Strategy/Operations: Engagement Manager
Coastal Wave Recruiting
- Employment
- Full-time
About the role
Our client, a fast-growing AI engineering firm building production-grade agents for enterprise, is hiring Engagement Managers to lead client engagements end-to-end. You'll be forward-deployed with billion-dollar clients, sitting across from C-suite executives, running the executive cadence, and commanding a team of consultants and engineers on the ground.
This is a role for someone with exceptional polish, deep analytical ability, and a working understanding of AI — someone who can walk into a room, reframe the problem, and make executives feel like they're in the best hands possible. The company is scaling aggressively off massive client demand and needs people who thrive in startup environments with minimal oversight.
What you'll do
- Own client accounts end-to-end — from engaging C-suite stakeholders and running interviews with middle management and ICs to understand their workflows, to ensuring successful project delivery
- Lead a team of 2+ junior consultants/strategists on each engagement, managing their day-to-day work and ensuring quality output
- Ramp up on existing project context, understand client sentiment, and identify pain points across multiple concurrent engagements spanning finance, sales, marketing, and operations departments
- Scope new AI agent implementations by translating ambiguous business problems into clear engagement plans with defined outcomes and ROI targets
Requirements
- 4–10 years of experience, including 4+ years in management consulting at a top-tier firm (MBB or equivalent) owning client engagements
- Degree from a top-tier university
- Polished executive presence that commands C-suite confidence immediately
- Extremely strong analytical skills
- Working understanding of AI — able to scope AI implementations and discuss them credibly with engineers
- Comfortable in startup environments with minimal oversight
Nice to have
- Founder or early operator experience at a startup
MUST be able to work onsite 6 days a week
Comfortable with 10-20% client travel
As an Engagement Manager, you will work directly with the founders to shape the company’s strategic playbooks and hiring from the ground floor during a period of significant client demand. This role offers the opportunity to solve complex, real-world automation challenges while playing a central role in the firm's early-stage development in San Francisco.
Benefits
Salary & equity
Simple visas (e.g., TN-1) are sponsored. Visa transfers are available.
Perks & benefits
- Equity Compensation
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