Founding Account Executive

Salary Range: 138000 to 320000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

Key responsibilities

• Own the full sales cycle: We won't sugarcoat it - this is a role requiring breadth and depth. Run the outbound motion, discovery calls, deliver technical demos, navigate security reviews, and close contracts. 
• Generate pipeline: Build and qualify pipeline through outbound prospecting, inbound lead follow‑up, events, and whatever other channel you discover works.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally: Work closely with engineering and product to ensure successful proof‑of‑concepts and capture product feedback; refine the sales playbook, track pipeline and build forecasts.
• Refine go‑to‑market strategy: Build and continually improve outreach templates, sales processes and territory plans. Improve sales playbooks and methodology, identifying ways to increase efficiency
• Navigate complex technical sales: Understand and explain data infrastructure and AI/ML concepts and be comfortable discussing architecture with engineers. Speak the language of technical stakeholders and engage without relying heavily on sales engineers.

Who you are

• Adaptable and entrepreneurial. You are comfortable and excited about building a sales engine in a resource-constrained, early-stage environment. You thrive in ambiguity and take ownership.
• Hunter mentality. You are willing and able to proactively source new leads, build pipeline from scratch, and close new logos. Experience with outbound and early GTM motion-building is essential.
• Relational and consultative. You build trust with technical and executive stakeholders alike.
• Technically fluent. You are able to understand and explain APIs, data infrastructure, and AI concepts. Comfortable discussing architecture with engineers without relying heavily on sales engineers.
• Early-stage SaaS experience. Proven track record selling complex products at seed, Series A, or Series B startups, including shaping or refining GTM motions.
• Strong operator and communicator. You manage pipeline, forecasting, and deal execution with discipline and proactively share feedback with product and leadership.
• Proven domain success. Demonstrated success selling data infrastructure, analytics, databases, or developer tooling (e.g., experience adjacent to companies like Dremio, Snowflake, Databricks, or Starburst).
• Enterprise sales acumen. You understand how to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales cycles from first contact to close.
• Relevant background. Prior experience as a founding AE, early sales hire, former founder, or seller in data analytics, databases, or developer-first platforms.

What is exciting about this opportunity

• Exponential learning, autonomy, and impact. You will help define and scale the sales function from day one. This means direct ownership over GTM tactics, systems, messaging, and experimentation. . Your decisions will directly influence how Spice AI grows.
• Become an AI expert and GTM engineer. You’ll develop deep fluency in modern data and AI infrastructure, while also designing how the product is positioned, sold, and adopted.
• Expand your technical depth. You’ll work directly with engineers and product leaders to bring advanced, real-world solutions to market and sharpen your ability to sell highly technical products.
• Career growth. You can take this role as far as you are willing to take it. You're the first and could be the last sales leader.
• Equity upside. As an early employee, you’ll have meaningful ownership in the company, with the potential for significant upside as Spice AI grows.
• Category-defining mission. The AI and data infrastructure landscape is evolving rapidly. Helping build a platform that makes AI-native applications easier to build and operate gives you the opportunity to shape a new category and influence how developers ship software.

Your first 90 days

• Days 0–30: Become fluent in the Spice AI ICP, customer pain points, and buying triggers. Develop a clear POV on use cases, positioning, and competitive differentiation.
• Days 31–60: Start sourcing and qualifying pipeline; run discovery with founder support. Help define ICP, messaging, and early sales assets (demo flow, talk tracks). Stand up and refine core GTM systems (CRM, pipeline stages, forecasting).
• Days 61–90: Own deals end-to-end and close early customers. Turn wins and losses into a repeatable sales playbook. Establish baseline metrics to support scale and future hires.