Operations Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

C3 AI (NYSE: AI), is the Enterprise AI application software company. C3 AI delivers a family of fully integrated products including the C3 Agentic AI Platform, an end-to-end platform for developing, deploying, and operating enterprise AI applications, C3 AI applications, a portfolio of industry-specific SaaS enterprise AI applications that enable the digital transformation of organizations globally, and C3 Generative AI, a suite of domain-specific generative AI offerings for the enterprise. Learn more at: C3 AI

We're looking for an Operations Manager to run the operational backbone of our professional services organization while also building and maintaining the technical infrastructure that makes delivery scalable. This is a hybrid role: half of the job is classic services ops (staffing, forecasting, utilization, delivery cadence), and the other half is hands-on technical work building and managing AI agents and the applications that support delivery teams.

This is an internal-facing role - you're building the systems and tooling that make the delivery org run, not sitting embedded with customers. It suits someone who has run operations for a technical organization before, understands why services businesses live and die by staffing and margin discipline, and is also comfortable writing code, configuring agents, and standing up internal tools rather than just spec'ing them out for someone else to build.

Responsibilities

• Run the operating cadence for the services org: staffing plans, forecasting, capacity planning, and actuals reconciliation against budget
• Own the resourcing process - matching engineers and consultants to engagements based on skill, availability, and account priority
• Track and report on delivery health across the portfolio: signature-to-first-value timelines, pilot-to-production conversion, margin by engagement, and overinvestment/overrun flags
• Build and maintain dashboards and reporting that give leadership real-time visibility into where engagements stand
• Manage the escalation process for at-risk engagements, coordinating between delivery teams, account leads, and executive sponsors
• Own vendor and subcontractor management where services work is augmented externally
• Drive planning cycles (quarterly and annual) - operating plans, headcount models, and org-level capacity math
• Design, build, and maintain AI agents that automate internal delivery workflows (e.g., status reporting, staffing recommendations, account health scoring, proposal generation)
• Manage the lifecycle of internal applications used by the delivery org - from requirements through deployment and ongoing maintenance
• Evaluate and integrate tooling (MCP servers, internal APIs, third-party connectors) to extend what agents can do across the delivery workflow
• Own uptime, reliability, and iteration for any agent or application you build - this isn't a one-time build, it's a maintained product
• Partner with engineering to determine what should be built in-house versus adopted from existing platform capabilities
• Prototype quickly (React, Python, low-code where appropriate) to validate ideas before committing engineering resources
• Act as the connective tissue between delivery leadership, engineering, and finance - translating operational needs into technical requirements and vice versa
• Partner with delivery leads to identify where manual, repeatable work can be automated
• Support org design and process changes (restructuring, role definition, delivery principle documentation) with data and tooling
• Train delivery staff on new tools and agents as they're rolled out

Requirements

• 5+ years in an operations, business operations, or technical program management role within a professional services, consulting, or forward-deployed engineering organization
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or related field of study
• Demonstrated ability to write production-quality code (Python and/or JavaScript) - this is not a "manage the roadmap" role, it's a build-and-run role
• Direct experience building or configuring AI agents or LLM-based tools (prompt design, tool/function calling, agent orchestration frameworks, MCP or similar protocols)
• Fluency with core ops mechanics: staffing models, utilization tracking, forecasting, and margin analysis
• Experience owning a dashboard, reporting tool, or internal application from build through maintenance
• Strong SQL or data-manipulation skills for building and validating operational reporting
• Cross-functional communication skills - comfortable presenting to both engineers and executives
• Experience in a forward-deployed engineering, solutions engineering, or implementation consulting environment is a plus
• Familiarity with services-industry benchmarking (utilization targets, delivery velocity metrics, pilot-to-production conversion) is a plus
• Experience with enterprise SaaS platforms, low-code tooling, or workflow automation platforms is a plus
• Background in change management or org design work is a plus

C3 AI provides excellent benefits, a competitive compensation package and generous equity plan. 

California Base Pay Range

$128,000—$159,000 USD

C3 AI is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of any legally protected characteristics, including disabled and veteran status.