Lead the development of strategic partnerships with Tier-1 systems integrators to enhance Fireworks AI's market presence and capabilities.
Skills & Technologies
AI in the day-to-day
Fireworks builds generative AI infrastructure and integrates AI capabilities into partner offerings.
Requirements
Joblaze summary
The Head of Systems Integrators at Fireworks AI is responsible for establishing and structuring strategic partnerships with Tier-1 systems integrators, focusing on high-level deal origination rather than routine management. This role requires a strong technical background in AI and machine learning, along with experience in closing complex agreements and navigating organizational structures. Ideal candidates will have significant experience in consulting or enterprise technology, particularly with global systems integrators, and a proven track record of building new functions from the ground up.
Joblaze insights
Quick facts
From the original posting
Fireworks is the platform for specialized intelligence, enabling companies to build, train, and serve AI models tailored to their own data, workflows, and products. Founded by the team behind PyTorch and backed by AMD, Atreides, Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Sequoia Capital, and TCV, Fireworks powers production AI with hundreds of state-of-the-art open models across text, image, embedding, audio, and multimodal workloads. Today, Fireworks is a Series D company valued at $17.5 billion, bringing together an ambitious, collaborative team that's building the future of enterprise AI.
SIs are Fireworks' highest-leverage GTM channel and this function does not exist yet. The person in this role originates and structures the deals, builds the partners, makes them technically capable, and embeds Fireworks into how they sell. The weight is upstream: strategy and origination, not day-to-day partner management.
Originate and Structure
Source and close first-of-a-kind commercial agreements with Tier-1 SIs - framework deals, global MoUs, joint offering structures - where no playbook exists
Define the multi-practice value proposition; align SI executive and line-of-business leadership on why Fireworks and how joint delivery creates margin for both sides
Navigate matrixed GSI org structures to secure internal mandates for dedicated practices or CoEs, aligning competing service lines on governance and delivery standards
Define co-delivery swimlanes and market ownership to prevent channel conflict and protect delivery quality as the partner ecosystem scales
Recruit and Develop
Identify and recruit Tier-1 SI partners with credible AI practices, client access in target verticals, and appetite to build a Fireworks capability
Build conviction at every level - make the commercial and technical case from alliance desk to equity partner
Connect Fireworks engineers, sales, and product to their counterparts at the partner; establish functional working relationships, not just an alliance desk
Guide partners through standing up a Fireworks service offering: capability definition, staffing model, pricing, and GTM positioning
Enable
Design and own FDE certification: inference, fine-tuning pipelines, production deployment - with a track covering SFT, RLHF, and model adaptation
Build the operating model: how projects flow to partners, support tiers, escalation to the Fireworks technical bench, and commercial attribution
Run the direct interface desk - standing technical bridge between partner delivery teams and Fireworks engineers for in-flight engagements
Own model update continuity: when Fireworks ships, re-certify partners before delivery is disrupted
Embed
Place Fireworks in SI practice playbooks and internal solution frameworks - the default inference layer when their AI practices architect for clients
Produce joint innovation content with named Fireworks placement: reference architectures, solution briefs, and thought leadership under partner credentials
Develop case studies with specific, attributable outcomes - latency, cost reduction, model quality - with named clients where possible
Build at practice lead and delivery principal level across all active SI partners, not just alliance managers
What matters is that you are a practitioner - close enough to how SIs work to know where the leverage is and where the friction lives.
You are technical enough to earn credibility with FDEs and ML engineers - you understand what SFT and RL mean in production and can design enablement that builds those capabilities in others. GSI experience is a strong plus, not a requirement. What is required: you have closed non-standard strategic agreements before, and you build things that do not exist yet.
8-10 years across top-tier consulting, enterprise technology or AI/ML vendor roles, or senior SI alliance leadership - with direct exposure to how GSIs structure, sell, and deliver
Track record closing non-standard strategic agreements: MoUs, framework deals, joint offering structures with major GSIs or consulting firms
Working knowledge of how GSIs operate - practice formation, CoE funding, delivery authority, internal service line competition - from the inside or from working alongside them closely
ML stack fluency sufficient to design and assess technical enablement: fine-tuning, inference, deployment pipelines
Demonstrated 0-to-1 program or function builds; not inherited playbooks
Operates at C-suite and equity partner level; measures success by pipeline originated and practice maturity, not activity
Bonus:
Time inside the AI practice of a leading GSI or MBB firm
Hands-on post-training experience: SFT, RL, or RLHF in delivery or program management
Existing relationships at practice lead or delivery principal level within major consulting or SI AI practices
Solve Hard Problems: Tackle challenges at the forefront of AI infrastructure, from low-latency inference to scalable model serving.
Build What’s Next: Work with bleeding-edge technology that impacts how businesses and developers harness AI globally.
Ownership & Impact: Join a fast-growing, passionate team where your work directly shapes the future of AI—no bureaucracy, just results.
Learn from the Best: Collaborate with world-class engineers and AI researchers who thrive on curiosity and innovation.
Fireworks AI is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all innovators.