable of engaging deeply in: AI/ML model selection and design discussions GenAI and Agentic AI architectures Prompt engineering approaches AI orchestration frameworks Data engineering and data readiness Model deployment and operationalization MLOps and AI lifecycle management Monitoring, governance, and adoption frameworks Bring hands-on credibility from prior experience building and deploying enterprise AI/ML solutions. If required, be able to directly contribute to solutioning, architecture reviews, experimentation, prototyping, or hands-on problem solving on critical initiatives. AI-Led Transformation Delivery Lead end-to-end delivery of AI-driven digital transformation programs for global high-tech customers. Drive initiatives involving: Generative AI (GenAI) Agentic AI Machine Learning solutions Intelligent automation Predictive and prescriptive analytics NLP and conversational AI AI-native workflows and operations Knowledge management modernization Workflow orchestration and optimization Translate ambiguous business challenges into scalable AI-enabled transformation solutions aligned to measurable business outcomes. Ensure successful execution across scope, quality, timelines, customer outcomes, and adoption. Solutioning, Consulting & Technical Architecture Engage with customer stakeholders to identify operational pain points and AI-led transformation opportunities. Participate in consulting workshops, discovery sessions, and transformation roadmap discussions. Drive AI solution conceptualization, high-level architecture discussions, and operating model design. Collaborate closely with engineering, platform, and AI teams to define scalable and pragmatic solution approaches. Bridge the gap between business operations teams and technical implementation teams. Bring strong systems thinking and structured problem-solving to complex operational and technology challenges. Customer & Stakeholder Management Build trusted relationships with customer stakeholders across business, operations, transformation, analytics, and IT organizations. Drive executive governance reviews, transformation updates, and steering discussions. Manage customer expectations proactively while ensuring strong delivery quality and customer satisfaction. Handle complex delivery and stakeholder situations with ownership, maturity, and solution orientation. Presales & Account Growth Support strategic presales and growth initiatives including: Proposal development RFP/RFI responses Solution design and estimation Client presentations and workshops AI transformation storytelling Value articulation and business case development Identify expansion and transformation opportunities within existing customer engagements. Contribute to development of reusable AI transformation offerings, frameworks, accelerators, and AI-native delivery assets. Delivery Operations & Commercial Ownership Own delivery governance across one or multiple accounts/programs. Drive operational excellence across: Resource planning Team utilization Margin management Delivery forecasting Risk and dependency management Productivity and quality improvements Build scalable governance mechanisms, KPIs, and execution models balancing innovation with operational rigor. Team Leadership & Capability Building Build, mentor, and scale high-performing AI, analytics, engineering, and transformation teams. Coach managers, consultants, engineers, analysts, and technical leads. Foster an AI-first, innovation-driven, and customer-centric culture. Support hiring, competency development, succession planning, and organizational AI capability building. Drive collaboration across delivery, AI, analytics, consulting, and engineering organizations. Required Skills & Qualifications Must Have 12–18+ years of experience in IT Services, Digital Transformation, AI/ML Delivery, Analytics Consulting, or Technology Consulting environments. Strong foundational experience in AI/ML engineering, data science, analytics, or enterprise technology solutioning with progression into delivery and transformation leadership roles. Demonstrated hands-on experience in designing, building, deploying, and scaling enterprise AI/ML solutions. Strong practical understanding of: Generative AI Agentic AI frameworks Machine Learning lifecycle NLP and conversational AI AI orchestration frameworks MLOps and model operationalization Data engineering and analytics ecosystems Enterprise AI architectures Ability to directly lead and challenge AI engineers, data scientists, architects, and technical teams. Experience managing large-scale customer transformation programs and global delivery teams. Strong understanding of one or more domains: Customer support operations Service operations Service supply chain Aftermarket support Field services Contact center transformation Strong consulting, analytical, and structured problem-solving skills. Excellent customer communication and executive stakeholder management capabilities. Experience supporting presales, solutioning, proposal development, and account growth initiatives. Strong operational and commercial orientation including delivery governance, utilization, margins, and execution management. Preferred Qualifications Experience working with US-based high-tech customers. Exposure to cloud ecosystems, enterprise AI platforms, automation platforms, and modern data architectures. Familiarity with agile, product-centric, and AI-native delivery models. MBA or advanced degree in Operations, Technology, Analytics, Engineering, Computer Science, or related disciplines preferred. Relevant certifications in AI/ML, Cloud, Analytics, or Program Management are a plus. Leadership Attributes Strong AI and technology depth with delivery leadership capability Ownership mindset and execution orientation Systems thinking and structured problem solving Customer empathy and relationship management Innovation-first mindset with practical execution focus Ability to simplify complexity Operational rigor and accountability Bias for action and continuous improvement Strong collaboration and people leadership skills What Success Looks Like Successful delivery of AI-led transformation programs with measurable business impact. Strong customer satisfaction and long-term account growth. Scalable AI-enabled delivery and operational governance models. High-performing and engaged multidisciplinary teams. Increased adoption of AI-native ways of working across customer engagements. Contribution toward strategic organizational AI capability building and transformation growth.