Senior Manager, AI Forward Deployed Engineering - London

<p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><strong>REQ ID: CSQ128R7</strong></p> <p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><strong>Location: London, United Kingdom - Remote location for candidates to be based in the United Kingdom region ONLY (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> remote from any other country)</strong></p> <h4><strong>Mission</strong></h4> <p>The Forward Deployed AI Engineering (AI FDE) team is a highly specialised customer-facing AI team at Databricks. We deliver professional services (PS) engagements to help our customers build and productionize first-of-its-kind AI applications with a focus on GenAI. We work cross-functionally with AI/ML Product, Research, and Engineering to shape long-term strategic priorities and initiatives.</p> <p>We are looking for a world-class leader to lead and grow our UK AI FDE team. In this role, you will lead customers on their AI/ML transformation with Databricks, push the boundaries of our product, recruit and develop top data scientists/machine learning engineers, and manage a portfolio of key EMEA accounts. </p> <p>You will report directly to the Director AI FDE. </p> <h3><strong>The impact you will have:</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Lead and scale a world-class AI/ML professional services team, including hiring, mentoring, and building a team structure to support long-term growth and execution at scale</li> <li>Develop and expand executive relationships with EMEA customers and partners (including VP+, CIO/CDO-level stakeholders), acting as a trusted advisor during complex technical engagements and AI transformations</li> <li>Align with Field Engineering and Sales Leaders to define joint strategies for strategic accounts and ensure strong delivery coordination across functions</li> <li>Lead strategic AI PS initiatives, practice development, and standardised delivery processes; design scalable engagement models and reusable solutions for repeatability across the global team</li> <li>Shape cross-functional collaboration by influencing Product, R&D, and GTM—ensuring voice-of-customer insights and delivery learnings help inform the product roadmap and GTM strategy</li> <li>Own OKRs for AI-services led accounts, revenue, utilisation, and public references</li> <li>Represent Databricks as a thought leader in AI/ML</li> </ul> <h3><strong>What we look for:</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Extensive experience managing, hiring, and building a team of high-performing data scientists/ML engineers and leaders, with a track record of scaling organisations through developing scalable processes and cultivating leaders</li> <li>Ability to scope, guide, and sell technical engagements, manage escalations, and ensure successful delivery in enterprise environments</li> <li>Deep technical expertise in ML, GenAI, and data science, and curiosity to continue to stay up-to-date in this ever-changing field</li> <li>Experience leading teams building cutting-edge production ML solutions in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP)</li> <li>Proven success in developing a strategy with senior executive stakeholders to define program-level goals, align technical vision, and build trust throughout complex enterprise engagements</li> <li>Demonstrated experience in cross-functional leadership roles, collaborating with Sales, Product, and GTM teams to drive business impact through AI/ML</li> <li>“Company-first” mindset</li> <li>Graduate degree in a quantitative discipline (Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, Operations Research, etc.) or equivalent practical experience<br><br></li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience in a customer-facing consulting or professional services leadership role</li> <li>Experience working with Databricks</li> </ul><div class="content-conclusion"><p><strong>About Databricks</strong></p> <p><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/databricks">LinkedIn&