Manager, AI Services Consulting at Zendesk in Pune, India

Manager, AI Services Consulting

Location: Pune, India · Hybrid

Job Description

Manager, AI Services Consultant– Job Description

Why This Role? Why Now?

Customer experience is transforming through AI-driven innovation. At Zendesk, we don’t just embrace this change; we lead it. Our Professional Services team is revolutionising how we help our customers implement and adopt AI by building an AI Delivery team and methodology. As the technical and product expert for our AI-powered Resolution Platform, the AI Services Manager role is integral to delivering quick time to value while guiding our customers through their configuration and optimisation.

Mission

As the AI Services Manager at Zendesk, you will be leading a team by example with product expertise, and joining a management team in our expanding AI Delivery team.Your mission is to provide technical solutions and remove roadblocks for your customers to drive resolutions on our AI Platform. You will act as a technical expert and trusted advisor, guiding customers through complex configurations with agility and precision. Your strong consulting skills and project management expertise will ensure seamless integration and optimisation of AI solutions, driving transformative business outcomes.

Overarching Objective For The Role

• Accelerate customers’ time‑to‑value by driving adoption and operational excellence for Zendesk AI solutions, ensuring customers realise measurable business impact from initial deployment through scale.
• Be the customer’s AI technical expert. Turn goals into the right configuration, integrations, and design choices, and remove blockers fast.
• Lead smooth, on-time delivery. Run projects end-to-end with clear scope, timelines, and stakeholder alignment to deliver reliably.
• Build and lead the new AI Delivery team. Stand up the team, methodology and ways of working, while staying hands-on in customer delivery.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Strategic Accountabilities

• Technical Expertise & Guidance: Provide expert advice on the implementation and optimisation of Zendesk AI products, ensuring customers leverage the full capabilities of the technology to meet their business goals.
• Change Management & Training: Facilitate change management processes and deliver consultative sessions to ensure smooth adoption and integration of AI solutions within customer organisations.
• Successful Project Delivery: Accountable for the timely and successful delivery of AI projects, both your own and your team’s, owning delivery quality, capacity and utilization across the team, meeting or exceeding customer expectations and maintaining high standards of quality.
• Customer Satisfaction: Maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, contributing to customer retention and potential upsell opportunities.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with internal teams, including Customer Success and Sales, to ensure alignment on the customer’s AI Roadmap and address any technical challenges that would block the customer from adopting AI.
• Tactical solutions for business outcomes: Ensure that AI solutions are effectively aligned with customer business goals, resulting in measurable improvements in customer experience and AI Adoption.
• Team Building & Leadership: Build and lead the new AI Delivery team end to end, including hiring and onboarding, defining the delivery methodology and ways of working, assigning tasks and workloads, conducting performance evaluations, and creating individual growth plans to build a high-performing team.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

Strategic Skills & Expertise

• Consulting Expertise: Strong consulting skills with the ability to assess client needs, develop strategic solutions, and provide expert guidance throughout the project lifecycle.
• Strong Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Project Management: Oversee the planning, execution, and delivery of AI projects, ensuring they are completed on time, within scope, and meet quality standards.
• Technical Proficiency in AI: Deep understanding of AI technologies, particularly Zendesk AI products, with the ability to implement and optimise these solutions effectively.
• Agility and Adaptability: Ability to work effectively in diverse and dynamic environments, adapting to changing client needs and industry trends.
• Problem-Solving Abilities: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify challenges and develop innovative solutions.
• Continuous Learning: Commitment to staying updated on the latest AI trends and advancements, ensuring the delivery of cutting-edge solutions to clients.

Qualifications

• Must have a minimum of 8+ years of related experience in Consulting / Professional Services.
• Previous experience in go-to-customer/GTM roles in enterprise technology / SaaS; either customer success management, professional services/consulting, technical account management, or solutions engineering/pre-sales consulting.
• Strong hands-on experience working with API integration, specifically REST APIs, with a solid understanding of JSON and SQL scripting.
• End-to-end team handling experience, including conducting performance evaluations, creating growth plans, and assigning tasks.
• Demonstrated experience in using adoption and health analytics to build predictive models and forecasts for churn and expansion; surface early risk signals and recommend mitigations to secure retention and growth.
• Demonstrated experience designing and executing success plans or roadmaps that drive measurable customer outcomes.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; advanced degrees; certifications in AI strategy or project management preferred.
• Experience managing AI or software adoption programs with demonstrated impact on business metrics such as retention or satisfaction.
• Certifications in AI strategy or project management preferred.
• Excellent program management and cross-functional influence skills.
• Familiarity with emerging AI trends is a plus.
• Ability to distill complex AI concepts for diverse audiences, especially executive stakeholders.

Please note that Zendesk can only hire candidates who are physically located and plan to work from Karnataka or Maharashtra. Please refer to the location posted on the requisition for where this role is based.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.