Forward-Deployed AI Strategist

Cambrian Advisory, Zurich, Switzerland, Full time

Help clients define and develop their AI strategy, and navigate its challenges, from upskilling their people to choosing the right tools.

About Cambrian

Cambrian is a Swiss company founded in 2026 on the premise that AI is reshaping how organisations operate.

In most companies, AI tools are already deployed, but the strategy for using them lags behind. Cambrian works with Swiss and international organisations to close that gap. Cambrian runs two pillars on a shared, AI-native infrastructure.

• Cambrian Advisory: AI strategy, leadership enablement, change management and implementation for organisations
• Cambrian Studio: Builds, owns and operates product and service businesses
• From Cambrian Advisory to Cambrian Studio: Ideas from industry engagements
• From Cambrian Studio to Cambrian Advisory: Practically applicable AI knowledge

The role

This is a unique opportunity to join Cambrian early, grow with the firm and shape how organisations put AI to work.

You have a clear vision of how AI will change the future of work and you challenge how things are done today. Working at the forefront of the technology, you witness first hand the challenges organisations face and you meet them with solutions.

The role is an exciting combination of different fields:

• Business development and relationship management: 3 of 5
• Strategy: 4 of 5
• Deployment with clients: 5 of 5
• Enablement and training: 3 of 5
• Product design and development: 4 of 5
• (Vibe) coding: 2 of 5
• ML research and model training: 1 of 5
• People management: 2 of 5

What you will do

Strategy

• Help clients define their AI strategy: ambition, priorities and roadmap
• Address governance, data protection, operating model and change and build the business cases behind AI investments

Deployment with clients

• Help clients navigate AI challenges, from upskilling their people to choosing the right tools
• Assess AI potential across business processes and turn it into concrete implementation proposals
• Advise on which solutions to build and guide client teams and partners through delivery

Business development and relationship management

• Originate new client opportunities through your network, events and thought leadership
• Qualify leads and shape them into scoped mandates and proposals with the partners
• Build lasting relationships with client decision makers

Enablement and training

• Design and run workshops and trainings that help leaders and teams put AI to work
• Support change management and drive adoption so that solutions become part of daily work

Product design and development

• Design products and services with Cambrian Studio, from concept to working prototype
• Turn insights from client mandates into reusable products and agent components
• Use and extend Cambrian's internal AI tooling and bring the best new models and tools into daily use

As in every startup, the most important work is hard to predict far ahead. We expect flexibility and the openness to contribute wherever we need it most.

What you bring

• 5 to 8 years of professional experience in consulting, technology or product roles
• Proven experience applying AI in a professional business context, preferably in an industry with a high degree of regulation
• Proven delivery of AI implementation projects, from design to production use, in a work or private context
• Hands-on with AI-assisted development (vibe coding); a software engineering background is not required but a plus
• Familiarity with the major AI tools used in companies: the full Claude suite (Claude, Claude Code, Claude Cowork), ChatGPT and Microsoft 365 Copilot, including their governance (data protection, access control)
• Structured problem solving: framing, prioritisation, business cases
• Commercial drive: ability to build client relationships and originate new business; an existing client book is not required
• A problem solver with a startup mindset: you think in solutions, not problems, take ownership and deal well with ambiguity
• Your own vision of how AI will change the future of work
• Fluent English, written and spoken. German is a plus
• Eligibility to work in Switzerland

What we offer

• A unique opportunity to join early and shape the firm, its methods and its offering
• Work at the forefront of AI: the latest models, agents and tooling, including Claude, Claude Code and Cambrian's internal stack
• First-hand insight into the real challenges organisations face as they move from deploying AI tools to using AI strategically
• Direct collaboration with the founding partners on every mandate. You are employee #1 and a core part of the entrepreneurial team
• A unique role that offers variety across mandates: training, strategy and build work
• No bureaucracy: we go from a good idea to implementation with extremely lean structures
• A compensation scheme that offers direct, objectively measurable, uncapped participation on the mandates you deliver, acquire and the products you successfully bring to clients

Key facts

• Contract: Full-time (100%), permanent
• Location: Urdorf (Zurich), hybrid; travel to client sites expected
• Start: As soon as possible
• Compensation: Fixed salary plus a variable component outlined above
• Reporting line: We do not live reporting lines but work as one team of equals

How to apply

Apply in the Application tab: add your CV and convince us that we need you and you want the role the most.

Apply for this role