CPGR Growth Leader, AI Engineering, Strategic Accounts

AOB Recruitment•Chicago, IL

3d•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a senior, client-facing growth leader to own the AI Engineering workstream across a portfolio of strategic accounts. This leader will develop C-suite relationships, originate enterprise transformation opportunities, and shape them into scaled, multi-year programs spanning AI, data, cloud, and engineering modernization. As Growth Leader – AI Engineering, Strategic Accounts, you will operate at the intersection of strategic account growth, technology advisory, and transformation execution. You will build trusted relationships with CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, business executives, and their leadership teams; understand enterprise priorities; and translate those priorities into a differentiated AI engineering and modernization agenda. You will own the opportunity lifecycle, from executive dialogue and problem definition through solution development, commercial closure, mobilization, and scale. Success means moving beyond isolated pilots to create funded transformation roadmaps, establish durable executive sponsorship, and expand strategic partnerships into repeatable, enterprise-wide programs with measurable business and technology outcomes.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in technology consulting, digital engineering, data and AI services, or enterprise transformation, including significant responsibility for growth within large strategic accounts.
Demonstrated success originating, shaping, and winning complex, multi-million-dollar or multi-year transformation programs with enterprise clients.
Established credibility with CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, and senior business leaders, with the presence and judgment to challenge constructively and build consensus.
Strong understanding of enterprise modernization across cloud-native architecture, data platforms and Lakehouse patterns, APIs and integration, microservices, DevSecOps, platform engineering, MLOps/LLMOps, observability, and legacy transformation.
Working knowledge of applied AI, generative AI, agentic systems, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), model and data engineering, AI governance, and the requirements for secure, reliable production deployment.
Ability to connect technical architecture and engineering decisions to business outcomes, operating-model change, adoption, and quantified value cases.
Strong commercial acumen across opportunity qualification, deal strategy, pricing, contracting, negotiation, risk management, and portfolio economics.
Experience leading multidisciplinary, geographically distributed teams through influence in a matrixed organization.
Excellent executive communication, facilitation, storytelling, and written proposal skills, with the ability to explain complex technology choices to business and technical audiences.
Willingness to travel to client locations as required.
Strategic account entrepreneurship: Identifies growth opportunities, creates momentum, and takes end-to-end ownership of account development.
C-suite influence: Earns trust through insight, candor, relevance, and consistent follow-through.
Transformation thinking: Connects business ambition, technology modernization, operating-model change, and measurable value.
Technical credibility: Understands architecture and engineering trade-offs while maintaining a clear executive narrative.
Commercial discipline: Qualifies opportunities rigorously, builds investable value cases, and protects sustainable economics.
Enterprise orchestration: Aligns client, internal, and partner stakeholders around shared outcomes and execution plans.
Scale mindset: Designs for adoption, reuse, governance, and repeatability from the outset.
Judgment and integrity: Makes responsible decisions, surfaces risks early, and prioritizes long-term client trust.
15–20+ years in technology consulting, digital engineering, data/AI services, or enterprise transformation
Existing, sustained CIO/CTO/CDO-level relationships in strategic accounts — with a track record of expansion/upsell/cross-sell (NOT new-logo hunting)
Working technical fluency in AI/GenAI/Agentic AI, Data Engineering, and Advanced Analytics — enough to be credible in technical discussions, not delivery-execution level
Demonstrated account growth/wallet-share expansion track record — multi-million-dollar, multi-year transformation programs grown within existing clients
Industry background: CPG required (CPG-heavy strongly preferred over Retail if mixed)

Nice To Haves

Industry experience in consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, or another data-intensive enterprise sector is preferred.
A master’s degree, MBA, or equivalent advanced qualification is preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the AI Engineering growth agenda, qualified pipeline, bookings, revenue, and profitable expansion across assigned strategic accounts.
Develop and sustain trusted-advisor relationships with CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, Chief Digital Officers, business presidents, and senior technology leaders across multiple buying centers.
Create executive-level points of view on AI-led transformation and enterprise modernization, connecting technology choices to growth, productivity, resilience, speed, and customer experience.
Map account priorities, stakeholders, budgets, decision processes, and competitive positions; convert these insights into focused account and pursuit plans.
Lead executive briefings, innovation sessions, modernization assessments, and co-creation workshops that generate sponsored, outcome-led transformation opportunities.
Identify and shape strategic initiatives across data platform and cloud modernization, AI/ML engineering, generative AI and agentic AI, application and software engineering, intelligent operations, and enterprise automation.
Translate clients’ current-state technology environments and business ambitions into pragmatic multi-year roadmaps, sequenced value cases, target architectures, investment cases, and transformation governance models.
Connect modernization of legacy data, applications, integration, and engineering practices with AI readiness, ensuring foundational work enables near-term business value.
Advise clients on responsible AI, security, privacy, model risk, data governance, interoperability, and operating-model implications required for enterprise adoption.
Bring together relevant technical capabilities, platforms, accelerators, and industry solutions into coherent transformation propositions rather than standalone offerings.
Lead large, complex pursuits from qualification through proposal development, solution architecture, value engineering, commercial structuring, negotiations, and executive closure.
Build compelling business cases with clear baseline metrics, expected benefits, investment requirements, risks, dependencies, and a credible path from proof of value to production scale.
Coordinate consulting, AI, data, cloud, product, design, and engineering teams to develop an integrated client narrative, solution, and delivery model.
Remain actively engaged through mobilization and critical delivery milestones, protecting the original value proposition, executive confidence, and expansion potential.
Turn successful pilots into reusable platforms and multi-business, multi-region programs; establish client references and executive advocacy that accelerate growth across the portfolio.
Build joint propositions and go-to-market initiatives with hyperscalers, data and AI platforms, and other strategic technology partners.
Create reusable modernization approaches, reference architectures, executive narratives, solution blueprints, estimation models, and pursuit assets that improve win rates and execution speed.
Share market intelligence and client needs with capability leaders to help shape AI Engineering offerings, investments, alliances, and talent priorities.
Coach account, solution, and engineering leaders, fostering strong commercial ownership, technical credibility, collaboration, and client stewardship.