Job Description

Position Overview:
We are seeking a highly experienced and strategic Practice Lead / Capability Lead - Data & Machine Learning (ML) to drive innovation, delivery excellence, and business growth across our global Data & AI practice. This leadership role combines deep technical expertise in data engineering and ML stacks with strong presales, solution architecture, and client-facing capabilities.
The ideal candidate will have a successful track record of working with global clients, shaping end-to-end data and AI solutions, leading cross-functional delivery teams, and contributing to the growth of the Data/AI practice through capability development, thought leadership, and strategic client engagements.
Key Responsibilities:
Practice Leadership & Capability Development

• Define and drive the strategic roadmap for the Data & ML practice aligned to emerging trends and business needs.
• Build and lead a high-performing global team of data engineers, ML engineers, solution architects, and consultants.
• Develop capability assets including solution accelerators, frameworks, reusable code, and best practices.
• Enable talent development via mentoring, training paths, and internal certifications in Data & ML tech stacks.

Solutioning & Presales

• Collaborate with sales and account teams to understand client needs and craft winning proposals, RFP responses, and solutions.
• Design scalable, cost-effective, and robust data and ML solutions tailored to specific industry use cases (e.g., fraud detection in banking, churn prediction in telecoms, personalization in retail).
• Lead customer presentations, technical workshops, and proof of concepts (PoCs) to establish credibility and drive solution adoption.

Delivery Oversight

• Oversee end-to-end delivery of complex Data/AI engagements ensuring high quality, innovation, and client satisfaction.
• Govern project execution across the data lifecycle - ingestion, transformation, modeling, and operationalization of ML models.
• Collaborate with delivery managers to ensure alignment with timelines, budgets, and quality standards.

Thought Leadership & Innovation

• Stay current with the latest developments in cloud platforms, big data technologies, AI/ML tools, and data governance.
• Represent the organization at conferences, webinars, and industry panels to establish thought leadership.
• Publish whitepapers, blogs, and internal documentation on emerging Data/ML trends, architectures, and use cases.

Industry & Client Engagement

• Act as a trusted advisor to CXOs and senior executives, translating business objectives into data and AI strategies.
• Develop industry-specific solutions and accelerators tailored to the needs of banking, telecoms, travel, retail, and more.
• Foster long-term relationships with global clients and drive account growth via data/ML transformation initiatives.

Required Skills and Experience:
Technical:

• Expertise in cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and services (e.g., Glue, EMR, BigQuery, Synapse, Databricks).
• Strong command of modern data architecture patterns - data lakes, lakehouses, data mesh, streaming, etc.
• Proficiency in machine learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn), MLOps tools (e.g., MLflow, Kubeflow), and AI platforms.
• Strong data engineering experience with Python, SQL, Spark, Kafka, Airflow, and ETL/ELT pipelines.
• Experience with data governance, data quality, lineage, and cataloging (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Apache Atlas).

Consulting & Presales:

• 12+ years in solutioning, presales, and proposal development for global clients.
• Experience leading PoCs, RFP responses, estimation, and pricing for large data/AI programs.
• Proven experience in consulting engagements across multiple domains - BFSI, Telco, Retail, Travel.

Leadership:

• Proven capability to build and scale global data/AI teams.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and client advisory skills.
• Experience working in matrixed, cross-functional, and geographically distributed environments.

Who We are...
SmarTek21, founded in 2006, is an innovative digital transformation leader dedicated to empowering organizations through design-led, data-centric solutions. We believe that exceptional user experiences and intelligent data-driven insights are pivotal in shaping the future of business. At the heart of our approach is Design-Led Engineering, where we combine strategic design principles with cutting-edge technology to create tailored solutions that deliver significant business outcomes. Our commitment to accelerating digital transformation includes specialized expertise in Agile DevOps, Data Engineering and analytics, Testing Automation and support, and comprehensive Managed Application and Infrastructure Services. We've evolved from our consulting and development roots into a full-spectrum service provider, integrating advanced technologies like Generative AI (GenAI) to facilitate our clients' seamless, transformative digital journeys. A passion unites our dynamic team of technology visionaries and business strategists for innovation and excellence. At SmarTek21, you'll join a collaborative environment dedicated to shaping the digital landscape and driving impactful results for organizations worldwide.
SmarTek21 is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds and experiences.
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