Head of Deployment Strategy

Kira • New York, NY

4d • $205,000 - $240,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Kira is a rapidly growing, venture-backed startup using transformative AI technologies to make personalized teaching and learning accessible to everyone. Kira delivers its product through deployments in which strategists work closely with major customers—including governments, global education companies, and universities—to determine how the product should work for them and deliver solutions alongside product, design, and engineering.

The Head of Deployment Strategy will be the first leader of this team in a player-coach role. The person will personally own a portfolio of Kira’s largest and most complex accounts, beginning with a multimillion-dollar partnership with a London university, while managing and coaching Deployment Strategists responsible for other strategic accounts. The role will also establish the team’s deployment processes, playbooks, quality metrics, and operating rhythm from scratch.

The role is based in Kira’s Tribeca, New York City office, with four in-person days per week and significant travel to the UK. Travel includes an extended on-site period at launch and regular trips afterward.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience, including significant experience leading complex, high-value client relationships.
• Hands-on experience doing the work and the ability to coach others through it.
• A track record of earning trust with C-suite and owner-level stakeholders on demanding, politically complex accounts.
• Experience managing, coaching, or developing people, either as a formal manager or by leading client engagement teams.
• Experience building processes and teams from scratch and creating structure while remaining hands-on.
• Fluency with complex products and comfort working alongside engineers to scope and deploy solutions.
• Extensive hands-on experience using AI tools in day-to-day work and a track record of helping others adopt AI-native ways of working.
• Comfort operating amid ambiguity and confidence pushing back on customers and internal teams when priorities need sharpening.
• Willingness to travel internationally, including extended on-site periods in the UK.
• Prompt engineering fluency.

Nice To Haves

• Prior founder experience.
• Experience with private equity-backed organizations.
• Experience as a Partner, Associate Partner, or Senior Engagement Manager at a top-tier consulting firm, or equivalent experience in private equity, professional services, or enterprise SaaS/AI account leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own a portfolio of large, complex enterprise accounts, starting with a multimillion-dollar partnership with a university in London.
• Lead high-priority rollouts from contract signature through go-live, adoption, and measurable impact; own renewals and expansion.
• Build trusted relationships with senior customer stakeholders, including executives, owners and investors, and academic and operational leaders, and manage competing interests among them.
• Run executive business reviews and workshops to build alignment among customer stakeholders.
• Spend extended periods on-site with customers, including in the UK, and investigate their operations to identify important problems to solve.
• Partner with product and engineering to shape Kira’s evolution based on customer needs.
• Push back with customers and internal teams when needed, and help prioritize work.
• Evaluate customer contexts and choose the most appropriate Kira version or configuration for each customer.
• Build prototypes using AI tools to test and validate solutions before full development.
• Translate technical capabilities into clear business outcomes for customers and executives.
• Work hands-on in the product by configuring organizations, building AI-generated courses, and defining workflows, and use that experience to coach others.
• Manage and coach Deployment Strategists, helping them develop the skills to independently manage senior executive relationships.
• Create, test, and refine deployment playbooks, SOPs, quality metrics, and team operating rhythms.
• Support the team during high-stakes situations such as executive escalations, renewals, scope negotiations, and difficult conversations.
• Travel internationally, including extended on-site periods in the UK.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, including a medical plan with 100% employee coverage.
• Daily DoorDash lunch credit when in the office and free DashPass for work or personal use.
• Company-paid Wellhub membership, including access to premium gym networks, wellness apps, and one-to-one coaching sessions.
• 401(k) matching.
• Pet-friendly office.
• Salary of $205,000–$240,000 plus variable compensation and meaningful equity.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed