C

Cresta

Builds AI agents and coaching for call centers

Vice President of Partnerships

Full-Time
No salary listed
Expert
London, UK
Remote
Sales & Account ManagementBusiness Development & Partnerships

About the job

Requirements
  • 15+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, alliances, or enterprise sales within SaaS, artificial intelligence, or enterprise software companies.
  • A proven track record of personally sourcing, structuring, and closing strategic partnerships that drive revenue.
  • Experience operating as a senior individual contributor with high ownership and autonomy in fast-growing or early-stage companies.
  • Strong understanding of partner-led go-to-market models, including system integrators, resellers, and co-sell motions.
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively with C-level executives at partner and customer organizations.
  • Ability to translate market insight into executable partnership initiatives.
  • Ability to work independently, take a hands-on approach, and operate in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.
  • Willingness to work hands-on and drive results without formal team authority.
Responsibilities
  • Define and execute the EMEA partnerships strategy in alignment with Cresta’s global objectives and regional go-to-market plans.
  • Identify, prioritize, and secure strategic partnerships across system integrators, channel partners, business process outsourcers, and complementary technology providers.
  • Develop partner value propositions, commercial frameworks, and engagement models tailored to EMEA market needs.
  • Establish repeatable partnership structures, playbooks, and success metrics that can scale over time.
  • Drive partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline and revenue through direct execution of partner-led deals.
  • Work with regional and global Sales teams to integrate partners into account planning, co-selling, and deal execution.
  • Support partners in positioning, selling, and delivering Cresta’s solutions, including joint value propositions and customer use cases.
  • Own and report on partner-related pipeline, deal progression, and revenue outcomes in the EMEA region.
  • Personally lead high-value partnership discussions and complex commercial negotiations from inception through contract execution.
  • Identify new routes-to-market and market entry opportunities via partnerships in established and emerging EMEA geographies.
  • Act as the primary point of contact for strategic partners in the region, managing executive-level relationships and ongoing collaboration.
  • Partner with Product and Engineering to represent partner and market feedback and influence roadmap and integration priorities.
  • Collaborate with Marketing to develop joint go-to-market initiatives, partner messaging, and demand-generation activities.
  • Work with Customer Success and Services teams to ensure successful partner-led deployments and long-term customer outcomes.
  • Represent Cresta as a senior partnerships leader in the EMEA region with partners, customers, and at industry events.
  • Maintain an understanding of competitive dynamics, buyer trends, and ecosystem shifts across the region.
  • Provide strategic input to global partnerships leadership on regional insights and growth opportunities.
Desired Qualifications
  • Deep familiarity with EMEA enterprise markets and cultural nuances; regional experience is strongly preferred.

About the company

C

Cresta

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Cresta builds AI software for customer contact centers: AI agents that handle calls and chats on their own, plus live coaching for the human agents who work alongside them. In 2018, years before ChatGPT, it put a transformer model, the design behind today's chatbots, to work guiding support agents in real time at Intuit, its first customer. Companies pay yearly for software that listens to conversations as they happen, prompts agents with answers and next steps, and studies every call to show managers what top performers do differently. Cresta was founded in 2017 at Stanford's AI Lab, with self-driving car pioneer Sebastian Thrun among its co-founders, and is based in Sunnyvale, California.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

Series D

Total Funding

$276M

Headquarters

Sunnyvale, California

Founded

2017

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Sales hit a milestone: yearly recurring revenue passed $100 million in April 2026 as Cresta expanded across the Fortune 500.
  • Room to grow: Cresta, with over 600 staff, listed 85 open roles in October 2026, 30 of them in engineering.
  • Remote work is the norm: 40 of Cresta's 45 US job openings in October 2026 were remote.

What critics are saying

  • A younger rival grew faster: Sierra, founded in 2023, reached $150 million in yearly recurring revenue by February 2026.
  • Its partners compete: NICE, a call-center platform Cresta plugs into, reached $362 million in yearly AI revenue by June 2026.
  • Equity is hard to price: Cresta hasn't disclosed a valuation since its $1.6 billion round in March 2022.

What makes Cresta unique

  • Its CEO helped create Google's rival product: Ping Wu co-founded Google's Contact Center AI in 2017 before joining Cresta.
  • Its AI rules are outside-audited: in January 2025, Cresta became the first contact center AI firm certified to ISO 42001.
  • Call-center software makers invested in it: Genesys, Five9 and Zoom joined Cresta's $80 million round in March 2022.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Unlimited Paid Time Off
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • Remote Work Options
  • Wellness Program
  • Commuter Benefits

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-1%

1 year growth

-2%

2 year growth

-3%
Sapo
Oct 16th, 2026
Cresta creates first activation on the Lisbon Cable Car in 30 years.

Cresta creates first activation on the Lisbon Cable Car in 30 years. 16 October 2026 18:05 The project was developed by Marco Agency Lisboa and covered five cabins decorated with the brand. Tickets were offered to visitors to the company's stand at the World Aviation Forum. As part of the World Aviation Forum (WAF), Cresta, the artificial intelligence (AI) platform for customer experience, created the first brand activation on the Lisbon Cable Car in the last 30 years, with five cabins decorated with the brand. The project was developed by Marco Agency Lisboa. Tickets were offered to visitors to the company's stand at WAF. "Cresta helps airlines take advantage of every loyalty opportunity, using AI and human agents. WAF brings together the leaders shaping airline services around the world, and we are pleased to welcome them aboard the Lisbon Cable Car for a journey they will not forget," said Luis Miguel Alcedo, Cresta's director for Southern Europe, quoted in a press release. In addition to the activation, Cresta was present at the event with a stand in the exhibition area and talks alongside industry figures. Barry Chester, Cresta's airlines director, took part in a discussion panel with Beatriz Guillen, Iberia's customer experience director, and Sofia Lufinha, TAP Air Portugal's customer experience director. The company also sponsored the AWS@WAF event. Topics. Tell Google that SAPO is one of your preferred information sources. Thus, in your Google searches, you find SAPO content. Learn more

Vialynx Inc
Oct 13th, 2026
Cresta launches Deputy Agent: an AI Agent that keeps working long after the customer hangs up.

Cresta launches Deputy Agent: an AI Agent that keeps working long after the customer hangs up. Business · OCT 13, 2026 PR Newswire New long-running AI agent automates work across customer interactions and back-office operations, executing workflows across systems and teams for as long... New long-running AI agent automates work across customer interactions and back-office operations, executing workflows across systems and teams for as long as it takes to get the job done. SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Cresta, the AI operating system for customer experience, today launched Deputy Agent, a long-running agent that automates the behind-the-scenes work it takes to serve the customer. Deputy handles operational workflows from start to finish to complete back-office processes and resolve customer requests, increasing speed and accuracy while reducing errors and costs. From refund requests, to transaction disputes, to insurance claim appeals, many of the most important customer experience matters take days or weeks of work across systems and teams to resolve. Deputy Agent is purpose-built for these processes. "Customers only see the work that happens during the conversation, but the results that matter to them are achieved behind the scenes," said Ping Wu, CEO of Cresta. "Deputy Agent takes on that work. It picks up where the conversation leaves off and carries each workflow through to completion, while human and AI agents move on to the next customer. For years, AI in customer experience centers has focused on the conversation. Deputy brings that same intelligence to everything that happens outside of it." Too often, employees are left gathering information, chasing updates, and keeping processes moving. Deputy Agent takes on the work across conversations and in between, carrying context forward and gathering new information along the way. When work has to wait for documents or approval, Deputy preserves each workflow's progress, then picks up where it left off and continues until the job is complete. What our customers have to say "Aqua Finance's goal is to create an operation that's simpler, faster, and better," said Dan Greer, SVP of Servicing Operations for Aqua Finance. "With Deputy Agent, we see an opportunity to simplify refund processing, reduce manual work and costs, and bring more of that process in-house with greater visibility and control. For us, success is more than a faster transaction. It's a more predictable process and a better experience for our customers and employees." "Sunbit is committed to delivering a better financial experience to every customer," said Katey May, VP of Customer Success at Sunbit. "Our customer care team is routinely recognized for its professionalism and positive impact on customer experience. Cresta already enables us to simplify workflows, so employees spend less time on templates and documentation and more time helping customers. What excites me about Deputy Agent is that it keeps our customer care team focused on resolving issues favorably, while further automating processes that don't require a human touch." Built for the full scope of customer operations Deputy brings together connected conversations, persistent work, and informed oversight to automate customer operations from start to finish. * Orchestration across conversations and systems: Cresta supports human-led conversations through Agentic Assist and AI-led conversations through Cresta AI Agent. Deputy connects those conversations and the operational work that surrounds them. A workflow can start during a live call, come from a handoff, or begin when a document or request enters a back-office queue. It can span multiple conversations and the steps in between, or run without a customer interaction at all. * See complex work through, however long it takes: Deputy is built to stay with a workflow until its goal is reached, whether that takes a few seconds or several weeks. It keeps track of what's done, what's missing, and what needs to happen next. When work has to wait for a document, a response, or approval, Deputy saves its progress and picks up when the information or decision arrives. * Customer context guides the work: Deputy uses Cresta's real-time understanding of what customers are saying and trying to accomplish to recognize when a workflow should start and capture the details needed to act. It brings that information together with customer records, business rules, and standard operating procedures to determine what happens next. As new responses, documents, or decisions come in, Deputy builds on what it already knows and adjusts the next steps. * Gain control and operational oversight: Teams can see which workflows are running, what step they're on, what actions have been taken, and where someone needs to step in. An audit trail records actions and approvals so teams can follow how a request was handled. If an integration between systems is broken, Deputy detects the disconnect and flags it so it can be fixed. The business decides what Deputy can do on its own, what needs approval, and who can intervene. When a decision is needed, Deputy brings together the case details, supporting evidence, and reason for review so the person doesn't have to search across systems. Wu added: "The initial conversation is only the tip of the iceberg of customer experience work. With Deputy, enterprises can finally leverage AI to do everything that sits below the surface, across every team and system, and carry it through to completion." About Cresta: Cresta is the AI operating system for customer experience, where human and AI agents work together to power the entire customer lifecycle. Cresta automates conversations and back-office processes, augments human work, and puts insight into action, so each conversation makes the next one better. Companies like United Airlines, CVS Health, and Marriott use Cresta to turn every interaction into a competitive advantage. Learn more at Cresta.com. SOURCE Cresta Published by News Desk · WeeklyReviewer The WeeklyReviewer news desk monitors breaking developments around the clock - sourcing, verifying, and publishing real-time industry news across business, technology, politics, science, sports, and world affairs. Every story that comes through the Live Wire is reviewed for accuracy before publication, keeping our readers ahead of the curve without the noise.

PR Newswire
Aug 11th, 2026
Firstsource and Cresta partner to accelerate ai-powered customer experience transformation.

Firstsource and Cresta partner to accelerate ai-powered customer experience transformation. Aug 11, 2026, 09:22 ET MUMBAI, India and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Firstsource Solutions Limited (NSE: FSL) (BSE: 532809), a global intelligence partner and an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company, today announced a strategic partnership with Cresta, the leading customer experience AI platform, to deliver an integrated AI technology solution for enterprise customer experience transformation. The partnership combines Cresta's unified AI platform with Firstsource's domain-driven systems integration, outcome measurement frameworks, and operational AI expertise, enabling enterprises to deploy, scale, and continuously optimize AI at production speed and accountability. This partnership has two key components. Cresta's customer experience AI platform delivers cutting-edge AI agents, agentic AI augmentation for human agents, and comprehensive conversation intelligence to improve the customer experience with every conversation. Firstsource brings domain-driven systems integration, outcome measurement technology, and production-scale operations, creating an integrated AI capability that enterprises can deploy, measure, and continuously optimize. Together, they close the gap between technology capability and business outcomes, enabling rapid deployment with built-in accountability. To operationalize this partnership, Firstsource has established a dedicated AI Center of Excellence that serves as the integration engine for Cresta + Firstsource deployments. "Intelligence That Operates isn't a tagline, it's a technology thesis. AI models only succeed inside the right environment - sensors that see how work actually happens, organizational context that understands the why behind every action, and a domain harness that encodes what good looks like. Those are the layers of Kairos, our operating system for AI-native operations, and they are what we bring to this partnership, along with the integration capability to wire them into the systems enterprises already run. That's a technology partnership, not a service layer. Cresta has built exceptional AI technology for real-time customer engagement. Together we're co-engineering a production-ready AI solution enterprises can deploy with confidence. That's what we're bringing to Cresta, and that's what clients are increasingly demanding: partners who own the outcome, not just implement the technology," said Ashish Chawla, Head, CX and Consulting, Firstsource. "Firstsource is one of the world's leading providers of customer experience transformation expertise," said Alex Cramer, Chief Revenue Officer of Cresta. "As enterprises implement agentic customer experience technology, this partnership will deliver both the AI platform and the implementation strategy that companies need to enhance every customer interaction. We're excited to partner with Firstsource to deliver CX AI transformation to companies around the globe." Firstsource and Cresta will enable enterprises in the US, UK, Australia, and the Middle East to elevate their customer experience through a partnership that delivers cutting-edge technology and deep operational expertise in a single solution. About Firstsource Firstsource Solutions Limited, an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company (NSE: FSL) (BSE: 532809), is a global intelligence partner to enterprises across healthcare, banking and financial services, communications, media, technology, retail, and utilities. Its inch-wide, mile-deep practitioners work collaboratively to reimagine business process management. With operations across the US, UK, India, Philippines, Mexico, Romania, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, and Australia, Firstsource combines over twenty-five years of domain expertise with an agent-first delivery model to design, build, and operate intelligent enterprise operations. Through its Intelligence That Operates promise - powered by Kairos, the operating system that makes it real - the company unifies consulting, implementation, and operations into a single full-stack engagement and underwrites outcomes, not effort, turning deep domain intelligence into a compounding operational advantage for the world's most regulated industries. (www.firstsource.com) About Cresta Cresta unlocks the true potential of the customer experience, turning every conversation into a competitive advantage. Cresta's unified AI platform combines conversational AI agents, real-time human agent augmentation, and comprehensive conversation intelligence to drive revenue and efficiency gains across every channel. Companies like United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott use Cresta to power world-class customer experiences every day. (https://cresta.com/) SOURCE Firstsource

PR Newswire
Jul 29th, 2026
Cresta launches upgraded Insights with agentic AI to uncover hidden customer experience trends

Cresta has launched an upgraded version of Cresta Insights, its AI-powered customer experience platform. The enhanced system features three key components: an improved AI Analyst that autonomously executes research and generates multi-modal outputs, upgraded Topic Discovery that creates and maintains conversation taxonomies, and new Real-Time Trends capabilities that detect emerging issues minute by minute. According to CEO Ping Wu, the platform represents the first truly agentic customer experience insights system, proactively identifying trends rather than waiting for user queries. The AI Analyst has already automated over 4 million hours of research. Real-Time Trends includes spike detection, coverage of previously untracked events like outages or product issues, and automated root-cause analysis. The system aims to transform how enterprises analyse customer conversations and make operational decisions.

Cresta
Jul 29th, 2026
Cresta launches next generation of Cresta Insights to unlock deeper, more actionable intelligence from customer conversations.

Cresta launches next generation of Cresta Insights to unlock deeper, more actionable intelligence from customer conversations. Upgraded AI Analyst, Topic Discovery, and new Real-Time Trends capabilities make Cresta Insights more authoritative, more real-time, and more agentic than ever before. July 29, 2026 Cresta, the leading customer experience AI platform, today announced a major expansion of Cresta Insights' agentic capabilities. The enhancements to Cresta Insights enable enterprises to uncover critical customer experience information hidden in conversations faster, more confidently, and in greater depth than any other system available today. "Historically, insights tools only gave you answers to the questions you knew to ask. But many of the most critical issues are the ones nobody would think to look for: the unknown unknowns," said Ping Wu, CEO of Cresta. "Cresta Insights is the first truly agentic customer experience insights system. It doesn't wait for the question. It finds the trends that matter most, surfaces them to you proactively, and uses agentic reasoning to help you deeply investigate and identify the right actions to take next." The upgraded Cresta Insights is composed of three key elements. The new and improved AI Analyst: A CX research agent that works autonomously and recommends what to do next. AI Analyst has already automated more than 4 million hours of research to date, and with these enhancements it is even more efficient. New capabilities include: * Auto-execution: The user asks a question in plain English, and AI Analyst plans and executes research autonomously. It intelligently selects the right type of analysis to run and the right conversations to run it on, without the user needing to specify filters or intervene. * Extensible output types: AI Analyst builds multi-modal outputs including comparisons, charts, queries, behavior discovery reports, coaching recommendations, and fully drafted briefs and emails directly in Cresta Insights. * Cresta context grounding: AI Analyst reasons over Insights categories, workflows, predicted attributes, and business context, not just transcripts. Upgraded Topic Discovery: A single source of truth for why customers are calling that that stays aligned with the business over time. The upgrades include: * LLM-generated initial taxonomy: Topic Discovery generates an exhaustive taxonomy of conversation categories, with up to three layers of sub-categories. * Human-in-the-loop refinement: Admins explore groups with descriptions and examples, then merge, split, rename, or move clusters to fit what matters most to the business. * Locked-in golden taxonomy: Topic Discovery automatically tags every closed conversation against the taxonomy, with no need for manual keywording or maintenance. * Trustable everywhere: The classification is usable as a metric and filter in dashboards, as a filter in AI Analyst queries, and as a trigger condition in automated workflows and real-time guidance. Real-Time Trends: A new system designed to catch the unknown unknowns, down to the minute. Real-Time Trends gives contact center operations leaders and CX executives rapid visibility into what's changing in their business, including the events that no taxonomy was ever built to catch. It provides the detail users need to brief leadership and get talking points to agents within the hour. Included in Real-Time Trends: * Minute-level spike detection: Real-Time Trends flags trending topics and emerging spikes in customer conversations as they happen. * Unknown-unknown coverage: The system catches emerging keyword phrases and events that aren't tracked anywhere in a company's taxonomy yet, such as outages, regional disruptions, new product issues, or black swan events. * Auto-generated headlines and root causes: Every trend comes with an auto-generated headline and root-cause explanation, powered by AI Analyst. * Proactive email alerts: Subscribers receive email notifications when new topics start to spike. Together, the improvements close the loop between discovery and decision-making, turning Cresta Insights into a single system that finds out what customers are calling about, what's causing it right now, and what to do next. Wu added, "The onus in building a customer experience that improves with every conversation should not be on the user knowing what to look for. Today's enhancements are a major step forward in our vision of the proactive, agentic conversation intelligence system of the future."