Vice President of Delivery

About Climb

Climb is a Data and AI consultancy that partners with enterprises to design, build, and operationalize modern data platforms and production AI systems. As a Databricks partner, we go deep on lakehouse architecture, machine learning, and applied AI, with a bias toward production over proof of concept. Our team brings deep technical expertise and a builder's mindset to every engagement, and we measure our work not just by what ships, but by the business impact it drives.

Role Summary

The VP of Delivery owns how Climb ships. You run the delivery organization end to end, owning engagement quality, staffing, utilization, and margin across every pod, and you are accountable for the outcomes our clients pay for. At a consultancy, delivery is the business: this role is where Climb’s margin, reputation, and enterprise value are made or lost. When Climb commits to a result, you are the executive who makes it true.

You also own the systems that make our delivery model different. Climb is AI-native by design, and you will build our agentic delivery OS: the internal platform of agents, accelerators, and instrumented workflows that lets senior pods deliver at a multiple of traditional consulting throughput. At Climb, delivery leverage is a product, and you are its owner.

This is an executive leadership role reporting to the CEO. You will scale the delivery organization from its founding team through 75+ practitioners while protecting the quality bar, the margin profile, and the culture that make premium positioning possible.

Key Responsibilities

• Own delivery outcomes across the portfolio: quality, client satisfaction, on-time delivery, and engagement-level gross margin.

• Run the pod model: capacity planning, staffing, and utilization management that balances billable leverage with sustainable pace.

• Build and own the agentic delivery OS, the internal platform of agents, accelerators, and playbooks that compounds Climb’s delivery leverage with every engagement. Set its roadmap, staff it, and ship it.

• Instrument delivery with hard metrics (margin per pod, revenue per practitioner, delivery predictability, cycle time) and manage the organization against them.

• Establish quality systems: engagement health reviews, QA gates, and an escalation model that catches problems before clients do.

• Partner with sales on scoping, estimation, and pricing discipline so we win work we can deliver profitably.

• Hire and develop Engagement Leads, technical leads, and practice talent; design growth paths that keep A-players advancing without adding management bloat.

• Codify how Climb delivers into repeatable methodology and reusable IP that raises the floor of every engagement.

• Serve as executive sponsor and final escalation point for strategic accounts.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years in professional services or consulting delivery, including 5+ years running a delivery organization with P&L accountability.

• Track record managing services economics at scale: utilization, realization, and gross margin across a multi-engagement portfolio ($20M+ services revenue or 50+ practitioners).

• Deep technical credibility in data and AI: you have delivered data platform, ML, or applied AI programs and can hold your own with principal engineers.

• Demonstrated experience building internal tooling, enablement, or delivery platforms: you treat delivery capability as a product, not a binder.

• Hands-on fluency with AI-assisted development and agentic tooling: you have strong, current opinions about what agents can and cannot do in a delivery context, formed by using them.

• Experience scaling a services organization through rapid growth without quality or margin erosion.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering on the Databricks platform or within its partner ecosystem.

• Background in PE or growth-equity-backed services firms: you understand value-creation plans and board-level delivery reporting.

• Prior ownership of an internal software platform or product with real users and a real roadmap.

• Familiarity with delivery and developer-experience metrics frameworks (e.g., DORA, DevEx, SPACE) adapted for consulting contexts.

Note on certification: Databricks experience is valued but not required at hire. Both Databricks and Anthropic certification are expected to be obtained post-hire.

Who Thrives Here

• You measure yourself in margin, predictability, and client outcomes, not activity.

• You believe delivery is a system to be engineered, and you would rather build leverage than add headcount.

• You hold a high bar publicly and kindly, and A-players want to work for you because of it.

• You are equally at home in a board review and an architecture review.

Why Climb

• Ground floor, real backing. You are joining early, with founders who have built and exited firms like this before. You help write the playbook rather than inherit one.

• Outcomes, not hours. We sell and deliver against business results. Advancement is tied to delivery performance and account impact, not utilization targets.

• Senior team, no body-shop drag. Small pods of elite practitioners, heavy internal AI leverage, and no bloated middle layers between you and the work.

• IP that compounds. Every engagement feeds reusable accelerators, patterns, and points of view back into the practice.

• Proximity to where decisions get made. Your clients are PE portcos and enterprise leadership teams making AI transformation calls right now.

What We Offer

• Competitive base salary with performance-based bonuses

• MacBook Pro and swag kit so you can do your best work

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) with company match

• Generous holidays, flexible PTO, and remote-first work environment

• Professional development budget including Databricks and cloud certifications

• Spot bonuses for relevant certifications

• Conference attendance and thought leadership opportunities

• Collaborative, low-ego culture with direct access to leadership

• Opportunity to shape a growing practice from the ground floor

Climb is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.