AI Solutions Architect Pre-Sales

Job Description
AI & Analytics Pre-Sales Lead - BFSI (Dallas / Austin)
Senior Director / AVP-level pre-sales leader for Tavant's AI & Analytics practice - roughly half our business and a mature, market-leading practice running AI in production for clients today.

Own the technical win across our Banking, Financial Services & Insurance accounts out of Dallas or Austin: discovery, solution shaping, proposals, and win strategy.
Build demos, prototypes, and PoCs yourself using generative and agentic AI to show clients the "art of the possible."
Advise client executives on AI adoption and data-platform modernization, and shape verticalized offerings and reusable accelerators.
10+ years with a strong pre-sales / solution-consulting track record; hands-on with modern AI (GenAI, agentic, document intelligence) and comfortable across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
~30% travel.

Responsibilities
Lead the technical pre-sales motion for AI & Analytics across BFSI accounts: discovery, requirements analysis, solution shaping, and win strategy.
Personally build demos, prototypes, and proofs-of-concept using generative and agentic AI to show clients the "art of the possible" - creating conviction early in the sales cycle rather than waiting on delivery teams.
Serve as a strategic advisor to client executives on AI adoption, data-platform modernization, capability roadmaps, and process automation.
Shape the practice's offerings for the vertical - defining IP, custom service offerings, target markets, and the lead-generation approach - and help industry sales teams identify the best targets in their territories.
Drive the creation of proposals, RFP/RFI responses, value narratives, ROI models, and client-facing collateral, and pitch our expertise at sales meetings, executive briefings, and conferences.
Facilitate AI strategy workshops, ideation sessions, and deep-dive assessments that translate operational pain points into AI-feasible, high-value use cases.
Partner with solution architects, data scientists, and engineering/DataOps/MLOps teams to produce demos, PoCs, pilots, and accelerators, and to extend the reusable IP that scales across multiple clients.
Contribute to practice sales targets (supporting the salespeople, who are the primary owners of quota) and produce thought leadership and verticalized offerings that reinforce Tavant's leadership in the market.

Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or demonstration of equivalent conceptual knowledge through self-study and prior experience; advanced degree preferred.
10+ years of experience overall, including substantial time in pre-sales, solution consulting, practice leadership, or business development for data & analytics solutions.
Demonstrated pre-sales track record: leading workshops, crafting proposals, shaping solutions, and supporting complex deal cycles to close.
Hands-on ability to rapidly build working demos and prototypes with generative and agentic AI tooling - you can show the art of the possible yourself, not just direct others to do it.
Experience designing and positioning data & analytics platforms at significant scale.
Working knowledge of modern AI techniques (predictive modeling, generative AI, document intelligence, agentic automation) - enough to know what's possible and practical and to guide clients on using it to drive business impact.
Understanding of cloud and distributed-systems principles, and experience across cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, including container and orchestration technologies.
Familiarity with Banking, Financial Services, and/or Insurance is strongly preferred.
Excellent written and oral communication, executive-facing presentation, and interpersonal skills, with comfort operating in ambiguity and bringing structure to open-ended problems.
Willingness to travel approximately 30%.