Team Lead, Engineering, Data & AI

Arctiq

22h

About The Position

We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Team Lead, Engineering, Data & AI, to join our team. This role leads a team of solution engineers who deliver fixed-price, outcome-based data and AI projects for our clients. This is a high-accountability leadership role where technical excellence and commercial discipline are equally important — in a fixed-price model, every scoping decision, delivery risk, and scope change has a direct impact on project margin and client trust. Reporting to the Director of Data & AI, you will own the full delivery lifecycle across your team's client portfolio: from pre-sales scoping and SOW definition through to outcome acceptance. You will work in close partnership with the Architecture team to ensure solutions are right-sized and deliverable within agreed commercial boundaries, and you will be the senior escalation point for clients when engagements encounter turbulence.

Requirements

7+ years in data engineering, ML/AI engineering, or a closely adjacent technical discipline
3+ years in an engineering leadership or delivery management role within a professional services, consulting, or systems integration firm
Demonstrated experience owning fixed-price or outcome-based client engagements — you understand the commercial mechanics and have managed both successful projects and recoveries
Track record of building and developing high-performing engineering teams in a client-delivery context
Experience supporting pre-sales processes, including scoping, estimation, and proposal development
Strong working knowledge of modern cloud data platforms (e.g., Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, BigQuery, etc.) and the patterns used to build production data solutions on them
Familiarity with AI and ML engineering — including model deployment, MLOps, and practical application of LLMs (RAG pipelines, prompt engineering, API integration)
Proficiency in Python and SQL; hands-on familiarity with dbt, Airflow, Spark, or equivalent transformation and orchestration tooling
Ability to read, review, and provide meaningful technical feedback on engineering work — you may not be coding day-to-day, but you can tell good from poor solution design
Understanding of DataOps principles: CI/CD for data, data quality frameworks, testing, and observability in production
Sharp commercial instincts — you understand how fixed-price projects make or lose money and can translate that understanding into the daily decisions your team makes
Strong estimation and risk assessment skills; you know how to build contingency into a scope without pricing yourself out of a deal
Experienced with SOW structure, acceptance criteria definition, and change order management
Comfortable with project financial reporting — burn rates, margin tracking, and forecasting at the portfolio level
Confident, credible communicator with senior client stakeholders — you can hold a room, navigate difficult conversations, and maintain trust under pressure
Empathetic people manager who develops engineers as whole professionals, not just technical contributors
Organized and decisive — you manage ambiguity well, prioritize across competing demands, and keep your team focused on what matters
You bring calm to a crisis. When an engagement is at risk, you stabilize, assess, and lead a recovery rather than escalating the problem upward

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end delivery of a portfolio of fixed-price client engagements, ensuring outcomes are achieved on scope, on time, and within budget
Maintain rigorous visibility into project health across the team — tracking effort burn, milestone progress, and risk indicators on every active engagement
Lead scope management with discipline: identify scope creep early, facilitate change order conversations with clients, and protect project margin without damaging relationships
Ensure project financials are accurate and current — own gross margin reporting for your team's delivery portfolio in partnership with the Director
Conduct structured post-engagement reviews to capture lessons learned and feed improvements back into scoping, methodology, and estimation practices
Partner with sales and business development to scope new client opportunities — translating client requirements into technically sound, commercially viable fixed-price proposals
Lead or oversee effort estimation for engineering deliverables, applying rigorous bottom-up analysis and incorporating appropriate risk buffers for uncertainty
Review and sign-off on SOW language relating to engineering deliverables, acceptance criteria, and out-of-scope boundaries before contracts are executed
Support client discovery workshops and technical due diligence, helping prospects build confidence in our delivery capability and approach
Serve as the senior engineering point of contact for clients on active engagements, building trusted relationships with client-side technical leads and project sponsors
Proactively communicate project status, risks, and decisions — clients in a fixed-price model need confidence that their outcomes are being actively managed
Lead difficult conversations when engagements are off-track: own the recovery plan, align with the client on a path forward, and follow through
Represent the engineering team in client steering committees and executive check-ins as needed
Lead, coach, and develop a team of solution engineers — from junior to senior — building capability in both technical delivery and client-facing professionalism
Assign engineers to engagements thoughtfully, balancing project requirements, individual development goals, and team utilization
Set and model the standard for delivery quality, client communication, and commercial awareness within the team
Conduct regular 1:1s, structured performance reviews, and proactive career development conversations — invest in your people's long-term growth, not just immediate project needs
Build a team culture where engineers feel accountable for outcomes, not just activities
Build and continuously improve the delivery playbooks, estimation templates, and reusable accelerators that help the team scope and execute engagements more predictably
Identify patterns across client engagements and codify repeatable solution components that reduce delivery risk and improve margin on future work
Partner with the Architecture team to ensure delivery methodology stays aligned with sound technical design principles.
Evaluate and introduce tooling, frameworks, or AI-assisted development practices that meaningfully improve engineering throughput on client projects