Deployment Strategist
Quick facts
- Pay
- 170k - 260k
- Type
- Full-time
- Location
- Redwood City, CA
- Industry
- Information Technology — 675 open jobs
- Visa in listing
- H-1B, OPT
- Apply
- Free to apply — never pay anyone for a job offer or visa sponsorship
Job description
Retell AI is using first-principles thinking to reimagine the call center with cutting-edge voice AI. Thousands of companies now use Retell's AI voice agents to handle sales, support, and logistics calls that once required large teams of human agents. Backed by Y Combinator, Alt Capital, and other leading investors, we've scaled to $80M in ARR with a team of 50, up from $5M at the start of 2025, and are now valued at over $1.5B.
Our vision for 2026 is to build a modern CX platform where entire contact centers are powered by AI. Instead of basic automation that needs constant human tuning, we're creating intelligent AI “workers” that act as frontline agents, QA analysts, and managers, continuously executing, monitoring, and improving every customer interaction.
We're growing fast and looking for ambitious builders who want to tackle hard technical problems, move quickly, and have a real impact on one of the fastest-growing voice AI companies in the world.
Let's build the future together.
Recent Recognition
- No. 1 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area, San Francisco Business Times 2026
- Top 50 AI Apps, a16z (2025)
- #3 Fastest-Growing Software Company, G2 Best Software Awards 2026
- Best Agentic AI Software, G2 Best Software Awards 2026
- #4 Fastest-Growing Software Vendor, Brex Benchmark 2025
- Enterprise Tech 30 Class of 2026, Nasdaq & Wing VC
- Top-Ranked Startup, Lean AI Leaderboard
- Backed by Y Combinator
Retell AI transforms customer experience with voice AI for enterprises, including customers like CVS/Aetna, American Airlines, Lenovo, and Grab. We have more customer stories than we can tell!
This is a highly strategic, customer-facing role for operators who thrive at the intersection of technology, product, and execution.
As a Deployment Strategist at Retell, you will work directly with some of the most innovative companies deploying AI-powered voice agents. You will lead implementations from initial discovery through production launch, helping customers redesign business processes around AI while ensuring successful technical delivery.
You will serve as a trusted advisor to executives, operators, and technical teams, helping customers define requirements, scope solutions, drive adoption, and realize measurable business outcomes. You'll partner closely with Product, Engineering, Sales, and Customer Success while helping shape the future of how enterprises deploy voice AI.
If you enjoy solving ambiguous problems, working directly with customers, and owning outcomes from strategy through execution, this role offers an opportunity to operate at the center of one of the fastest-growing categories in AI.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end customer deployments from discovery through production launch, owning project execution, stakeholder communication, risk management, and successful delivery.
- Partner directly with customers to understand business goals, gather requirements, and translate them into scalable AI-powered workflows.
- Become a subject matter expert in Retell's platform, voice AI best practices, and LLM prompting techniques.
- Design conversational workflows, automation strategies, and deployment architectures that deliver measurable business outcomes.
- Build prototypes, validate use cases, and guide customers through implementation tradeoffs and optimization opportunities.
- Act as a trusted advisor to executives and operational leaders, helping them identify opportunities to leverage AI across their organizations.
- Lead discovery sessions, business process reviews, and strategic planning conversations with customer stakeholders.
- Build ROI models and business cases that quantify the impact of AI automation and help customers prioritize initiatives.
- Partner closely with Sales during pre-sales engagements, solution scoping, and customer presentations.
- Coordinate across Product, Engineering, and Customer Success teams to unblock deployments and ensure customer success.
- Communicate project progress, risks, recommendations, and next steps clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Translate customer feedback into actionable product recommendations and help shape the future direction of the Retell platform.
- Develop repeatable deployment playbooks, best practices, and frameworks that enable customers to deploy voice AI successfully at scale.
YOU MIGHT THRIVE IF YOU
- Have exceptional communication skills and can quickly build credibility with executives, operators, and technical teams.
- Enjoy acting as a trusted advisor and influencing decisions across multiple stakeholders.
- Have strong product intuition and enjoy understanding customer workflows, identifying pain points, and designing scalable solutions.
- Can balance technical implementation details with business outcomes and strategic thinking.
- Thrive in ambiguous environments and enjoy creating structure where none exists.
- Have a strong ownership mentality and are willing to do whatever is necessary to drive successful outcomes.
- Enjoy managing complex projects with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
- Are highly organized, execution-oriented, and able to move initiatives from concept to production.
- Have experience in deployment, implementation, solutions consulting, product management, forward deployed engineering, strategic consulting, or other customer-facing technology roles.
- Have experience writing requirements, implementation plans, PRDs, or project specifications.
- Have experience building business cases, performing ROI analysis, or conducting value-based solution scoping.
- Are excited about AI, LLMs, voice technology, and helping customers adopt cutting-edge technologies.
- Enjoy learning new systems, becoming a domain expert, and solving difficult customer problems.
- Are comfortable navigating technical conversations even if you are not a full-time engineer.
- Want to operate at the intersection of technology, product, strategy, and customer success at one of the fastest-growing AI companies.
- Cash: 170k - 260k
- Equity: Equity Provided
- Location: Redwood City, CA, US - relocation provided
- US Visas: Retell AI is open to sponsoring work authorization for qualified candidates, including H1B/H-1B, TN, L-1, E-3, F-1 (OPT/CPT).
- 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision insurance
- $70/day DoorDash credit for unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
- $200/month wellness reimbursement (gym, fitness classes, etc.)
- $300/month commuter reimbursement (gas, Caltrain, etc.)
- $75/month phone bill reimbursement
- $50/month internet reimbursement
- Best Offer Upfront: Choose from three cash-equity balance options; no negotiation needed.
- Top 1% Talent: Above-market pay (top 5 percentile) to attract exceptional builders.
- High Ownership: Small teams, >$1M revenue/employee, and significant equity.
- Performance-Based: Offers tied to interview performance, not experience or past salaries.
- Talent Screen (15 min): An introductory conversation with our recruiting team to learn more about your background, experience, and interest in Retell.
- Functional Interview (45 min): A practical discussion focused on problem-solving, communication, customer-facing judgment, and how you approach ambiguous business and technical challenges.
- Hiring Manager Interview (30 min): A conversation focused on past experiences, ownership, stakeholder management, and working in high-growth environments.
- Final Interviews (3 hrs): A series of collaborative interviews with members of our Product, Engineering, and GTM teams. We'll explore how you think through customer problems, work cross-functionally, communicate with stakeholders, and execute in fast-paced environments.
Visa sponsorship record: Retell AI, Inc.
Sponsors actively| Fiscal year | H-1B LCAs | USCIS approvals | USCIS denials | PERM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 11 | 5 | 0 | — |
| FY2025 | 5 | 4 | 0 | — |
| FY2024 | — | 3 | 0 | — |
This exact kind of role (Data Scientists) isn't among the roles Retell AI, Inc. sponsored most often.
Also filed: E-3 Australian × 1 — a good sign for Australian (E-3), Chilean and Singaporean (H-1B1) candidates.
Roles they sponsor most
- software engineer5 LCAs · median $235k
- founding machine learning engineer2 LCAs · median $200k
- founding software engineer2 LCAs · median $185k
- member of technical2 LCAs · median $235k
- engineer platform systems1 LCA · median $260k
Which visas can work for this job
Occupation: Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051).
- Mentioned in the listing
H-1B, OPT
- H-1B cap-exempt employer
Regular cap-subject employer — a new H-1B needs to win the lottery in March (unless you already hold cap-counted H-1B status).
- TN (citizens of Canada and Mexico)
This kind of role may fit the USMCA profession “Mathematician / Statistician” — it depends on the actual duties. No lottery, no cap; you need the matching degree or license.
- E-3 (Australia) and H-1B1 (Chile, Singapore)
This employer has filed before (E-3 Australian: 1). Same degree requirement as H-1B, but no lottery and a separate quota that is rarely filled.
- O-1 (extraordinary ability)
For candidates with awards, publications, press, a high salary or critical roles at distinguished organizations. No cap, no lottery; the employer files a petition.
- STEM OPT extension (F-1 students)
Requires an E-Verify employer. We didn't find this company in the E-Verify list — ask HR.
Salary vs prevailing wage
Level II (qualified)Data Scientists · San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. Annual prevailing wages set by the Department of Labor (OFLC).
| Level | Prevailing wage | H-1B lottery odds* |
|---|---|---|
| Level I | $110,386 | ~15% |
| Level II | $142,438 | ~31% |
| Level III | $174,512 | ~46% |
| Level IV | $206,565 | ~61% |
This job pays $166,400 a year (converted from an hourly rate, 2,080 hours) — that's Level II (qualified). In the wage-weighted H-1B lottery a Level II registration gets 2 entries; estimated selection chance about 31%.
* Odds are DHS projections for the FY2027 wage-weighted lottery (actual results vary by year and employer). Since the FY2027 cap season the H-1B lottery is weighted by wage level: Level I = 1 entry, II = 2, III = 3, IV = 4. The level is set by the offered wage against the prevailing wage for the occupation and worksite. Separately, a $100,000 fee for new H-1B petitions for workers outside the US was announced in 2025; as of September 2026 a federal court ruling keeps it unenforceable while appeals continue — check the current status.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor OFLC disclosure data (H-1B/H-1B1/E-3 LCA, PERM), OFLC prevailing wage data, USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub, E-Verify participating employers. Data loaded: LCA FY2024–FY2026, PERM, USCIS Data Hub, OFLC wages; updated 2026-10-03. Employers are matched by name, so records of companies with similar names can occasionally be mixed up. This is general information, not legal advice — talk to an immigration attorney about your case.