Vice President, Applied Data & AI

CBTS serves enterprise and midmarket clients in all industries across the United States and Canada. CBTS combines deep technical expertise with a full suite of flexible technology solutions--including Application Modernization, Managed Hybrid Cloud, Cybersecurity, Unified Communications, and Infrastructure solutions. From developing and deploying modern applications and the secure, scalable platforms on which they run, to managing, monitoring, and optimizing their operations, CBTS delivers comprehensive technology solutions for its clients' transformative business initiatives. For more information, please visit www.cbts.com.

Role Summary:

The VP of Applied AI & Data leads CBTS’s Applied AI & Data practice, one of four core Professional Services practice areas. This leader owns the full practice P&L, including revenue, delivery, utilization, and bench health, and carries shared accountability for go-to-market in close coordination with Sales and Product.

This person is expected to be personally active in the field, bringing their network to bear to open doors and help land and expand accounts in close partnership with Sales. The role spans practice strategy, delivery excellence, offer development, and senior client-facing engagement on the practice’s most strategic pursuits.

This is a builder’s role. CBTS recently launched its Data Analytics Services suite and is actively expanding its applied AI portfolio, including custom agents, AI adoption and enablement, and governed data foundations for AI. The VP will shape what this practice becomes over the next several years, operating with a scrappy, ownership mindset while building strong relationships across Sales, Finance, Product, and the broader PS organization.

Key Responsibilities:

Practice P&L and Operational Metrics

• Own the Applied AI & Data practice P&L, including bookings, revenue, margin, utilization, and bench cost targets.
• Report on key practice health metrics, including utilization rates, at-risk bench resources, bookings-to-revenue conversion, and pipeline coverage, on a regular cadence to PS leadership.
• Drive a qualified pipeline and predictable forecast in close partnership with Sales leadership, with active input into account planning.
• Maintain visibility into the bench, take active steps to reduce bench cost, and build a workforce model that scales with the business.

• Leverage a personal network to generate leads and open executive relationships, then work in close coordination with Sales to qualify, pursue, and close opportunities.
• Be personally active in customer engagements, including participation in discovery, pursuit, and executive relationship development across target accounts.
• Drive land-and-expand motions jointly with Sales, with accountability for revenue growth in named accounts and new logos.
• Build and maintain executive relationships with economic buyers, positioning CBTS as a strategic partner rather than a transactional vendor.

• In collaboration with the Product team, define and evolve the practice’s offer portfolio across data engineering, modernization, analytics, and applied AI, with clear scoping, pricing, and delivery models.
• Build outcome-based and value-based pricing frameworks where appropriate, moving beyond pure time-and-materials.
• Develop intellectual property, reference architectures, and accelerators that differentiate CBTS and shorten time to value for clients.
• Position the practice’s AI plays, including agentic IT operations, governance, model implementation, and security for AI, in coordination with the broader CBTS portfolio.

• Stand up and enforce delivery standards, estimation models, and quality controls across engagements spanning Microsoft Fabric, Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Databricks, and Snowflake.
• Establish reusable delivery patterns around medallion architecture, DataOps, LLMOps, and MCP-based agent infrastructure.
• Govern engagement health, profitability, and client satisfaction across the active portfolio.

• Build, lead, and develop a multidisciplinary team of architects, data engineers, and AI specialists across North America and offshore delivery.
• Lead the offshore delivery team, which will operate in a dotted-line reporting structure. The VP is expected to fully embrace this model, treating the offshore team as a core delivery asset and managing it with the same rigor as onshore resources.
• Define the workforce and cost model, including fully loaded consultant economics and offshore leverage ratios, to support scalable, profitable growth.
• Create career paths, skills development, and internal enablement so the practice keeps pace with a fast-moving AI landscape.

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Leadership Engagement:

• Build strong working relationships across Sales, Product, Finance, and other PS practices to align the practice with company priorities and avoid operating as a silo.
• Participate actively in joint account planning, go-to-market alignment, and operational reviews with peer leaders.
• Report practice performance, strategy, and market intelligence to executive stakeholders through clear KPI frameworks.
• Lead CBTS PS cross-functional AI adoption to create internal value and keep pace with market change.
• Represent CBTS as a thought leader with clients, partners, and the broader market.

• 12+ years in technology consulting or professional services, with significant experience in data and AI and a track record of senior leadership.
• Demonstrated P&L ownership and growth of a services practice, ideally from early stage through scale.
• Deep fluency across modern cloud data and AI platforms, including Microsoft Fabric, Azure, AWS, Databricks, and Snowflake, and architectural patterns for production AI.
• Proven ability to sell and deliver complex engagements to enterprise and midmarket clients, including C-suite engagement.
• An active professional network that can be leveraged to generate pipeline and open doors at target accounts.
• Strong commercial instincts across pricing, packaging, staffing, and margin management.
• Comfort operating in an early-stage, resource-constrained environment where building the business is as important as running it.

• Prior CTO, VP, or practice-leadership roles in cloud or data and AI services.
• Experience building governed, secure delivery environments for regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, or public sector.
• Public profile as a practitioner voice through writing, speaking, or community building.
• Hands-on familiarity with emerging agentic and MCP-based tooling.

Success Indicators – First 12 Months:

• A defined, differentiated offer portfolio with standardized scoping and pricing in active use.
• Bookings targets met or tracking to plan by end of year one, with a qualified and growing pipeline.
• Utilization rate for the practice team meeting or trending toward target by Q3/Q4.
• A defined bench management process with visibility into at-risk resources and active steps underway to reduce bench cost.
• Offshore team fully integrated into active delivery engagements with clear roles, a defined capacity model, and measurable quality outcomes.
• At least a defined set of named accounts with active executive relationships and documented land-and-expand plans developed jointly with Sales.
• Documented delivery standards and reusable IP in active use across the portfolio.
• A clear practice operating model with revenue, delivery, IP, and market alignment workstreams running on a regular cadence.
• Cross-functional alignment with Sales, Product, and Finance reflected in joint account plans and a shared operating rhythm.

Salary Range: $173,000-$217,000

The salary range listed reflects the anticipated hiring range for this position. Compensation may vary based on factors including experience, specialized expertise, market demand, and overall fit for the role. Additional compensation elements, such as annual incentive opportunities, may also apply.

Due to U.S. Government requirements applicable to foreign-owned telecommunications providers, non-US citizens may be required to submit to an extensive government agency background check which will necessitate disclosure of sensitive Personally Identifiable Information.