Senior Director of Sales

Overview

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.

"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC  

“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA  

DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence. 

Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management. 

Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage. 

Job Description

DDN is seeking a high-impact Senior Director of Sales to lead our enterprise sales business across the East Coast market. This is a senior individual contributor and team leadership role for a seasoned sales professional who exceled at both driving their own book of business and developing a team of 6–7 Account Executives. The successful candidate will own regional revenue targets, build executive-level customer relationships, and execute DDN's go-to-market strategy across healthcare, life sciences, biopharma, media, academia, manufacturing, and telco for companies headquartered in the east coast of the USA and Canada.

The Senior Director will operate as a player-coach: personally engaging on strategic accounts with the AEs and complex deals while coaching, mentoring, and holding their team accountable to pipeline and quota standards. This role reports to the Vice President, East USA and Canada and is a critical contributor to DDN's North American growth trajectory.

What You'll Do

• Own and deliver revenue targets across the East USA and Canada territory, including enterprise accounts in healthcare systems, life sciences, biopharma, genomics, medical research, media, and telco companies
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 6–7 Account Executives, driving a culture of accountability, pipeline discipline, and high performance
• Develop and execute territory and account plans targeting enterprise customers with significant data infrastructure, AI, and HPC workload requirements
• Build and maintain VP- and C-level relationships with key customers, partners, and ecosystem stakeholders across east coast USA and Canada markets.
• Drive pipeline generation through direct sales activity, channel partnerships, NVIDIA ecosystem alignment, and co-selling motions with OEM and GSI partners
• Partner cross-functionally with Pre-Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and Product teams to ensure successful deal execution and strong post-sale customer outcomes
• Position DDN as a strategic partner for AI training, inference, RAG pipelines, and data-intensive HPC workloads — leveraging EXAScaler, Infinia, and HyperPOD
• Deliver accurate forecasting, pipeline management, and business reporting with consistency and integrity; maintain CRM hygiene and deal governance standards
• Collaborate with the VP on regional strategy, territory design, and team development planning
• Represent DDN at key industry events, customer briefings, and partner engagements across the region

What We're Looking For

• 10–15 years of experience in Data Storage enterprise and HPC technology sales, with a consistent track record of exceeding quota in competitive, high-growth environments
• 5+ years of experience as a first-line sales manager in the data storage, data infrastructure, or adjacent enterprise technology industry — directly managing quota-carrying Account Executives
• Demonstrated success as a player-coach: managing, developing, and holding a team accountable
• Deep familiarity with the New York Metro enterprise landscape — including key verticals such as healthcare systems and hospital networks, biopharma and life sciences, genomics and medical research, media and entertainment.
• Strong background in data infrastructure, storage, AI/ML workloads, HPC, or related technologies; ability to engage credibly with both technical evaluators and economic buyers
• Proven success leading large, complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise deals through full sales cycles, including competitive displacements
• Experience working within a matrixed organization with cross-functional dependencies (Pre-Sales, CS, Marketing, Product)
• Strong executive presence and influencing skills at the VP and C-suite level — both with customers and internally
• Excellent forecasting discipline, pipeline management rigor, and operational precision; track record of delivering predictable, repeatable business outcomes
• Willingness to be present and active across the whole territory and travel as needed for customer engagement

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience selling into healthcare systems, biopharma, genomics, medical imaging, clinical research, or other data-intensive life sciences environments
• Familiarity with DDN's product portfolio — including Infinia™ (AI-native object storage), EXAScaler® (parallel file system / Lustre), or comparable enterprise storage platforms
• Experience with NVIDIA ecosystem selling (DGX, SuperPOD, NIM, AI Enterprise) or co-selling with major infrastructure OEM and channel partners
• Prior experience in a high-growth, transformation, or turnaround environment with demonstrated adaptability and speed of execution
• Established VP- and director-level relationships within the territory enterprise technology and AI infrastructure community

Why DDN

• Market leadership: DDN powers the world's largest AI clusters — including xAI's 2,000,000-GPU Colossus facility and NVIDIA's DGX SuperPOD reference architecture
• Industry validation: #1 on MLPerf Storage v2.0; 7 of top 10 positions in the IO500 10-node production benchmark (ISC 2025)
• Proven ROI: Up to 25% more GPU productivity, 40–70% CAPEX reduction, and 10x ROI demonstrated across customer deployments
• Momentum: 700,000+ GPUs under management, 7,000+ customers, 4,000+ active AI workloads — and accelerating
• Competitive differentiation: DDN's AI FASTTRACK™ program, HyperPOD turnkey AI factory, and deep NVIDIA partnership create a unique and defensible go-to-market position

Base Salary Range : $200,000.00 - $250,000.00

In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for variable compensation (commission).

DDN

DDN has a very strong orientation towards these 4 characteristics and any successful employee will demonstrate these capabilities: 

Self-Starter - Takes independent action to identify and solve problems. Seeks out relevant information needed to make decisions. Gets involved with new initiatives. 

Success/Achievement Orientation - Delivers quality results consistently. Targets, achieves (or exceeds) measurable results. Sets challenging goals, focuses on critical priorities, and is accountable. 

Problem Solving - Recognizes problems and responds with a systematic assessment that identifies and addresses cause of issue. Practical, realistic, and resourceful. 

Innovative - Builds and improves key business processes that enhance the effectiveness of DDN. Generates new ideas, challenges the status quo, and solves problems creatively.

DataDirect Networks, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

#LI-Remote