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Spice AI

Posted 4 months ago

Open

Founding Account Executive

WashingtonOn-siteFull-time

AI Summary

Founding Account Executive drives the full sales cycle for Spice AI’s data/AI platform, building pipeline and shaping GTM strategy with early enterprise customers.

About this role

Building data-driven AI applications and agents is too complex, even for advanced developers.

This new generation of applications need fast, secure access to data across disparate systems, the ability to search and reason over that data, and infrastructure that’s reliable enough to run in production. Today, teams often need to piece together query engines, search systems, caches, and AI tooling, adding significant complexity along the way.

At Spice AI, we simplify this by unifying query federation, search, and AI into a single runtime for building intelligent applications. Our mission is to make building AI-powered software as easy building a modern web application and help developers build the next generation of applications. We offer both open source and fully managed cloud deployments.

For a deeper dive into the vision, watch Founder and CEO Luke Kim's CMU Databases talk on Spice.ai OSS at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyM-ec1lKfU and read his Materialized View interview at https://materializedview.io/p/building-a-cdn-for-databases-spice-ai.

At Spice AI, we hire for MEI: Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence. We're looking for exceptional, ambitious builders who are driven to solve hard problems and push the boundaries of what's possible for AI.

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.

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.

    • Skills

    AI ConceptsAPIsArchitecting Customer SolutionsCRMData AnalyticsDatabasesData InfrastructureDeal ExecutionDeveloper ToolingEnterprise SalesExecutive Stakeholder CommunicationForecastingGTM StrategyMulti-stakeholder EngagementOutbound ProspectingPipeline ManagementProof-of-concept LeadershipSaaS SalesSales CyclesSales PlaybooksSecurity ReviewsSeed/Series A/B Startup ExperienceStakeholder ManagementTechnical DemosTerritory Planning

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