Customer Strategy Director

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. The world’s leading companies, including United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott, use Cresta to power world-class customer experiences every day.  Born from the Stanford AI Lab, Cresta has raised more than $270 million from the world’s leading investors, including a16z, Greylock, and Sequoia. Cresta’s leadership includes some of the leading minds in AI today. Our CEO, Ping Wu , founded and led Google's Contact Center AI and Vertex AI platforms before joining Cresta to build the future of AI-driven customer experiences. Over the next few years, AI is going to redefine how people all over the world interact with businesses every day. Come build that future at Cresta. About the Role: This is a senior individual contributor role on Cresta's Customer Strategy team, a small, high-impact group that operates at the intersection of AI strategy, contact center transformation, and enterprise sales. We show up as operators, not software vendors. Our job is to turn AI anxiety into AI confidence for the enterprises ready to lead the next era of customer experience. You'll engage at the C-suite and executive level with Cresta's largest and most strategic accounts, acting as a trusted advisor who can make the value of AI concrete and stay accountable to real, measurable outcomes. You'll partner closely with Sales, Professional Services, and Customer Success, and serve as a thought leader both in customer engagements and internally across product, marketing, and GTM. East or Central US strongly preferred. This role involves regular customer travel (1-2 days/week) and the majority of Cresta's largest strategic accounts are concentrated in the Eastern time zone. What You'll Do: Vision & Thought Leadership Open strategic enterprise engagements with executive-level vision sessions, not pure product pitches, establishing Cresta's point of view on how AI will reshape contact center operations Help customers see where AI is taking their business, not just what's available today Represent Cresta at external events as a credible voice in AI and CX transformation Strategic Customer Engagement Lead business value discovery, stakeholder alignment, and use-case scoping across complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise accounts Guide customers through operational readiness, change management, and deployment planning, including Center of Excellence models and governance structures Support pilot and Conversational Assessment design, goal-setting, and executive readouts Facilitate business case development as a collaborative exercise with the customer, rather than a Cresta-owned spreadsheet, so customers internalize and own the value story Scope & Deal Strategy Partner with Sales to push deals toward full platform adoption where warranted, expanding beyond initial narrow use cases Advise on pricing strategy and business models for non-standard deal structures Own positioning and sale of professional services as part of a broader engagement strategy Internal Contribution Serve as voice of the customer for Product, Marketing, and Partner teams Build repeatable playbooks, frameworks, and executive assets that scale the team's approach across the Enterprise segment Help Cresta stay ahead of AI trends and their implications for customers and our own GTM What We're Looking For: Deep credibility in AI agents: you understand the technology, its current limitations, and the competitive landscape well enough to advise customers making real transformation decisions Contact center domain expertise, whether from operating inside one or selling into them at enterprise scale Exceptional executive presence and storytelling ability; you can hold a C-suite room, make complex AI strategy legible, and leave customers with conviction, not just information A visionary orientation; customers are anxious about AI and overwhelmed with options, you're the person who gives them clarity and a path forward Strong product and technical fluency; PM background is a strong signal, you need to engage credibly on integration tradeoffs, deployment architecture, and model behavior without necessarily being an engineer Proven experience leading large, complex enterprise engagements with multiple stakeholders and long sales cycles Comfort with an IC role and a high-travel cadence; this is not a team management position, the leverage comes from depth of customer engagement Perks & Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and people-first benefits package to support you at work and in life: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with plans to fit you and your family Flexible PTO to take the time you need, when you need it Paid parental leave for all new parents welcoming a new child Retirement savings plan to help you plan for the future Remote work setup budget to help you create a productive home office Monthly wellness and communication stipend to keep you connected and balanced In-office meal program and commuter benefits provided for onsite employees Compensation at Cresta  Cresta’s approach to compensation is simple: recognize impact, reward excellence, and invest in our people. We offer competitive, location-based pay that reflects the market and what each individual brings to the table. The base salary range represents what we expect to pay for this role in a given location. Final offers are shaped by factors like experience, skills, education, and geography. In addition to base pay, total compensation includes equity and a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family. This role is variable target compensation eligibl