Director, Solution Consulting/FDE

Director, Solution Consulting/FDE (AI & Enterprise Workflow Solutions)

➡️ Have you led and developed high-performing Solutions Consulting or Sales Engineering teams within enterprise SaaS, data or AI?

➡️ Do you have the technical depth to go beyond traditional pre-sales, with hands-on experience in AI, APIs, integrations and workflow automation?

➡️ Want to lead a global function at the forefront of AI-powered innovation, helping some of the world's leading organisations transform how they approach R&D, Intellectual Property and technology development?

If this sounds like your next move, we'd love to hear from you.

Role Summary:

Patsnap is seeking a commercially minded, technically capable leader to manage and develop our global Solutions Consulting team, supporting all products supporting Patsnap's portfolio across Intellectual Property, Life Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering.

As we expand our AI capabilities, our approach to Solutions Consulting is evolving. Beyond traditional product demonstrations and technical evaluations, we're increasingly helping customers integrate Patsnap's intelligence, AI agents and data directly into their existing systems and business workflows.

You'll lead an established global team of Solutions Consultants, strengthening its technical capabilities and expanding the function through the introduction of Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs). This includes defining how the team approaches technical discovery, solution development and customer engagement, ensuring we're equipped to support increasingly complex enterprise requirements.

This role offers the opportunity to have a genuine impact on how we operate, how we support our customers and how we bring our next generation of AI capabilities to market.

We're looking for someone who brings substantial experience leading customer-facing technical teams, alongside the technical depth to challenge, guide and contribute to solution development. You'll be responsible for building a function that not only supports commercial growth, but plays an increasingly important role in how customers adopt and integrate Patsnap's technology into their operations.

Want to see the platform you'd be representing?
Check out this short overview:

This is a hybrid position based in our Farringdon office, with a requirement to work on-site at least one day per week, on Wednesdays.

Who are we?

Patsnap is a global, pre-IPO technology company transforming how organisations use Intellectual Property and Research & Development intelligence to drive innovation.

Our AI-powered platform connects patent intelligence, scientific research, Life Sciences data and market insights, helping organisations make more informed decisions, accelerate R&D and bring new innovations to market.

Trusted by over 12,000 customers worldwide, including some of the world's leading innovators, we've raised $300 million in Series E funding, reaching a valuation of over $1 billion.

As we continue to evolve into an AI-native business, we're enabling customers to integrate our proprietary data, AI agents and intelligence directly into their existing technology and business processes.

With offices in Singapore, London, Toronto and Shanghai, alongside remote teams across the US, we're an international business with ambitious plans for continued growth. Our culture is high-performing but low ego, with a strong emphasis on collaboration, ownership and developing people.

What You'll Be Doing:

Global Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach and develop the global Solutions Consulting team, setting clear expectations for performance, customer impact and commercial contribution.

• Recruit and integrate FDEs, combining consulting expertise, domain knowledge and practical technical delivery within one team.

• Assess capability gaps and implement development plans covering AI workflows, MCPs, APIs, data handling, prototyping and solution design.

• Establish practical standards for technical proficiency and ensure learning translates into demonstrated customer-facing capability.

• Prioritise team resources across regions, verticals and commercial opportunities.

• Build a culture of accountability, experimentation, collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Customer Engagement & Commercial Partnership

• Partner closely with Sales, Account Management and Customer Success to support new business, expansion and customer adoption.

• Lead discovery sessions that uncover customer priorities, workflows, technical requirements and desired business outcomes.

• Oversee and participate in demonstrations, workshops, technical evaluations and enterprise solution discussions.

• Translate complex product and data capabilities into clear customer value and compelling commercial propositions.

• Establish clear scope, success criteria and timelines for proofs of concept (PoCs), aligning technical work with qualified commercial opportunities.

• Build trusted relationships with business leaders, domain practitioners and technical stakeholders.

AI, MCP & Data Solution Delivery

• Lead by example in configuring and demonstrating practical solutions using Patsnap’s products, AI agents, MCPs, APIs and data.

• Help customers incorporate Patsnap capabilities into their own AI environments and business processes.

• Guide Solutions Consultants and FDEs in building rapid prototypes, testing workflows and validating customer value.

• Ensure evaluations consider output quality, source traceability, data permissions, integration requirements and usage costs.

• Coordinate with Product and Engineering to progress successful prototypes into supported solutions, with Engineering owning production architecture, security and platform development.

Product Collaboration & Scalable Solutions

• Work closely with Product, Engineering and subject matter experts to translate customer needs into product improvements and repeatable solutions.

• Create a clear process for sharing field feedback and progressing promising customer prototypes into product development.

• Turn successful engagements into reusable Skills, connectors, workflow templates, demonstrations and implementation guidance.

• Ensure the team can support the full portfolio, drawing on domain specialists where deeper expertise is required.

• Contribute to commercial enablement through use cases, discovery frameworks, demo narratives and evidence of customer outcomes.

• Identify recurring customer needs that create opportunities for differentiated data offerings, integrations and AI workflows.

What We'd Love From You:

We're looking for an experienced Solutions Consulting or Sales Engineering leader who has successfully developed customer-facing technical teams and understands how to build a function that contributes directly to enterprise commercial success. you'll bring the technical depth to engage meaningfully in solution design and AI development, alongside the leadership experience to build capability at scale.

Required Experience

• Proven leadership experience: 5+ years leading Solutions Consulting, Sales Engineering or comparable customer-facing technical teams within enterprise SaaS, data or AI.

• Domain knowldge: Understanding of IP/R&D workflows

• Commercial impact: Proven experience supporting complex enterprise sales cycles, influencing technical buying decisions and connecting technical solutions to measurable commercial outcomes.

• Technical credibility: Practical experience with APIs, data integrations, AI tools and workflow automation, with the ability to build, adapt or critically assess technical prototypes and demonstrations.

• AI and agentic workflows: A working understanding of AI agents, MCP and how LLM-powered applications connect with external systems, tools and data.

• Team development: Experience recruiting, coaching and developing technical talent, including improving the technical capabilities of an established team.

• Enterprise customer engagement: Strong discovery, presentation and stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to engage senior business leaders and technical decision-makers.

• Global and cross-functional leadership: Experience working across international teams and partnering with Sales, Customer Success, Product and Engineering.

• Strategic and commercial judgement: The ability to assess opportunity value, prioritise resources and balance technical delivery with wider commercial objectives.

Even Better If You Have:

• Experience introducing Forward Deployed Engineering capabilities or evolving a traditional pre-sales function towards more advanced technical solution delivery.

• Experience using Python, JavaScript or low-code tools for prototyping, data manipulation and workflow automation.

• Knowledge of enterprise AI adoption, including retrieval, AI agent evaluation and data governance.

• Experience turning customer-specific technical solutions into reusable assets, integrations or scalable product capabilities.

Benefits & Perks:

A genuinely strong culture we’re really proud of. High-performing but low ego, collaborative, social, and dynamic. It’s a team that supports each other, shares best practice, raises standards, and celebrates wins properly together. Alongside a great product, it’s one of the best parts of working here.

Additional benefits

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

• Two paid volunteering days

• Private healthcare with AXA

• Pension with Scottish Widows

• Enhanced parental leave policies

• Work from home stipend

• Cycle to Work scheme

• Life assurance

• Payroll giving options

• Eyecare vouchers

Patsnap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer (EOE) that champions diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, or marital, veteran/military, or disability status, or any other protected status in accordance with federal, provincial/state or local laws.