Founding Account Executive

As the Founding Account Executive, you will be instrumental in turning a differentiated product with early enterprise customers into repeatable revenue. You will not only close deals but architect the GTM engine alongside the leadership team.

• Own the full sales cycle: 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.

• Adaptable and entrepreneurial – comfortable and excited about building a sales engine in a resource‑constrained, early‑stage environment. Thrive in ambiguity and take ownership.
• Hunter mentality – proactive in sourcing new leads, building pipeline from scratch, and closing new logos. Experience with outbound and early GTM motion‑building is essential.
• Relational and consultative – build trust with technical and executive stakeholders alike.
• Technically fluent – 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 – 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 – 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.

• Exponential learning, autonomy, and impact. Direct ownership over GTM tactics, systems, messaging, and experimentation from day one.
• Become an AI expert and GTM engineer – develop deep fluency in modern data and AI infrastructure while designing how the product is positioned, sold, and adopted.
• Expand your technical depth – 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 – take this role as far as you are willing to take it; you could be the first and the last sales leader.
• Equity upside – meaningful ownership in the company with potential for significant upside as Spice AI grows.
• Category‑defining mission – help build a platform that makes AI‑native applications easier to build and operate, shaping a new category and influencing how developers ship software.

• 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.

We offer a competitive base salary in the $138K–$160K range. Your on‑target earnings (OTE) total $276K–$320K through a 50/50 base‑to‑variable mix.

In addition, Spice offers equity grants so that we are invested and share in the company's growth together.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.