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Founding Account Executive Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Spice AI

Founding Account Executive

Bellevue, WA

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 ...

Crosby

Founding Account Executive

New York, NY · On-site

$150K - $375K/yr

About the Role: We're looking for a Founding Account Executive to build and own the commercial side of our business. As one of the first hires, you'll partner closely with the founders to define our ...

Clera

Founding Account Executive

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$200K - $270K/yr

Until now, all revenue has been closed by the founding team. This role exists to take the mid ... O continues to co-sell on larger strategic accounts. This is the most important GTM hire the ...

Extend

Founding Account Executive

New York, NY · On-site

We're looking for an exceptional Account Executive to join our founding team and drive enterprise revenue growth as we scale from 7-figures to 8-figures in ARR. The job is simple - convert curiosity ...

Ropes AI, Inc

Founding Account Executive

New York, NY · On-site

DR: We're looking for a founding Account Executive to own the full sales cycle, close deals with staffing firms, and help us capture the $600B+ staffing industry. About Ropes Ropes is building a new ...

Keep Company

Founding Account Executive

Bethesda, MD · On-site

$200K - $250K/yr

The Role As a Keep Company Founding Account Executive, you will drive new business in the mid-market segment through prospecting, deal and pipeline management, and closing. This is not a rinse and ...

Spice AI

Founding Account Executive

Bellevue, WA · On-site

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 ...

Clera

Founding Account Executive

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$200K - $270K/yr

Until now, all revenue has been closed by the founding team. This role exists to take the mid ... O continues to co-sell on larger strategic accounts. This is the most important GTM hire the ...

WorkHero

Founding Account Executive

New York, NY · Remote

$120K - $150K/yr

The Role We are hiring our first dedicated salesperson to work closely with the CEO and help build the sales function. This is a founding AE role. You will own deals end to end while helping shape ...

Concourse

Founding Account Executive

New York, NY · On-site

About the Role We're hiring our first Account Executive to help shape how Concourse goes to market ... As a founding AE, you won't just sell Concourse; you'll help build the systems, assets, and ...

Arch

Founding Account Executive

San Francisco, CA · On-site

You are the founding GTM squad. You will work directly with the CEO and be a core builder of our go-to-market engine. What the job actually looks like If you're a future founder, this is one of the ...

Lightfield

Founding Account Executive

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$170K - $220K/yr

This is a founding role. You won't inherit a playbook or a team, but you will inherit real demand. We have a growing base of multi-seat accounts, active teams, and high-intent signals waiting to be ...

Tracebit

Founding Account Executive

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$180K - $210K/yr

As our first US-based Account Executives, you'll be instrumental in building our US GTM engine. You'll work closely with our London-based Founding Sales Lead to establish repeatable sales processes ...

Keep Company, Inc.

Founding Account Executive

Bethesda, MD · On-site

$200K - $250K/yr

The Role As a Keep Company Founding Account Executive, you will drive new business in the mid-market segment through prospecting, deal and pipeline management, and closing. This is not a rinse and ...

talentpluto

Founding Account Executive

New York, NY · On-site

The Opportunity Our partner is hiring Account Executives to help build and scale the next phase of the company's revenue engine. This is a highly visible, full-cycle sales role where you'll work ...

Tracebit

Founding Account Executive

New York, NY · On-site

$180K - $210K/yr

As our first US-based Account Executives, you'll be instrumental in building our US GTM engine. You'll work closely with our London-based Founding Sales Lead to establish repeatable sales processes ...

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Founding Account Executive information

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$30K

$79.2K

$143K

How much do founding account executive jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 9, 2026, the average yearly pay for founding account executive in the United States is $79,235.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $54,000.00 and $95,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What unique challenges and opportunities can a Founding Account Executive expect in an early-stage startup environment?

As a Founding Account Executive at an early-stage startup, you'll often work in a fast-paced setting where processes are still being built, requiring flexibility and a proactive mindset. You'll have the opportunity to shape the sales strategy, influence product development by sharing customer feedback, and work closely with both leadership and cross-functional teams. Challenges may include managing ambiguity, wearing multiple hats, and building a customer base from the ground up. However, this role offers significant growth potential, visibility, and the chance to directly impact the company's success and culture.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Founding Account Executive, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Founding Account Executive, you need a proven track record in B2B sales, deep product knowledge, and the ability to build and manage a sales pipeline, often supported by a bachelor's degree in business or a related field. Familiarity with CRM systems like Salesforce, sales enablement tools, and, occasionally, certifications in sales methodologies are important. Outstanding communication, entrepreneurial drive, and adaptability make someone stand out in this early-stage, high-growth role. These skills are crucial for driving revenue, shaping sales processes, and establishing a strong customer base in a startup environment.

What is the difference between Founding Account Executive vs Sales Development Representative?

AspectFounding Account ExecutiveSales Development Representative
ResponsibilitiesClosing deals, managing client relationships, driving revenueGenerating leads, qualifying prospects, setting appointments
Required SkillsSales expertise, negotiation, product knowledgeCommunication, prospecting, research skills
Work EnvironmentDirect client interaction, sales meetings, negotiationsResearch, outreach, lead qualification
Industry UsageStartups, SaaS, tech companiesTech, SaaS, B2B sales environments

While both roles are vital in sales, the Founding Account Executive focuses on closing deals and building client relationships, often in early-stage companies. The Sales Development Representative primarily generates and qualifies leads to support the sales pipeline. Understanding these differences helps candidates target the right roles based on their skills and career goals.

What are Founding Account Executives?

Founding Account Executives are among the first sales hires at a startup or early-stage company. They play a crucial role in building the initial customer base, developing sales processes, and shaping the company's go-to-market strategy. Unlike standard Account Executives, Founding Account Executives often work closely with founders, contribute to product feedback, and help define the company’s sales culture. Their work is essential for establishing early revenue streams and setting the foundation for future growth.
More about Founding Account Executive jobs
What cities are hiring for Founding Account Executive jobs? Cities with the most Founding Account Executive job openings:
What states have the most Founding Account Executive jobs? States with the most job openings for Founding Account Executive jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Founding Account Executive jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Founding Account Executive jobs are:
Founding Account Executive jobs near you
Infographic showing various Founding Account Executive job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 89% Full Time, 2% Part Time, and 9% Contract. Highlights an 90% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 7% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $79,235 per year, or $38.1 per hour.

Founding Account Executive

Spice AI

Bellevue, WA

Full-time

Posted 2 days ago

Job description

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 followup, events, and whatever other channel you discover works.
  • Collaborate crossfunctionally: Work closely with engineering and product to ensure successful proofofconcepts and capture product feedback; refine the sales playbook, track pipeline and build forecasts.
  • Refine gotomarket 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.
$138,000 - $320,000 a year
We offer a competitive base salary in the $138K-$160K range. Your ontarget earnings (OTE) total $276K-$320K through a 50/50 basetovariable mix.

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

Founded in June 2021 by Microsoft and GitHub alumni Luke Kim and Phillip LeBlanc, Spice AI creates technology to help developers build intelligent applications and agents that learn and adapt.

Before co-founding Spice AI, Luke was the co-creator of Azure Incubations in the Office of the Azure CTO, where he led cross-functional engineering teams to create and develop technologies including Dapr and OAM.

Spice AI is backed by some of the top industry angel investors and leaders, including Nat Friedman, Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, and Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, who is also on the board.

Spice AI also has notable VC backing from Madrona Venture Group, Basis Set Ventures, Founders' Co-op, and Picus Capital.

Learn more:

- On TechCrunch and GeekWire
- About the team at spice.ai/careers
- The Spice.ai general availability announcement blog post
- The Spice.ai OSS project announcement blog post

About Spice AI

Founded in June 2021 by Microsoft and GitHub alumni Luke Kim and Phillip LeBlanc, Spice AI creates technology to help developers build intelligent applications and agents that learn and adapt.

Before co-founding Spice AI, Luke was the co-creator of Azure Incubations in the Office of the Azure CTO, where he led cross-functional engineering teams to create and develop technologies including Dapr and OAM.

Spice AI is backed by some of the top industry angel investors and leaders, including Nat Friedman, Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, and Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, who is also on the board.

Spice AI also has notable VC backing from Madrona Venture Group, Basis Set Ventures, Founders' Co-op, and Picus Capital.

Learn more:

- On TechCrunch and GeekWire
- About the team at spice.ai/careers
- The Spice.ai general availability announcement blog post
- The Spice.ai OSS project announcement blog post
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.
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