Director, Cloud Transformation, Data and AI Presales

Rackspace•United States - San Antonio, TX

11d

About The Position

The Director, Cloud Transformation, Data and AI Presales Leader will drive strategic presales activities, solution architecture, and advisory engagements for Cloud, Data and AI transformation across US or EMEA markets. This executive will lead a high-performing team, collaborate with partners and product marketing, and engage directly with C-suite stakeholders to secure complex, multi-million-dollar transformational deals. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise, strong business acumen, and proven leadership in presales and solution development across Advisory, Professional Services, Managed Services, and Solution Architecture. Work with sales leaders to synthesize GTM motions that can scale effectively across regions. Lead and mentor advisory, enterprise, and solution architects with a complete client-outcome mindset. Coach junior architects on customer engagement, deal strategy, and elevating technical conversations to business outcomes. Build methodologies for value-driven POCs and repeatable frameworks. Develop and deliver sales enablement programs and training. Establish governance across AI, analytics, and data-modernization presales motions to ensure consistency with the Solution Director framework. Define cross-portfolio qualification criteria ensuring AI initiatives map to underlying data platform readiness. Lead complex transformational sales engagements and multi-discipline solution teams. Engage directly with CxO-level stakeholders. Conduct discovery engagements to define business problems and identify value opportunities. Run advisory engagements including GenAI-driven business process analysis. Drive dual-track customer engagement approaches: AI-first executive visioning paired with data-platform modernization discovery. Lead art-of-the-possible sessions using Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Q, QuickSight Q, and RAG architectures when appropriate. Build capability and motion alignment for Palantir on AWS customer bootcamps and projects. Oversee the design, implementation, and delivery of AI, Data, Application Modernization, Managed Services, and Cloud Migration solutions. Collaborate with product marketing to simplify collateral and messaging. Create service offerings, packages, and GTM strategies. Leverage AWS funding and partnerships (Palantir, Rubrik, Databricks, Snowflake, Dynatrace, Datadog). Integrate generative AI/LLM solution patterns---including Bedrock, Amazon Q, and lakehouse architectures---into practice offerings to maintain parity with the Solution Director portfolio. Own reference architectures spanning AI, lakehouse modernization, and unified analytics, ensuring cross-team consistency. Maintain technical foundation in data engineering (Redshift Spectrum, Airflow, ETL), machine learning (LSTMs, CNNs), and data architecture. Demonstrate hands-on experience in ML and cloud-native tooling. Provide strategic advisory, value discovery, and stakeholder management. Possess dual expertise across generative AI (Bedrock, Amazon Q, RAG patterns, vector databases) and lakehouse data platforms (Glue, Databricks, Snowflake, Iceberg/Delta). Guide customers on AI readiness assessments, linking LLM ambitions to required data modernization. Represent the company at public events. Contribute to IP including white papers and presentations. Publish thought leadership covering both generative AI strategy and modern data-platform architecture patterns.

Requirements

Experience in presales leadership, solution architecture, and advisory for AI/Data/Cloud Transformation in US and UK markets.
Proven record of securing multi-million-dollar transformational deals.
Deep technical expertise in AI, Data Engineering, App Modernization, Managed Services, Cloud Migration.
Experience with technology partners and hyperscalers.
Strong business acumen and stakeholder management.
Excellent communication and negotiation.
Demonstrated team-leadership capability.
Experience building offerings, GTM strategies, and enablement programs.
Bachelor's or Master's degree; MBA preferred.
Demonstrated expertise spanning generative AI and data-modernization architectures, aligned with Solution Director competency expectations.
Ability to lead executive-level AI sessions and translate them into data-modernization programs.

Nice To Haves

Leadership roles in presales or solution architecture.
Hands-on experience with data engineering stacks and ML frameworks.
Experience in US, UK, German, LATAM, KSA; APJ a plus.
AWS Solutions Architect or equivalent.
Certifications in AI/ML (AWS ML Specialty), Data Analytics, or platform-specific certs (SnowPro, Databricks).
Experience designing dual-portfolio (AI + Lakehouse) solution strategies.

Responsibilities

Presales Leadership & Team Management Work with sales leaders to synthesize GTM motions that can scale effectively across regions.
Lead and mentor advisory, enterprise, and solution architects with a complete client-outcome mindset.
Coach junior architects on customer engagement, deal strategy, and elevating technical conversations to business outcomes.
Build methodologies for value-driven POCs and repeatable frameworks.
Develop and deliver sales enablement programs and training.
Establish governance across AI, analytics, and data-modernization presales motions to ensure consistency with the Solution Director framework.
Define cross-portfolio qualification criteria ensuring AI initiatives map to underlying data platform readiness.
Strategic Customer Engagement Lead complex transformational sales engagements and multi-discipline solution teams.
Engage directly with CxO-level stakeholders.
Conduct discovery engagements to define business problems and identify value opportunities.
Run advisory engagements including GenAI-driven business process analysis.
Drive dual-track customer engagement approaches: AI-first executive visioning paired with data-platform modernization discovery.
Lead art-of-the-possible sessions using Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Q, QuickSight Q, and RAG architectures when appropriate.
Solution Architecture & Practice Development Build capability and motion alignment for Palantir on AWS customer bootcamps and projects.
Oversee the design, implementation, and delivery of AI, Data, Application Modernization, Managed Services, and Cloud Migration solutions.
Collaborate with product marketing to simplify collateral and messaging.
Create service offerings, packages, and GTM strategies.
Leverage AWS funding and partnerships (Palantir, Rubrik, Databricks, Snowflake, Dynatrace, Datadog).
Integrate generative AI/LLM solution patterns---including Bedrock, Amazon Q, and lakehouse architectures---into practice offerings to maintain parity with the Solution Director portfolio.
Own reference architectures spanning AI, lakehouse modernization, and unified analytics, ensuring cross-team consistency.
Technical & Advisory Expertise Maintain technical foundation in data engineering (Redshift Spectrum, Airflow, ETL), machine learning (LSTMs, CNNs), and data architecture.
Demonstrate hands-on experience in ML and cloud-native tooling.
Provide strategic advisory, value discovery, and stakeholder management.
Possess dual expertise across generative AI (Bedrock, Amazon Q, RAG patterns, vector databases) and lakehouse data platforms (Glue, Databricks, Snowflake, Iceberg/Delta).
Guide customers on AI readiness assessments, linking LLM ambitions to required data modernization.
Public Speaking & Thought Leadership Represent the company at public events.
Contribute to IP including white papers and presentations.
Publish thought leadership covering both generative AI strategy and modern data-platform architecture patterns.