Data & AI Manager

Data & AI Manager

CFGI founded in 2000 is a dynamic and fast-growing financial consulting firm serving as the trusted partner to CFOs and their organizations. We help clients tackle complex challenges across accounting financial reporting transactions regulatory compliance digital transformation data analytics and artificial intelligence. We blend deep technical expertise with a hands-on entrepreneurial approach to help the worlds leading companies move forward with confidence.

CFGI is expanding its Data & AI practice across Asia-Pacific and is seeking a hands-on Manager to lead client engagements build senior client relationships and help originate new business across the region with a particular focus on Japan and India.

This is a delivery client-relationship and business-development role for a practitioner who combines strong current Data & AI expertise with the commercial instinct and market experience to build and deepen client relationships generate and shape new opportunities and serve as a credible face of CFGI in the region.

The successful candidate may bring substantial working experience in either the Japan or India market. Candidates are not expected to have worked extensively in both markets.

What you might expect:

• Lead hands-on Data & AI engagements for clients across Japan India and the broader APAC region including data pipelines and integration dashboards and analytics predictive models generative AI and agentic workflows and intelligent process automation.
• Deliver across CFGIs Data & AI service offerings including AI readiness assessments and roadmaps responsible AI governance and controls AI and automation use-case implementation data and analytics engineering and AI-enabled managed services.
• Identify qualify and shape new business opportunities by building relationships with CFOs CTOs and senior finance technology data and operations executives; identifying client challenges where CFGIs Data & AI capabilities can create measurable value; and developing those opportunities into qualified engagements.
• Co-lead pursuits alongside CFGI senior leadership by shaping the client problem developing the solution and commercial case contributing to proposals and executive presentations and maintaining client relationships throughout the sales cycle. The partner lead retains commercial approval and contracting authority.
• Own day-to-day client relationships on engagements lead working sessions translate business challenges into practical technical solutions and communicate credibly with both technical stakeholders and executive buyers.
• Turn successful delivery relationships into sustained client relationships that generate follow-on expansion and cross-service opportunities.
• Partner with CFOs Controllers FP&A leaders business executives technology stakeholders and data teams to develop scalable solutions that improve reporting automation operational performance decision-making and data quality.
• Manage cross-functional projects involving finance accounting operational reporting technology data modernization artificial intelligence analytics and business transformation.
• Lead the design and implementation of governed client-grade Data & AI solutions from data ingestion and transformation through analytics automation AI-enabled insights and production deployment.
• Develop and review executive-ready analyses dashboards presentations reporting packages solution architectures and other client deliverables.
• Manage and mentor junior delivery professionals by setting the technical standard reviewing work providing coaching and performance feedback and building capability within the broader Data & AI team.
• Embed responsible AI and data governance into client solutions including appropriate consideration of model validation explainability auditability security privacy data lineage monitoring and model risk.
• Apply relevant local regulatory and business considerations based on the clients being served. This may include Japans data-privacy and AI-governance environment or Indias data-protection AI-governance and financial-services regulatory environment.
• Act as a regional interface to CFGIs APAC and global Data & AI and Data & Analytics teams by reusing firm accelerators platforms methodologies and repeatable components while incorporating local client and regulatory requirements.
• Help productize repeatable Data & AI solutions and accelerators that can be scaled across clients and markets.
• Maintain a hands-on technical orientation while leading specialists across artificial intelligence engineering data-platform engineering advanced analytics automation and business intelligence.

What you must have:

• 5 years of experience in data engineering data science advanced analytics artificial intelligence / machine learning business intelligence data transformation analytics consulting technology consulting and/or a closely related Data & AI discipline including meaningful client-facing or executive-stakeholder delivery experience.
• Experience leading Data & AI analytics automation data engineering or technology workstreams and delivering business solutions from requirements and solution design through implementation and client adoption.
• Demonstrated professional experience working with clients businesses or stakeholders in either Japan or India including an understanding of the relevant business environment stakeholder expectations relationship-building practices and local market context.

What sets you apart:

• Strong current hands-on expertise in at least one core discipline artificial intelligence engineering data-platform engineering or advanced analytics and modeling combined with enough breadth to lead specialists and make sound architectural delivery and commercial decisions across adjacent disciplines.
• Experience designing and delivering production generative-AI or agentic-AI solutions including agentic workflows multi-agent systems tool use function calling enterprise-system integration retrieval-augmented generation embedding and vector-search approaches prompt management and production security considerations.
• Experience evaluating and selecting large language models or other foundation models for production use based on capability quality cost latency throughput context requirements security and data-residency constraints.
• Experience with leading commercial and open-weight model ecosystems such as OpenAI Anthropic Claude Google Gemini Meta Llama Mistral DeepSeek Qwen or comparable current technologies.
• Experience with AI orchestration and application frameworks such as LangChain LangGraph LlamaIndex CrewAI AutoGen / Microsoft Agent Framework Semantic Kernel or comparable technologies.
• Experience implementing retrieval-augmented generation solutions using embedding models vector databases or search services hybrid search relational vector extensions and effective chunking and retrieval strategies.
• Experience with AI governance evaluation and observability including model evaluation output monitoring explainability fairness model-risk assessment data lineage model registries or data contracts.
• Experience with AI evaluation and observability technologies such as MLflow RAGAS DeepEval LangSmith Arize Phoenix Evidently AI SHAP LIME or comparable approaches and platforms.
• Experience with at least one major cloud platform Microsoft Azure Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform and associated AI machine learning data or analytics capabilities.
• Experience with managed AI platforms such as Azure OpenAI Service Amazon Bedrock Google Vertex AI or comparable enterprise AI services.
• Understanding of self-hosted or private-model inference approaches relevant to regulated or data-residency-sensitive environments including technologies such as vLLM Ollama SGLang or similar deployment frameworks.
• Experience designing building or leading data pipelines data integration transformation data modeling warehousing or modern data-platform initiatives.
• Experience with cloud data and analytics platforms such as Snowflake Databricks Azure AWS Google Cloud or comparable technologies.
• Experience programming with Python SQL R or another language commonly used for data engineering analytics machine learning or AI solution development.
• Experience leading business intelligence reporting workflow automation ETL or intelligent process automation initiatives using technologies such as Power BI Tableau Alteryx UiPath Microsoft Power Platform or comparable platforms.
• Experience translating complex technical solutions into clear business cases recommendations and executive-level communications.
• A demonstrated track record of originating or co-originating client opportunities including generating leads identifying client needs shaping the business case and scope contributing to proposals and executive presentations and helping convert opportunities into engagements.
• Experience expanding existing client relationships beyond an initial engagement through strong delivery trusted-advisor relationships cross-selling or identification of additional client needs.
• Experience building and maintaining senior client relationships in Japan and/or India including relationships with senior finance technology data operations or business leaders. CFO CTO CIO CDO or comparable executive exposure is particularly valuable.
• An existing alliance technology-partner or professional network within Japan India or the broader APAC market.
• Experience leading project teams mentoring junior professionals reviewing technical work and serving as a primary point of contact for senior client stakeholders.
• Practical knowledge of responsible AI data privacy model risk governance security explainability and auditability within a regulated or enterprise environment.
• For candidates with Japan experience familiarity with Japanese business practices and stakeholder-management approaches including consensus-building and approval processes as well as relevant data-privacy and AI-governance considerations such as APPI PPC guidance and Japans evolving AI-governance framework.
• For candidates with India experience familiarity with Indian business practices and stakeholder-management approaches as well as relevant data-protection and AI-governance considerations such as the Digital Personal Data Protection framework and applicable RBI SEBI or other regulatory requirements when serving regulated clients.
• Business-level Japanese language proficiency for professionals focused on Japanese-language client accounts. Professional working English is expected for internal and regional communication.
• Hindi or another relevant Indian regional language such as Kannada Marathi or Tamil where it supports targeted client relationships in India.

Nice to have:

• Experience supporting the Office of the CFO including finance financial close and reporting controllership FP&A controls risk tax or other finance-transformation workflows.
• Experience delivering AI analytics automation or data solutions into highly governed environments such as financial reporting controls risk management regulated financial services or other audit-sensitive business processes.
• Healthcare and life sciences experience. The practice serves clients across sectors including financial services healthcare and life sciences technology manufacturing energy and consumer markets so industry specialization is not required.
• Experience managing enterprise reporting environments large-scale data-modernization programs digital-transformation initiatives or AI-enabled managed services.
• Experience working across multiple APAC markets or supporting cross-border clients and regional headquarters.
• A Bachelors or advanced degree in Computer Science Data Science Engineering Statistics Information Systems Finance Accounting or another related quantitative or business discipline.
• Relevant cloud data analytics AI project-management or professional certifications.

Who thrives here:

• A hands-on practitioner who remains technically current while being comfortable leading client teams and specialists.
• A strong communicator who can move easily between engineers data professionals finance leaders operational stakeholders and executive buyers.
• Commercially minded and comfortable identifying opportunities building relationships and helping grow accounts rather than waiting for engagements to be assigned.
• Able to translate complex technical topics into practical business outcomes and measurable client value.
• Entrepreneurial self-motivated adaptable ethical and dependable.
• Comfortable operating in an evolving fast-growth environment where the Data & AI practice is continuing to build its capabilities client base and regional presence.
• Effective at leading teams developing junior professionals and creating a collaborative environment across countries and disciplines.
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities client demands and workstreams while maintaining a high standard of delivery.
• High energy with a commitment to exceptional client service.

Why CFGI:

This role offers a rare combination of hands-on delivery leadership and a genuine commercial mandate within a fast-growing Data & AI practice backed by a global firm with an established Data & Analytics capability and AI-enabled managed-services platform.

You will have exposure to the full commercial and delivery lifecycle from the first executive conversation through opportunity qualification and solution design to signed engagement governed implementation and long-term client expansion.

The work spans sectors and the full Data & AI lifecycle from strategy and readiness through architecture governed build automation analytics artificial intelligence and managed operation.

CFGIs entrepreneurial model gives Managers meaningful client ownership visibility with senior leadership and the opportunity to help shape the growth of the Data & AI practice across APAC. As the practice scales professionals who combine strong delivery technical credibility client relationships and business-development success will be well positioned for continued progression within the firm.