Deal Strategy & Operations Manager

Cresta unlocks the true potential of the customer experience, turning every conversation into a competitive advantage. Cresta’s unified AI platform combines conversational AI agents, real-time human agent augmentation, and comprehensive conversation intelligence to drive revenue and efficiency gains across every channel. The world’s leading companies, including United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott, use Cresta to power world-class customer experiences every day.

Born from the Stanford AI Lab, Cresta has raised more than $270 million from the world’s leading investors, including a16z, Greylock, and Sequoia. Cresta’s leadership includes some of the leading minds in AI today. Our CEO, Ping Wu, founded and led Google's Contact Center AI and Vertex AI platforms before joining Cresta to build the future of AI-driven customer experiences.

Over the next few years, AI is going to redefine how people all over the world interact with businesses every day. Come build that future at Cresta.

About the Role Cresta is seeking a Deal Strategy & Operations Manager to serve as an individual contributor and strategic partner on our Commercial Strategy & Operations team. This role owns the strategy and execution of Cresta’s complex, non-standard deals, acting as the quarterback from pricing to close.

Reporting to Raghu Somashekar, this role works closely with Sales leadership, Finance, Legal, Security, and RevOps to structure deals that accelerate revenue while protecting Cresta’s long-term business interests.

This role is based in India, working standard IST business hours (8:30 AM to 6:30 PM), with one late-day meeting or team call per week to stay connected with the broader Commercial Strategy & Operations team.

This is an individual contributor role (no direct people management).

What You’ll Do Deal Strategy & Execution

• Partner with US and international Sales teams to architect and execute complex, high-value enterprise transactions

• Build creative deal structures, pricing models, and commercial terms that balance speed, risk, margin, and customer experience

• Own approval workflows and act as escalation owner from first quote through final signature

• Translate deal data, discount trends, and outcomes into actionable insights

• Lead win/loss and deal retrospectives to institutionalize learnings and refine deal strategy

• Ensure deal structures align with revenue recognition principles and company financial goals

Process & Systems Modernization

• Drive end-to-end improvements across the quote-to-cash lifecycle

• Define business requirements and partner with systems teams on CPQ, CLM, and Salesforce enhancements

• Lead UAT and rollout of new deal processes and tooling

• Represent Deal Strategy & Operations as a key stakeholder on high-priority cross-functional initiatives

• Standardize and document workflows to enable speed and scale

Enablement & Advisory

• Provide ongoing training to Sales on pricing, deal construction, and quoting with a strong focus on the why behind the strategy

• Contribute to and maintain a self-service Deal Strategy Playbook

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in Deal Desk, Deal Strategy, Commercial Operations, Revenue Operations, Legal Ops, or Sales Operations

• Proven ownership of complex enterprise SaaS deals from quote to cash

• Hands-on experience administering or optimizing CPQ tools

• Strong Salesforce fluency across quoting, approvals, and deal reporting

• Solid understanding of enterprise SaaS contracting concepts (order forms, MSA, DPA, SOW)

• Exceptional communication skills with high emotional intelligence; able to influence without authority

• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and making judgment calls in fast-paced environments

• Based in India, working standard IST business hours (8:30 AM to 6:30 PM) with availability for one late-day team call per week

Nice to Haves

• Salesforce Admin experience...