Principal Account Executive

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive. The Principal Account Executive – BNK Strategic AI Solutions is a senior, quota-carrying sales leader responsible for driving revenue growth, pipeline expansion, and market dominance for F5’s BNK speedboat initiative. In this high-visibility role, you will lead complex, end-to-end sales cycles targeting high-growth accounts, including NeoCloud providers, GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) platforms, strategic enterprise accounts, and AI infrastructure partners. You will act as the primary commercial owner for BNK—positioning F5’s application delivery, Kubernetes, and AI infrastructure solutions to executive decision-makers (CXOs, VPs of Infrastructure/AI). Combining sharp commercial execution, strategic account planning, and deep market expertise across AI and cloud-native ecosystems, you will land new logos, expand existing footprints, and establish F5 as the preferred app delivery platform for AI workloads. Key Responsibilities Revenue Ownership & Territory Growth Own and exceed annual and quarterly revenue quotas (ARR/TCV) by closing high-value, complex transactions across strategic accounts and emerging AI markets. Build, qualify, and manage a robust, multi-quarter sales pipeline through targeted prospecting, executive networking, and strategic ecosystem partnerships. Lead end-to-end commercial negotiations, contract structuring, pricing strategies, and procurement processes to maximize total contract value and closing speed. Executive Deal Leadership & Account Strategy Establish and cultivate trusted relationships with C-suite executives, VPs of Engineering, Heads of Infrastructure, and Chief AI Officers. Articulate the strategic business value, ROI, and competitive differentiation of F5’s BNK solutions for AI-native application delivery, Kubernetes scaling, and GPUaaS performance. Construct comprehensive account strategies and territory plans to systematically penetrate targeted accounts and outmaneuver legacy competitors. Market Commercialization & Ecosystem Expansion Drive market adoption of the BNK platform within emerging NeoCloud and GPU-as-a-Service ecosystems. Partner with strategic AI ecosystem vendors, cloud providers, and channel partners to co-sell and drive high-margin joint pipeline. Leverage field insights and win/loss analysis to collaborate with Product, GTM, and Marketing teams, shaping commercial pricing models, packaging, and go-to-market strategies. Cross-Functional Sales Execution Orchestrate dedicated cross-functional deal teams—including Strategic Sales Engineers, Solutions Architects, Product Managers, and Executive Sponsors—to drive unified customer pursuits. Partner with Customer Success and Post-Sales Engineering to ensure successful deployment, high customer retention, and long-term account expansion (land-and-expand strategy). Candidate Profile Required Experience & Track Record Proven Enterprise Sales Success: 8+ years of experience as a top-performing enterprise Account Executive / Commercial Leader in SaaS, Cloud Infrastructure, Networking, Application Delivery, or AI/ML software environments. Consistent Quota Attainment: Demonstrated track record of meeting or exceeding $2M+ annual quotas, closing multi-hundred-thousand to seven-figure deals. Domain & Ecosystem Expertise: Strong commercial understanding of modern cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), AI software frameworks, and application delivery. Executive Presence & Selling: Mastery of value-based, consultative selling methodologies (e.g., MEDDPICC, Challenger) with a proven ability to close deals at the CXO/VP level. Core Competencies Deal Structuring & Closing: Advanced negotiation skills and business acumen to navigate complex enterprise procurement and legal processes. Strategic Account Management: Ability to map complex enterprise organizations, identify economic buyers, and construct winning account strategies. Commercial Agility: Thrives in a fast-paced, startup-like ("speedboat") environment with a high bias for action, urgency, and resourcefulness. Cross-Functional Leadership: Exceptional team leadership skills to marshal technical and executive resources behind high-value opportunities. Success Metrics / KPIs Quota Attainment: Annual and quarterly achievement against ARR and TCV revenue targets. Pipeline Generation & Velocity: Growth of qualified pipeline (3x-4x coverage) and average sales cycle speed. New Logo Acquisition: Successful acquisition and onboarding of strategic accounts (NeoClouds, GPUaaS, Large Enterprise AI adopters). Average Deal Value (TCV): Ability to expand deal scope and attach multi-product BNK solutions. Forecast Accuracy: Reliable, predictable monthly and quarterly forecasting. The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change. Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com). Equal Employment Opportunity It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination. F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting View email address on click.appcast.io. #J-18808-Ljbffr F5 Networks, Inc