AI Strategist (Lead Level)

Distyl AI develops production-grade AI systems to power core operational workflows for Fortune 500 companies. Powered by a strategic partnership with OpenAI, in-house software accelerators, and deep enterprise AI expertise, we deliver working AI systems with rapid time to value – within a quarter.

Our products have helped Fortune 500 customers across diverse industries, from insurance and CPG to non-profits. As part of our team, you will help companies identify, build, and realize value from their GenAI investments, often for the first time. We are customer-centric, working backward from the customer’s problem and holding ourselves accountable for creating both financial impact and improving the lives of end-users.

Distyl is led by proven leaders from top companies like Palantir and Apple and is backed by Lightspeed, Khosla, Coatue, Dell Technologies Capital, Nat Friedman (Former CEO of GitHub), Brad Gerstner (Founder and CEO of Altimeter), and board members of over a dozen Fortune 500 companies.

As an AI Strategist Lead, you will lead Distyl’s most complex, high impact customer engagement end-to-end. Partnering a senior technical leader, you’ll oversee a multidisciplinary team of engineers, researchers, and AI Strategists to deliver enterprise-scale outcomes that fundamentally transform how our customers operate.

You’ll work directly with C-suite and senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, helping them scope and shape AI -native strategies, and drive adoption of new workflows. You will be accountable not just for delivery, but for measurable business impact, long-term value creation, and building trusted executive relationships.

You’ll shape the vision, drive execution, and influence our product roadmap by representing the voice of our most strategic customers. This role is ideal for someone with a rare blend of operational rigor, customer obsession, and strategic clarity - who thrives in ambiguity, leads with influence, and is passionate about AI.

• Executive Engagement: Build trust with senior stakeholders, including C-suite and VP-level sponsors. Align on business priorities and act as a strategic thought partner

• End-to-End Ownership: Lead customer engagements from initial scoping to sustained value delivery. Define success, design the roadmap, and measurable outcomes

• AI Strategy & Value Discovery: Identify the most valuable problems to solve and aligning solutions to ROI

• Team Leadership: Jointly lead teams of 10+ engineers, researchers, AI Strategists and program managers. Set clear goals, foster a high-performing team culture, and manage cross-functional execution

• Enterprise-Grade Delivery: Ensure technical solutions meet performance, compliance, and scalability standards. Navigate complex enterprise environments and drive cross-functional dependencies to deliver deeply integrated solutions

• Change Management & Adoption: Drive onboarding, user adoption, and change management to ensure systems are embedded into daily workflows

• Platform Influence: Represent the customer’s voice to the Platform team. Surface insights and themes that inform platform development

• Enterprise-Scale Delivery Experience: A track record of successfully leading large, complex high-budget customer engagements or transformation programs ($10M+) ideally involving AI. Most successful candidates will have at least 10 years of experience working with enterprise customers

• People Leadership: Track record of leading cross-functional teams and mentoring others. You foster clarity, motivation, and accountability at scale. Enterprise Scale Delivery: Demonstrated experience delivering mission-critical solutions for organizations with significant scale, complexity, and regulatory considerations

• Executive Communication: Comfortable presenting to C-level stakeholders and translating between technical and non-technical audiences

• Strategic Leadership: Ability to frame high-level business challenges, guide strategic decision-making, and influence senior executives

• Customer-Centric Mindset: Deep empathy for users and the ability to identify solutions that create tangible, lasting business impact

• Technical Acumen: Proficiency in programming or data analysis tools (e.g., Python, R, SQL) and a solid understanding of AI/ML concepts

• Passion for AI: You believe in AI’s transformative potential and want to help shape how it’s applied responsibly and effectively in the enterprise

• Bias for Action: You’re comfortable with ambiguity, eager to take ownership, and capable of turning vision into structured execution

• Travel: Flexibility to travel 25–75% depending on engagement needs

• The base salary range for this role is $130K – $250K, depending on experience, location, and level. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for meaningful equity, along with a comprehensive benefits package

• 100% covered medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents

• 401(k) with additional perks (e.g., commuter benefits, in‑office lunch)

• Access to state‑of‑the‑art models, generous usage of modern AI tools, and real‑world business problems

• Ownership of high‑impact projects across top enterprises

• A mission‑driven, fast‑moving culture that prizes curiosity, pragmatism, and excellence

Distyl has offices in San Francisco and New York. This role follows a hybrid collaboration model with 3+ days per week (Tuesday–Thursday) in‑office.