AI Infrastructure Expert - West Coast

About the role:Gartner Analysts are industry thought leaders who create must-have business and technology insights, market predictions, and best practices for a broad range of world-leading organizations. As an Analyst, you will serve as an expert within Gartner’s Business and Technology Insights (BTI) sector, establishing yourself as a credible voice within your designated market at local, regional, and global levels.You will be a trusted advisor to senior executives, with a particular emphasis on Heads of Infrastructure & Operations - guiding Heads of I&O through the intricacies of designing, deploying, and optimizing platforms with AI, across on-premises and edge environments. You will author research and frameworks that address strategic challenges in AI infrastructure, while continuously monitoring adjacent domains such as computing, cloud, and networking to ensure your insights are both timely and actionable.You will engage directly with clients through meetings, events, and conferences, providing expert guidance that empowers their AI transformation journeys. While deep expertise at the intersection of infrastructure and AI is a cornerstone of this role—and integral to shaping our strategic research agenda for Heads of I&O—we also welcome accomplished professionals from adjacent disciplines.The ideal candidate combines senior leadership experience in I&O, a passion for innovation, and strong analytical and communication skills. You will make a lasting impact by helping the world’s leading organizations navigate the complexities of AI-driven transformation. And you will find that Gartner will be your best place to be as home in your career, which is proven by some analysts who have come back to Gartner analysts.What you will do:Drive Thought Leadership: Create innovative, thought-provoking, and highly leveraged “must-have” business and technology insights content that inspire both Heads of I&O and across a team of analysts, shaping the industry’s AI infrastructure agenda.Accelerate Client Success: Deliver forward-thinking solutions that help organizations move rapidly from strategy to execution and realize tangible value.Engage Executives:Connect directly with Heads of Infrastructure & Operations, providing high-impact advice in both virtual and in-person settings.Shape the Future: Dive deep into client needs, uncover root causes, and anticipate market shifts to reframe strategies and keep clients and vendors ahead of the curve.Be a Market Voice: Collaborate with sales and BTI teams to ensure Gartner’s content and solutions drive meaningful client engagement and business growth.Be a Market Guide: Navigate the landscape of top vendors, such as Nvidia, AMD, Huawei, Intel, HPE, Dell, AWS, Microsoft and, Google, Cisco and Oracle, as well as emerging AI vendors and neo-cloud providers and their go-to-market strategies.Deliver Presentation Excellence: Design and present compelling content for Gartner events, industry conferences, and executive briefings, both on stage and behind the scenes.Mentor & Innovate: Support and coach junior team members, champion new ideas, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration through high-quality peer review.Pioneer Playbooks: Create unconventional frameworks that show enterprises how to squeeze 110% value out of every AI-oriented initiative in I&O.Spot Tomorrow, Act Today: Identify emerging trends in AI infrastructure and guide clients to build for the future—whether diagramming enterprise-scale pipelines or reframing industry perspectives on AI readiness, you’ll think at altitude and act with precision.Become a voice the industry trusts: Speak, write, and debate in ways that influence leaders, shape boardroom strategies, and inspire technology roadmaps.Cross boundaries: Bring together compute architecture, networking, storage, data pipelines, observability, security, and ethical AI into one integrated vision.What you will need:Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; Graduate degree preferredTime in-seat: 12+ years of relevant field or industry experienceSeasoned I&O Experience for Heads of I&O: Proven I&O leadership at the executive level in mid- or large-sized organizations, with hands-on AI infrastructure experience.Infrastructure Expertise: Comprehensive mastery of infrastructure, including AI - processors, distributed training pipelines, model-serving architectures, and integration across cloud and on-premises. Preferred knowledge in compute, storage and networking infrastructure to support AI architecture with expertise in at least one. Expertise in adjacent I&O tech domains, paired with a strong desire to expand into AI infrastructure, is also highly valued.Executive Presence and Communication with Storytelling: Ability to build trust with senior stakeholders by translating complex technical concepts and data into compelling, actionable narratives that resonate with both a CEO’s head—and a developer’s hands, demonstrated through i