Principal Deployment Strategist

About The Role

Echelon is seeking an AI Deployment Strategist to work with enterprise clients and help translate business challenges into practical AI use cases and implementation plans. Working alongside senior AI transformation leaders, solution architects, technology partners and Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs), you will lead client discovery, use case definition, technology mapping, and help move AI initiatives from idea to proof of value and deployment. This is a client-facing, business-led role for a hands-on professional who combines strong analytical and consulting skills with a working understanding of enterprise AI technologies. You will contribute to transformation engagements and own defined workstreams, with guidance on complex strategic or architectural decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and facilitate client interviews and discovery workshops to understand business processes, pain points, priorities and desired outcomes.
• Translate business problems into structured AI use case briefs covering scope, users, data requirements, KPIs, risks and expected business value.
• Build and maintain AI use case inventories; assess and prioritize opportunities by impact, feasibility, data readiness and delivery effort.
• Lead AI maturity assessments with client stakeholders, and turn the findings into transformation roadmaps and phased implementation plans.
• Map use cases to suitable approaches, including predictive AI/ML, GenAI, agentic workflows, intelligent automation and established enterprise platforms.
• Collaborate with architects, FDEs and technology partners on solution options, integrations, build-versus-buy analysis and high-level delivery assumptions.
• Help prepare PoC/PoV charters, MVP scopes, acceptance criteria, business cases and client-facing presentations.
• Track decisions, dependencies, business KPIs and client feedback throughout use case validation and early delivery.
• Lead adoption planning and stakeholder communication to help clients put successful AI initiatives into everyday use.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience in digital transformation, technology consulting, business analysis, AI solutions, solution consulting or related client-facing roles.
• Demonstrated experience in business requirements gathering, process analysis, workshop facilitation and turning needs into clear, workable use cases.
• Practical understanding of AI/ML, Generative AI, LLMs, agentic AI and automation, including when each approach is appropriate.
• Ability to document use cases, create prioritization matrices, define KPIs and support business-value assessments.
• Working knowledge of cloud, data platforms, APIs and enterprise application integration concepts; deep hands-on model development is not required.
• Strong communication, clear, logical problem-solving, stakeholder coordination and PowerPoint/Excel skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business or a related field; equivalent relevant experience considered.
• Professional proficiency in English, Arabic is expected.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to energy, utilities, manufacturing, industrial or large-enterprise transformation projects.
• Experience supporting AI pilots, proofs of concept, or deployment projects with mixed business and technical teams.
• Familiarity with Azure AI, AWS AI or Google Cloud AI and responsible AI principles.
• Experience working in Saudi Arabia or the wider GCC; Arabic language skills are an advantage.
  
  

Our Values

• Customer first: You measure your work by customer outcomes, and prioritise accordingly.
• Ownership mentality: You own outcomes end to end. When something breaks or stalls, you treat it as yours to fix.
• Clear communicator: You explain complex systems simply, to operators and executives alike, and make the value of your work visible.
• Comfortable with ambiguity: You make progress with incomplete information, partial data and unfamiliar environments, and you enjoy solving problems where there is no structure yet.
• Long-term builder: You invest in Echelon’s long-term success, bringing field insight back into our strategy and operations.
• Accountable for value: You measure yourself by the value your customers realise, not by what was delivered.
  
  

The Seat

• Location: Riyadh, on site with customers
• Reports to: The Head of AI Transformation
• Travel: Regular time on customer sites across the Kingdom and the region.
• Package: A base salary, performance bonus, medical cover, and equity through the employee equity programme. Terms are shared at the offer stage.
  
  

How We Work

You start from the problem, not the tool. You meet an unclear mandate or a stalled programme with energy and a plan.

• Curiosity: You learn how the work really happens on site and keep learning as the technology moves.
• Speed: You move from brief to a scoped use case and a first outcome quickly, and do not wait for perfect conditions.
• Rigour: You ground every recommendation in evidence and numbers, and can explain every choice.
• Confidence & humility: You challenge and accept challenges, and change your view on evidence, without ego.
• Autonomy: You decide with incomplete information and own it; from an outcome, you organise the work yourself.
• Resourcefulness: Missing access, unclear ownership, partial data: you find a way with what is available.
• Situational leadership: You lead the room when the moment calls for it, and follow when an engineer or the customer has the better call.
• A force multiplier: Your frameworks, value cases and playbooks make every engagement after yours faster.
• AI-native depth: AI tools are part of how you research, analyse, write and run engagements, and you have built something real with an LLM.
• Where you are: A senior engagement leader who stays close to the work: as comfortable in a workflow workshop as in an architecture review, and fluent in the language of executives and technologists alike.