FORWARD DEPLOYED STRATEGIST, AGENTIC AI
Phdata
senior
Job description
<div class="content-intro"><p>Join<a href="https://www.phdata.io/about-us/"> phData</a>, a remote-first data and AI consultancy company with employees across the United States, Latin America, and India. We partner with industry leaders, including Snowflake, AWS, Anthropic, Glean, and dbt, to solve the complex data and AI challenges that slow large enterprises.</p>
<p>We're growing fast, and we give our people real ownership over their work. We hire top performers and trust them to deliver results.</p>
<p><strong>Why phData?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.phdata.io/blog/snowflake-ai-partner-of-the-year-phdata-2026/">Snowflake Implementation Partner of the Year — 7 consecutive years</a>, and 2026 Snowflake AI Partner of the Year</li>
<li><a href="https://www.phdata.io/blog/phdata-achieves-aws-premier-tier-services-partner-status/">AWS Premier Tier Services Partner</a> — the highest tier of recognition in the AWS Partner Network</li>
<li><a href="https://www.phdata.io/blog/phdata-awarded-2025-fivetran-partner-of-the-year/">2025 Fivetran Partner of the Year</a> (4th consecutive year)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.phdata.io/blog/phdata-awarded-dbt-labs-2025-partner-of-the-year/">2025 dbt Labs Partner of the Year</a> (3x winner) with Visionary partner status</li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7460802867289931776/">2026 KNIME Customer Excellence Partner of the Year</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7470146864122667009/">Preferred Partner in the Anthropic Claude Partner Network</a></li>
<li>#1 Partner in Snowflake Advanced Certifications</li>
<li>600+ Expert Cloud Certifications (Sigma, AWS, Azure, Dataiku, and more)</li>
<li>Recognized as an award-winning workplace in the <a href="https://www.phdata.io/blog/phdata-named-one-of-the-2025-best-places-to-work-by-the-minneapolis-st-paul-business-journal/">US</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/phdata_we-are-thrilled-to-announce-that-phdata-has-activity-7313364620361023488-dLbY/?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAACHsnsAB3KhebxJJDcDQXo4DYIRLe3MzoXE&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_link">India</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/phdata_phdata-careers-latam-activity-7390039860918747136-bk15/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAACHsnsAB3KhebxJJDcDQXo4DYIRLe3MzoXE">LATAM</a></li>
</ul></div><p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">phData is seeking a Forward Deployed Strategist to join our Advisory team. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Forward Deployed Strategist is a business-first consultant who helps clients rapidly identify, shape, and accelerate high-value AI and data opportunities. This role sits at the intersection of consulting, product thinking, value mapping, and technology, working directly with business stakeholders to uncover high-impact use cases, frame them in clear business terms, and turn them into actionable MVPs that deliver measurable value.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">At phData, the Forward Deployed Strategist is the primary business-facing lead on a small, nimble activation-style team. They quickly understand and internalize client challenges, build trust with executives, managers, and frontline operators, connect technical possibilities to business priorities, and help clients move from scattered ideas to real AI-enabled workflows, prototypes, and decisions with speed and clarity.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Core Responsibilities</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>Client Discovery & Opportunity Framing</em></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Quickly understand and internalize client challenges, constraints, stakeholder dynamics, and workflow realities.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Identify high-value opportunities by immersing in business operations and uncovering messy, manual, cross-functional workflows that are addressable with AI solutions.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Translate ambiguous business problems into crisply framed problem statements, use cases, hypotheses, and MVP scopes that can be validated quickly.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lead workshops, interviews, working sessions, and art-of-the-possible conversations that create alignment, momentum, and a practical path forward.Bring a user-centered design mindset to the solution identification process.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>Business Value, Communication & Executive Storytelling</em></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Define success in terms of business KPIs and quantify measurable business value to justify investment in MVPs and solutions.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Maintain a transparent link between use cases, expected outcomes, and the client’s broader technology roadmap.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Build strong relationships with business executives, functional leaders, and end users by communicating clearly, listening actively, and facilitating productive decisions.Bridge the gap between business needs and technology by developing balanced technical, organizational, and process recommendations, along with compelling narratives and rigorous business cases for AI and data investments.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Act as a translator between business and technical teams, helping stakeholders understand trade-offs, risks, dependencies, timelines, and the path from MVP to a scaled solution.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>Prototype Activation & Scale Readiness</em></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Prototype and iterate solutions using low/no-code and AI-assisted tools to showcase value early.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Work hand in hand with phData technologists to bring solutions to life quickly and frame the business value in a way stakeholders can understand.Surface platform, data, workflow, and operating model gaps that must be addressed to scale successful patterns beyond MVP.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Help clients rethink how work gets done, not just which tools they use, by driving adoption-minded solution design and strong change communication.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>Client Leadership & Engagement Ownership</em></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Serve as the consulting-forward, business-facing lead for the work, helping manage scope and risk while maintaining strong executive-level stakeholder relationships.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Create alignment around priorities, next steps, and decision points so that discovery, prototyping, and scaling efforts stay focused on measurable outcomes.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Partner with client and phData teams to move validated ideas toward scalable delivery and broader organizational impact.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Work alongside clients, in person as needed, to drive business outcomes.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Required Experience</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">5+ years of experience in consulting with a passion for technology-driven process optimization.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including executive storytelling, workshop leadership, active listening, and business-case development.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Demonstrated ability to build trust with business executives, functional leaders, and end users in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Strong consulting presence with the ability to facilitate productive conversations, challenge assumptions constructively, and guide clients toward practical decisions.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience translating ambiguous business problems into structured problem statements, use cases, hypotheses, and MVP scopes.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ability to connect solution ideas to measurable business value through KPIs, ROI logic, adoption metrics, cycle-time improvements, risk reduction, and time-to-value framing.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience partnering with technical teams to move from business requirements to prototypes, pilots, and scalable solutions.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Comfort working hands-on with AI copilots, analytics tools, workflow tools, and low/no-code platforms to accelerate discovery, prototyping, and validation.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Deep empathy for users and a willingness to immerse in how work really gets done, including exceptions, workarounds, and organizational friction.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">High ownership, sound judgment, and comfort making progress without perfect requirements.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bachelor’s degree in business, analytics, engineering, information systems, design, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Preferred Experience</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Master's degree in business administration (MBA).Exposure to modern data and AI platforms, self-service analytics, workflow automation, or low/no-code tooling.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience building business cases for new technology investments and influencing executive stakeholders.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Experience working alongside engineers, solution architects, or delivery teams in client-service environments.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Familiarity with change management, adoption planning, or operating-model design.</span></li>
</ul>
<p> </p><div class="content-conclusion"><p style="text-align: left;">phData celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Our approach helps us to build a winning team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities. So, regardless of how your diversity expresses itself, you can find a home here at phData. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, veteran status, genetic information, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. If you would like to request an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at People Operations.</p></div>