Sales Director - AI X Alt Data

Job Description

Founding Sales Director | AI x Alternative Data | Capital Markets

New York City / US Remote | Early-Stage AI Startup

What if you could join an AI business before the world knows its name (and trust me, it won't be long before they do), help define an entirely new category of financial intelligence and build its commercial engine from the ground up?

We're partnering exclusively with an ambitious, well-funded AI-native intelligence company founded by a former quant with a background spanning institutional finance, machine learning and AI , that's building something genuinely different for the world's most sophisticated investors.

After years of proprietary technology development, the business has entered the market, secured its first institutional customers and is gaining traction with major financial institutions.

Now, they're looking for a Founding Sales Director to spearhead their commercial expansion, and help build the GTM engine that takes the business from early traction to significant scale.

This isn't a role for someone looking to inherit a territory, manage a team or step into an established sales machine.

It's for someone who wants to take over the world.

Someone with a true 0-to-1 mentality , who thrives on building something from nothing, isn't afraid to take risks and wants to win new business, create the playbook and build the machine themselves.

This is an opportunity for someone to help build something extraordinary.

The Business:

Imagine giving hedge funds, asset managers and quantitative investment teams a completely new way to discover, analyse and act on global information.

That's the ambition.

Founded by an ex-Quant and Computer Scientist with deep expertise across financial markets, machine learning and AI - this is a business built by someone who understands exactly how sophisticated investors think, operate and use data to gain an edge.

After years of intensive R&D, They've developed a powerful AI-native intelligence platform that transforms vast amounts of fragmented global information into structured, actionable investment intelligence.

This isn't another alternative dataset. It's an entirely new intelligence infrastructure combining AI, proprietary search and advanced data technology to help investors spot emerging trends, uncover hidden signals and identify opportunities ahead of the market.

At its core, the proposition brings together:

• AI-powered information discovery: Proprietary web-scale search technology enabling investors to discover, interrogate and extract intelligence from vast amounts of global information.
• Global event intelligence: Structured, point-in-time data tracking corporate developments, economic activity, geopolitical events and emerging risks across global markets.
• Knowledge graph technology: Connecting companies, people, products and real-world developments to uncover relationships and generate new insights for investment research.
• Institutional-grade data infrastructure: Delivering structured, machine-readable intelligence directly into investors' existing research, quantitative and data workflows through APIs and cloud-based delivery.

The potential applications are vast, spanning quantitative and systematic investing, macro research, event-driven trading strategies, risk modelling, AI-driven investment workflows and beyond.

The bigger vision? Redefine how the world's most sophisticated investors discover information, identify opportunities and gain an edge.

The Opportunity:

This is a genuine 0-to-1 GTM opportunity, and is a hands-on, senior individual contributor role.

You'll join at a pivotal stage in the company's commercial journey, working directly with the Founder and commercial leadership to build its presence across the US institutional investor market.

You'll have a rare combination of full ownership of new-business revenue and genuine influence over how the business goes to market .

There is no established sales playbook to inherit, no mature territory to take over and no team to manage.

You'll be responsible for winning customers while helping build the commercial foundations that allow the business to scale.

Your remit will include:

• Own net-new revenue: Identify, engage and close hedge funds, asset managers, quantitative investment firms and other sophisticated financial institutions.
• Hunt from day one: Build your own pipeline through targeted prospecting, existing relationships, market mapping, industry events and proactive business development.
• Run full-cycle enterprise sales: Own everything from initial outreach and discovery through technical demonstrations, product trials, commercial negotiations and close.
• Win meaningful deals: Lead sophisticated enterprise opportunities, with initial contract values typically starting at $100k+.
• Build the GTM playbook: Work directly with the Founder to shape commercial positioning, sales messaging, target markets, use cases, sales collateral and the wider go-to-market approach.
• Sell complex technology: Engage senior investment, quantitative research, data science and technology stakeholders around AI, data infrastructure, APIs and integration into investment workflows.
• Influence product direction: Act as the bridge between institutional clients and Product, helping translate market feedback into product development and commercial opportunities.
• Establish a repeatable sales engine: Help identify what works, refine the sales motion and create the foundations for a scalable US commercial organisation.
• Represent the business in the market: Build relationships across the institutional investor community, attend industry conferences and travel to meet prospects and customers.

This is a role for someone who genuinely enjoys selling, but wants to do more than simply hit a number.

Someone who wants to influence the strategy, help shape a category, work directly with the founder and play a meaningful role in building a business from its earliest commercial stages.

Who We're Looking For:

We're looking for an entrepreneurial, commercially proven new-business hunter who combines institutional investor relationships, technical curiosity and the ambition to help build something significant.

You'll ideally bring:

• 4+ years of new-business sales experience , ideally across alternative data, financial data, investment research, AI, analytics or data infrastructure.
• A proven record of self-generating pipeline and closing complex enterprise deals , rather than relying on inbound opportunities or established accounts.
• Experience selling into hedge funds, asset managers or other institutional investors , with relationships across quantitative and systematic investment teams particularly valuable.
• Strong commercial and technical credibility , with the ability to translate sophisticated AI and data products into compelling investment and business use cases.
• A genuine understanding of the institutional investment ecosystem , including how investors discover, evaluate and integrate new datasets and technologies.
• An entrepreneurial, 0-to-1 mindset , with the confidence to operate in an environment where the sales process, positioning and commercial strategy are still being developed.
• A hands-on, high-ownership approach , with the hunger to personally originate and close business while helping shape the wider GTM operation.

We want someone hungry, intellectually curious, commercially dangerous and genuinely excited by the prospect of building something from the ground up.

Someone who sees an early-stage business without a fully established GTM motion, is excited by the opportunity in front of them and thinks "That's exactly where I want to be."

Why This Is Different:

A genuine founding commercial opportunity. Join at the beginning of the US growth journey and play a central role in defining how the business goes to market.

Build, don't inherit. Create pipeline, win customers, develop commercial use cases and establish the sales playbook rather than operating within an existing structure.

Direct founder exposure. Work shoulder-to-shoulder with the founder to shape the GTM strategy, build the commercial playbook and turn an ambitious vision into a scalable, high-growth business.

A product with serious potential. Take sophisticated AI and alternative data infrastructure into a market where information advantage is everything.

Real commercial ownership. Influence positioning, product direction, target markets, client strategy and the foundations of the future sales organisation.

Meaningful upside. Competitive compensation and the opportunity to grow alongside the business.

A chance to build something exceptional. Not another seat in an established sales team. A foundational role in creating the commercial engine of a potentially category-defining business.

Interested?

If you're currently selling alternative data, financial data, AI, research or technology into hedge funds and institutional investors within a larger, more established business, and you've ever thought: "I'd love to get into something earlier, own the sales motion and genuinely influence how the business scales."

Or perhaps you've been on that 0-to-1 journey before. You've built something from the ground up, loved every minute of it, but the business has matured, the playbook is established and you're itching to get back to the excitement of building again .

Either way, if you've got the ambition, appetite and entrepreneurial spirit to help build something extraordinary, this could be exactly the opportunity you've been waiting for.

New York preferred, although exceptional candidates across the US will be considered.

Must have experience selling Data, AI or technology solutions into Capital Markets , ideally with exposure to Quantitative investors .

Willingness to travel for conferences, and to visit customers is essential.

Get in touch for a confidential conversation!