Sales Leader - Native-AI Practice

Sales Leader - Native-AI Practice

Blend is a premier AI services provider, committed to co-creating meaningful impact for its clients through the power of data science, AI, technology, and people. With a mission to fuel bold visions, Blend tackles significant challenges by seamlessly aligning human expertise with artificial intelligence. The company is dedicated to unlocking value and fostering innovation for its clients by harnessing world-class people and data-driven strategy.

Job Description

Blend is looking for a Senior Sales Leader to drive net-new customer acquisition for our Native-AI practice across North America. This is a true hunter role. You will be responsible for building pipeline, opening strategic enterprise accounts, and closing new consulting and implementation engagements centered on OpenAI. Success will be measured primarily by new logos and new revenue generated.

The ideal candidate is a proven enterprise seller with strong executive relationships, experience creating opportunities from scratch, and enough generative AI fluency to identify high-value opportunities and bring the right Blend and OpenAI resources into a pursuit. The role is based in the San Francisco Bay Area to enable close engagement with OpenAI's commercial organization while owning opportunities across North America.

What You'll Own

Build Net-New Pipeline

• Build and own a targeted pipeline of strategic enterprise prospects across North America.
• Proactively open new accounts and establish relationships with senior business and technology executives.
• Develop account strategies around organizations with significant AI transformation opportunities.
• Generate opportunities through direct prospecting, executive networks, OpenAI relationships, partners, industry events, AI Build Days, and joint go-to-market programs.
• Create pipeline beyond inbound and partner-referred opportunities.

Close Strategic New Logos

• Own the commercial sales cycle from prospecting through signed SOW.
• Identify and qualify high-value OpenAI use cases with a credible buyer, business case, and funding path.
• Navigate complex enterprise buying processes across business, technology, procurement, legal, security, and executive stakeholders.
• Lead commercial strategy, proposals, negotiations, and deal closure.
• Drive complex opportunities toward funded implementation and production engagements.

Enhance the OpenAI Co-Sell Motion

• Develop strong relationships across OpenAI's commercial and partner organizations.
• Work with OpenAI account teams to identify and jointly pursue strategic enterprise accounts.
• Translate OpenAI customer demand into services and implementation opportunities for Blend.
• Position Blend as a trusted services and delivery partner for enterprise OpenAI adoption.
• Work with the Blend partnerships team to build repeatable joint account-development and co-sell motions.

Orchestrate the Pursuit

• Partner closely with Delivery leadership to mobilize Blend AI engineers, FDEs, solution architects, delivery leaders, and industry SMEs around qualified opportunities.
• Turn customer interest into discovery, workshops, AI Build Days, prototypes, and funded production engagements.
• Coordinate executives across Blend, OpenAI, and the customer to accelerate decisions and remove blockers.
• Maintain clear ownership of deal strategy, next steps, decision makers, and close plans.

Own the Number

• Carry an individual net-new bookings quota.
• Maintain approximately 3 - 4x qualified pipeline coverage against quota.
• Own forecasting, pipeline discipline, and opportunity progression.
• Maintain accurate opportunity and OpenAI attribution in HubSpot.
• Develop a repeatable commercial playbook for converting OpenAI-related demand into Blend revenue.

Qualifications

What We're Looking For

• 8 - 12+ years of enterprise technology, AI, cloud, data, digital transformation, or consulting sales experience.
• Demonstrated success winning net-new Fortune 1000 or large-enterprise customers.
• Track record of carrying and achieving multimillion-dollar annual sales quotas.
• Proven ability to personally originate and close complex enterprise opportunities.
• Experience selling $500K - $5M+ technology, consulting, or transformation engagements.
• Experience selling to CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, Heads of AI, business-unit leaders, and other senior executives.
• Strong commercial discipline across prospecting, qualification, account strategy, forecasting, negotiation, and closing.
• Ability to translate technical AI capabilities into business value, ROI, and funded programs.
• Sufficient technical fluency to discuss generative AI use cases, APIs, data, security, architecture, and enterprise deployment considerations.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment and building a commercial motion rather than inheriting an established book of business.
• Based in or willing to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Strongly Preferred

• Existing relationships within OpenAI or the broader generative AI ecosystem.
• Experience selling AI/ML, data, cloud, or AI consulting services.
• Experience with partner-led or co-sell motions involving OpenAI, AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Snowflake, Databricks, or similar technology platforms.
• Strong network of enterprise technology and business buyers across North America.
• Experience converting prototypes, workshops, or proofs-of-concept into larger production programs.

What Success Looks Like

• Establish strong working relationships with OpenAI commercial and account teams.
• Build a meaningful pipeline of strategic North American opportunities.
• Consistently create opportunities independent of inbound demand.
• Close meaningful new-logo OpenAI engagements.
• Establish repeatable OpenAI + Blend account-development and co-sell motions.
• Maintain approximately 34x qualified pipeline coverage against quota.
• Meet or exceed their ramped new-logo bookings target.

Additional Information

The starting pay range for this role is $250k - $300k (base salary with additional commission). Actual compensation within the range will be dependent on several factors including but not limited to relevant experience, skills, certifications, training, and location. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range and determining factors for compensation are considered for each individual circumstance. BLEND360 offers a competitive benefits program designed to support the health and financial well-being of our team members and their families. Benefits vary by role and eligibility and may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k) plan, paid time off, paid holidays, commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts, life and disability insurance, and employee assistance programs.