Forward Deployed AI Operating Principal

Sumeru Equity Partners • San Mateo, CA

4d • $320,000 - $360,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Embed directly with portfolio company teams to bridge the gap between AI platforms and real business workflows — delivering measurable automation outcomes on fast cycle times. This role is different. Inspired by the forward deployed engineer model — where builders embed directly in the customer’s environment to deliver production outcomes in days, not quarters — this Operating Principal will sit side-by-side with portfolio company operators, hands on keyboard, bridging AI/automation platforms to their specific use cases. You will own the full cycle: discover the problem → architect the solution → build the workflow → prove ROI. Think startup energy meets PE operating discipline. If you’ve spent your career translating complex platforms into customer-specific value at speed, this is the role. You will operate as a hands-on solution architect and embedded execution leader across Sumeru’s B2B enterprise technology portfolio — part “forward deployed engineer”, part transformation principal. Your work product isn’t a slide deck; it’s running automation in production.

Requirements

• 10–15 years of experience, with 5+ years owning large-scale enterprise technology delivery, operations, professional services, or solution consulting — and a meaningful portion of that time spent in the field, embedded with customers or portfolio companies, not just managing from HQ.
• You’ve personally built, configured, or deployed production systems, not just directed others to do so.
• Led 2–3+ end-to-end enterprise-scale transformations where you redesigned processes, technology, and org structure — not just tools implementations
• Can point to quantitative impact: reduction in volume/handle time/cycle time, gross margin or EBITDA improvement, or measurable customer satisfaction gains
• Demonstrated fast cycle time — you’re known for delivering working solutions in weeks, not quarters
• Hands-on experience using workflow automation and agentic tools (Claude Code/Cowork, xClaw, n8n, UiPath, ServiceNow, Zapier, or similar) to orchestrate cross-system flows — you’ve configured these yourself, not just evaluated vendor demos
• Deployed LLM-powered solutions in production: support bots, knowledge base search/summarization, implementation or sales copilots, document understanding (contracts, invoices, tickets)
• Working understanding of RAG architectures, prompt engineering, data/logging/telemetry requirements for AI systems, and the practical limits of current models
• You have a solution consultant’s instinct for quickly understanding a customer’s environment, mapping their pain points to platform capabilities, and configuring or building the bridge between the two.
• Significant leadership or delivery experience in at least two of: CX/Support, RevOps, FP&A, DevOps/SRE, Professional Services/Implementation, Field Service, or Back-Office Operations.
• Comfortable collaborating with and influencing leaders across all of these.
• Proven ability to operate at Board and C-suite level while also gaining the trust of frontline operators and technical teams by demonstrating you can do the work, not just talk about it.
• Experience leading orgs of several hundred people and managing meaningful budgets, plus strong change management capability.
• Can build robust business cases, interpret P&L and unit economics, and translate automation outcomes into valuation impact.
• Familiar with SaaS metrics (ARR, NRR, CAC, LTV, gross margin, support cost per ticket, implementation margin).
• BS in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent hands-on experience that speaks for itself).

Nice To Haves

• MBA or advanced degree a plus but not required

Responsibilities

• Forward Deploy Into Portfolio Companies: Embed directly with portco CEOs, COOs, CRO’s, CMO’s, and operational teams on-site. Run rapid discovery sprints — time-in-motion studies, ticket and call analysis, process mining, data quality assessments — to baseline current workflows and surface the highest-value automation targets within your first weeks. Approach each engagement the way an FDSE approaches a customer: you don’t just advise, you build.
• Bridge Platforms to Use Cases at Speed: Design and hands-on implement AI/automation workflows that connect the right tools (Claude Code/Cowork, n8n, UiPath, xClaw, custom LLM pipelines) to specific business processes — Tier 1 support deflection, order-to-cash automation, customer onboarding copilots, document intelligence for contracts and invoices. Own the full stack from data integration to deployed workflow. Target: working pilot within 4–8 weeks per engagement, not 6-month roadmaps.
• Pilot, Measure & Scale: Run structured A/B pilots with hard KPIs. Move material volumes of work from human to machine — push automation coverage from <20% to >60% of target transaction volumes without degrading CX. Once a use case proves out, package it for scale across regions, product lines, and additional portcos. Build the playbook as you go: patterns, reference architectures, code, and KPI frameworks that compound across the portfolio.
• Maintain the Automation Backlog Across Companies: Own a portfolio-wide AI/automation roadmap. Rank initiatives by savings, revenue lift, payback period, and implementation complexity. Collaborate with other operating team members to maintain a shared catalog of proven use cases (support automation, knowledge management + LLM search, professional services copilots, finance ops) — so what works at one company can be rapidly deployed at the next.
• Pre-Deal Automation & AI Readiness Assessment: Partner with deal teams on operational diligence. Quantify the AI/automation value creation case — e.g., “$3–5M annual EBITDA uplift via 40% automation of Tier 1 support within 18 months” — with defensible assumptions. Identify critical leadership or org changes needed post-close to execute.
• Define Reference Architectures & Build the Vendor Ecosystem: Establish standard reference architectures for the portfolio’s automation stack. Build and manage a preferred vendor ecosystem (implementation partners, AI platform providers, consultants) and negotiate portfolio-wide commercial terms. Stay current on the evolving tool landscape so you’re always deploying the sharpest available solution.
• Leave Teams Stronger Than You Found Them: Design org and talent changes with portco leadership — automation product owners, citizen developers, prompt engineers. Stand up AI/automation COEs in key companies. Deliver executive and manager-level training on AI concepts, business case creation, and data-driven decision-making. Coach functional leaders to own and extend programs after your initial deployment so they don’t depend on you permanently.
• Translate Results Into Valuation Impact: Build standard ROI tracking frameworks. Package AI/automation achievements into board materials, portfolio reviews, and exit narratives — “automated X% of tickets,” “cut MTTR by Y%,” “improved gross margin by Z pts” — directly supporting valuation re-rating.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior