Engagement Lead, AI Strategy

Engagement Lead, AI Strategy

Location: San Francisco, CA (preferred, 5 days in-office) or New York City (remote)

Salary: up to $185,000 base meaningful equity

Help shape how the world's biggest brands win in the age of AI.

We're partnering with a YC-backed, pre-seed startup that's building an entirely new category: helping businesses understand how AI models perceive, evaluate and recommend their brands.

As large language models become the first place customers seek advice, traditional SEO is no longer enough. This team is building the platform that enables Fortune 500 companies to understand, measure and influence how AI represents their business.

As an Engagement Lead, AI Strategy, you'll become the trusted advisor to senior executives, translating cutting-edge AI research into commercial strategy. You'll work directly with global brands, helping them understand how AI is shaping customer decisions while partnering closely with the founders to define how this new category evolves.

This isn't a traditional consulting role. You'll combine strategic thinking, client leadership and AI-native problem solving in one of the most exciting spaces in technology.

What you'll be doing

• Own a portfolio of Fortune 500 client engagements from discovery through to strategic recommendations.
• Rapidly understand each client's business model, competitive landscape and strategic priorities.
• Translate complex business challenges into research hypotheses for the AI simulation lab.
• Transform AI-generated insights into compelling executive-level recommendations that drive measurable business outcomes.
• Partner directly with VP, Director and C-suite stakeholders, presenting findings to CMOs, CEOs and executive leadership teams.
• Design growth experiments and strategic initiatives informed by AI research.
• Use Claude Code and AI-native tooling to generate analysis, conduct research, prototype solutions and automate workflows.
• Work closely with the founders to define, refine and scale the company's client engagement methodology.

What we're looking for

Experience

You will likely come from one of the following backgrounds:

Archetype 1 – Strategy Consulting Startup

• 3–7 years' total experience.
• Previous experience at Bain, McKinsey, BCG or another top-tier strategy consultancy.
• Less than four years spent in consulting before moving into an operating role.
• Experience working at an early-stage startup (Series C or earlier when you joined, ideally Series B or earlier).
• Comfortable owning ambiguous, high-impact projects with significant autonomy.

Archetype 2 – Strategic Client Advisory

• Experience as an agency strategist or product marketing strategist advising Fortune 500 clients.
• Proven experience selling or delivering complex strategic services.
• Comfortable working directly with VP, Director and C-suite stakeholders on GTM, marketing or growth strategy.

We'd also love to hear from you if you have experience in:

• Client-facing strategy or deployment roles at high-growth technology companies such as Scale AI, Handshake or similar.
• Chief of Staff or another highly autonomous operator role within an early-stage startup.
• Building relationships with senior executives and influencing strategic business decisions.

Education

• Degree from a top-tier university, demonstrating strong analytical capability.

Skills & Expertise

You'll be able to:

• Quickly dissect unfamiliar business models across multiple industries, including both B2B and B2C.
• Translate complex business challenges into clear, actionable strategic recommendations.
• Understand marketing attribution, growth metrics and how modern GTM organisations measure success.
• Present complex ideas with confidence to senior executive audiences.
• Thrive in ambiguous environments where there isn't always a predefined playbook.

AI & Technical Skills

You'll work with AI every day, so we're looking for someone excited by emerging technologies.

Experience with, or willingness to become highly proficient in:

• Claude Code (this will be assessed during the interview process)
• MCPs (Model Context Protocol)
• AI Agents
• Large Language Models (LLMs)

Who you are

You'll thrive in this role if you:

• Love solving difficult, ambiguous business problems.
• Learn new industries incredibly quickly.
• Take ownership rather than waiting for direction.
• Build trust with senior stakeholders through credibility and thoughtful communication.
• Have exceptionally high integrity and earnestness—you choose transparency over politics and always take the harder, more honest path.
• Enjoy experimenting with AI-native tools to improve the way you work.

Why join?

You'll be joining a four-person, YC-backed founding team at the earliest stage of its journey. Every engagement you lead, every client relationship you build and every process you create will directly shape both the company and an entirely new market category.

If you're excited by strategy, AI and building something from the ground up, this is an opportunity to have an outsized impact from day one.