VP - Cloud & Data Practice Leader

Role: Cloud & Data Practice Leader

Location: Hyderabad, India

About the Role

We are looking for a seasoned Cloud & Data Practice Leader to build, scale, and lead its Cloud and Data services portfolio. This role will be responsible for practice strategy, capability building, solutioning, presales leadership, and delivery governance, while working closely with sales, delivery, alliances, and executive leadership to drive growth and customer success.

The ideal candidate brings a strong mix of cloud-native thinking, data & AI expertise, client-facing leadership, and P&L mindset, with proven experience in scaling practices within a digital engineering or IT services organization.

Key Responsibilities

Practice & Capability Leadership

• Define and execute the Cloud & Data practice vision, strategy, and roadmap aligned with the organizations' overall business goals.
• Build and scale capabilities across Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) and Data platforms (Data Engineering, Analytics, AI/ML).
• Develop reusable offerings, accelerators, frameworks, and solution blueprints.
• Drive talent strategy including hiring, upskilling, certifications, and succession planning.
• Own practice-level financials, utilization, margins, and growth KPIs.

Presales & Solutioning

• Act as a solution leader in presales engagements including RFP/RFI responses, deal qualification, effort estimation, and pricing strategy.
• Lead customer discovery workshops to understand business objectives and translate them into scalable cloud and data solutions.
• Partner with sales teams to support large deals, strategic accounts, and new logo pursuits.
• Collaborate with hyperscaler and data platform partners to create joint value propositions.

Delivery & Governance

• Provide delivery oversight and architectural governance for cloud and data programs.
• Ensure adherence to best practices, security, compliance, and quality standards.
• Support delivery teams in addressing escalations, risks, and transformation challenges.
• Establish metrics and dashboards to track delivery performance and client outcomes.

Alliances & Ecosystem

• Strengthen and manage partnerships with hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) and data technology providers.
• Work with alliance teams on joint GTM strategies, co-selling, and partner-led opportunities.
• Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and competitive landscape.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Engage with CXO-level stakeholders as a trusted advisor.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with sales, engineering, product, and operations teams.
• Mentor senior architects and delivery leaders within the practice.

Key Skills & Expertise

Cloud Technologies

• Public cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP
• Cloud-native architectures, microservices, containers, Kubernetes
• Cloud security, governance, and cost optimization

Data & AI

• Data engineering, data lakes, data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, etc.)
• Analytics, BI, and reporting platforms
• AI/ML, GenAI, and advanced analytics use cases (preferred)

Leadership & Business Skills

• Practice building and scaling experience
• Strong presales and client-facing capabilities
• Financial acumen and P&L understanding
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills

Experience & Qualifications

• 20+ years of overall experience in IT / digital services
• 5+ years in a leadership role managing Cloud and/or Data practices
• Proven experience in practice setup, scaling, and transformation initiatives
• Background in digital engineering, product engineering, or IT services organizations
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field (master's preferred)
• Cloud and data certifications are a strong plus

What's in It for You

• Opportunity to build and shape a high-impact Cloud & Data practice
• Work with cutting-edge technologies and marquee clients
• Strong leadership visibility and strategic ownership
• Collaborative, innovation-driven culture