Senior Director, Strategic Account Executive, Frontier AI, San Francisco or New York

The Strategic Account Executive, Frontier AI is a senior commercial leader responsible for building and growing relationships with leading AI labs and other organizations developing advanced foundation models. The role owns a focused portfolio of priority accounts, identifying, developing, and closing opportunities across the model training and evaluation lifecycle, including RL environments, evaluations, expert data, RLHF, coding environments, and red teaming.

This is not a traditional enterprise technology sales role. The successful candidate brings direct experience selling into organizations building frontier models, understands how these organizations evaluate and purchase highly technical, research-driven services, and has credibility with research, engineering, and product stakeholders. The right person recognizes where an emerging research need can become a meaningful commercial engagement and knows how to move it from an early technical conversation to a durable, expanding customer relationship.

Req.#1075761842

Responsibilities

• Own the commercial relationship and growth strategy for a focused portfolio of priority frontier AI labs and foundation-model organizations
• Build and expand relationships across research, engineering, post-training, product, research operations, procurement, and executive leadership, owning revenue, pipeline, and long-term account growth
• Sell complex, customized services across the model development lifecycle, including RL environments, evaluations, reward and verifier-based training, RLHF, expert data, coding environments, and red-teaming
• Develop opportunities from early research conversations through pilots, scaled programs, and strategic account expansion, navigating sales cycles where scope, pricing, and delivery models are built collaboratively with the customer
• Engage directly with researchers, engineers, and technical leaders to understand the model capabilities they are seeking to improve and the challenges preventing further progress
• Maintain sufficient technical fluency across RL environments, evaluations, RLHF, expert data, and agentic systems to recognize when an exploratory research discussion represents a commercial opportunity
• Build a high-quality pipeline through proactive relationship development and research-driven discovery, owning opportunities from identification through proposal development, negotiation, and close
• Navigate complex procurement, legal, and contracting processes while negotiating commercially attractive agreements, and drive expansion into adjacent research teams once EPAM establishes credibility
• Lead customer discovery with EPAM technical experts to translate research objectives into technically credible and commercially compelling solutions
• Coordinate proposals, pilots, and statements of work that connect the customer's research objective to EPAM's proposed solution, structuring pilots with a clear path toward scaled engagements
• Build and maintain a strong professional network across the frontier AI research and model-development ecosystem, representing EPAM at key research conferences and technical gatherings
• Use ecosystem engagement to stay close to emerging research priorities and help establish EPAM as a credible participant in the Frontier AI ecosystem, not simply a vendor selling into it

Requirements

• Significant experience in strategic enterprise sales, account leadership, or business development within AI, machine learning, data services, or another highly technical market
• Prior experience selling model-training, data, evaluation, or related technical services, with familiarity across RL environments, evaluations, RLHF, expert data, or red-teaming
• Demonstrated understanding of how frontier AI organizations buy, including experience navigating research, engineering, legal, procurement, and executive stakeholders
• Experience engaging directly with AI researchers and research engineers, and developing credibility with highly technical customer audiences
• Experience owning and growing strategic customer relationships into multimillion-dollar accounts through new opportunity development and long-term account planning
• Strong understanding of the current generative AI and frontier-model ecosystem, including the major organizations and commercial participants within it
• Strong commercial judgment and negotiation skills, with the ability to navigate complex contracting and procurement environments

Nice to have

• Direct experience selling to organizations such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, or other leading developers of frontier models
• Experience selling services related specifically to RL environments, evaluations, expert data, RLHF, or coding-focused model training
• Meaningful participation in the Frontier AI research and industry ecosystem, including relationships built through major AI conferences and technical communities
• Experience expanding an initial pilot or research engagement into a significant multi-team or multi-year customer relationship
• Experience working at a company specializing in frontier-model data, post-training, evaluations, or AI infrastructure

We offer

• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance (Subsidized)
• Health Savings Account
• Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare, Dependent Care, Commuter)
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability (Company Provided)
• Life and AD&D Insurance (Company Provided)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Unlimited access to LinkedIn learning solutions
• Matched 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
• Paid Time Off
• Legal Plan and Identity Theft Protection
• Accident Insurance
• Employee Discounts
• Pet Insurance
• Employee Stock Purchase Program

EPAM is a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and development services. We are committed to having a positive impact on our clients, our employees, and our communities. We embrace a dynamic and inclusive culture. Here you will collaborate with multi-national teams, contribute to a myriad of innovative projects that deliver the most creative and cutting-edge solutions, and have an opportunity to continuously learn and grow. No matter where you are located, you will join a dedicated, creative, and diverse community that will help you discover your fullest potential.
Engineer the Future with a Career at EPAM

This posting includes a good faith range of the salary EPAM would reasonably expect to pay the selected candidate. The range provided reflects base salary only. Individual compensation offers within the range are based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: geographic location, experience, credentials, education, training, the demand for the role; and overall business and labor market considerations. Most candidates are hired at a salary within the range disclosed. Salary range: $200,000-$600,000 USD. This position is also eligible for variable compensation incentives. In addition, the details highlighted in this job posting above are a general description of all other expected benefits and compensation for the position.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

In accordance with the LA County Fair Chance Ordinance, you may find a copy of the Notice containing a summary of the Ordinance’s key provisions here: Concept FCO Posting 8 27 24 (lacounty.gov)

Applicants and Employees in Unincorporated Los Angeles County: The Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance (LAFCO) requires employers conducting criminal history checks for applicants or employees to state the job duties for which certain criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship. For this position, these job duties include: engaging with clients, employees, and other third-parties (including the general public); accessing company and client information, IT systems and infrastructure, assets, property, and products, including proprietary coding, programs, applications, and data; and appropriately handling such information, including company and client confidential and personal information. For this reason, certain criminal history may result in the withdrawal of a condition offer of employment. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the LAFCO and the California Fair Chance Act.

EPAM welcomes all applicants and will consider qualified candidates with criminal history such as arrest and conviction records in a manner consistent applicable law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring.

EPAM will not provide new H-1B visa sponsorship for this position. Candidates with existing transferable H-1B status may be considered.