Client Director, Cloud & Strategic AI

Arista Networks•San Jose, CA

7h•$135,000 - $184,000

About The Position

The Client Director owns Arista's end-to-end relationship with one or more major cloud providers and frontier AI labs, including account strategy, revenue, and customer trust. The role is part of a Bay Area-based team covering strategic hyperscale and AI customers, with high executive visibility and direct collaboration with Arista leadership. These customers make large-scale purchases, move quickly, conduct engineering-led evaluations, and expect technically credible partnership. The position is responsible for developing multi-year account strategies aligned with customer AI and cloud roadmaps; leading major RFPs, evaluations, and commercial negotiations; managing forecasts and the quote-to-order-to-delivery process; coordinating supply and operations for large builds; resolving escalations; and representing customer requirements internally to Arista executives, product management, engineering, finance, legal, and supply chain.

Requirements

At least 12 years of experience selling data center networking, optical, silicon, or cloud infrastructure.
At least 5 years owning a hyperscale, cloud service provider, or frontier AI account.
Track record of closing large, multi-year deals, including eight- and nine-figure programs, and consistently exceeding quota.
Working technical fluency in data center fabrics, including leaf-spine and AI back-end networks, BGP/EVPN, 400G/800G Ethernet, RoCE and congestion management, DCI, and optics.
Understanding of NOS options including EOS, SONiC, FBOSS, and other disaggregated options, and how hyperscalers select among them.
Experience running complex RFPs and competitive evaluations against well-funded incumbents and white-box/ODM alternatives.
Experience with pricing strategy, reseller and channel structures, non-standard terms, and collaboration with legal, finance, and supply chain.
Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or business, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

Background as a sales engineer or network architect before moving into account leadership.
Direct experience with AI training and inference cluster build-outs, GPU clouds, or neo-cloud providers.
Existing relationships with network engineering, infrastructure, or supply leaders at major cloud providers or AI labs.
Familiarity with Ultra Ethernet, scale-out versus scale-up networking, and next-generation switch silicon roadmaps.
Ownership mindset and accountability for account outcomes.
Technical credibility with engineering customers and a commitment to accurate, trustworthy customer engagement.
Long-term relationship-building and strategic positioning.
Calmness and focus in fast-moving, ambiguous, high-stakes situations.
Strong attention to detail in quotes, purchase orders, and delivery execution.
Collaborative approach that supports sales engineering, product, and operations teams and shares learning.

Responsibilities

Build and execute multi-year account plans aligned with customers' AI and cloud roadmaps, including cluster build-outs, front-end and back-end fabrics, DCI, and silicon transitions.
Develop relationships throughout customer organizations, from engineering and architecture to supply chain, procurement, finance, legal, and executive sponsors.
Anticipate customers' needs 12–24 months ahead and position Arista solutions before formal RFPs.
Lead strategic RFPs and competitive evaluations from qualification through award, coordinating sales engineers, product management, engineering, and executives.
Develop competitive positioning against white-box/ODM alternatives, disaggregated merchant silicon, and incumbent vendors, including positioning EOS or supporting customer-selected NOS options.
Structure commercial agreements, including pricing, multi-year commitments, reseller and channel paths, and commercial or financing models.
Own forecasting and the quote-to-PO-to-delivery chain, identifying discrepancies proactively.
Work with supply chain and operations to secure capacity and manage lead times for large, time-critical builds.
Personally handle customer escalations, including field issues and commercial disputes, and ensure they are resolved.
Translate customer requirements into input for product management and engineering roadmaps.
Align Arista executives, finance, legal, and supply chain on non-standard terms and strategic commitments.
Share account intelligence and competitive insights across the team.