Founding Account Executive, AI Infrastructure (SF)

Lavendo partners with startups and high‑growth companies to help them hire top‑tier sales, go‑to‑market, and technical talent. This role is with one of our clients; we’ll share full details about the company and interview process as we get to know you and confirm mutual fit. About the Company Our client is a YC-backed AI infrastructure startup redefining reliability for AI voice and chat agents. Their platform automates testing and observability by simulating thousands of realistic conversational scenarios so engineering teams can catch edge cases before production and ship with confidence. They are a seed-stage company already working with 75+ customers across industries such as healthcare, BFSI, logistics, recruitment, and retail, and are preparing for a Series A. The Opportunity This is the first sales hire — and roughly 70% of the current pipeline is inbound. You’re not being asked to cold-start demand; you’re taking over a proven founder-led motion and turning it into a repeatable, scalable GTM engine. You’ll report directly to the CEO, sit in-office with the engineering team, and own the full sales cycle as well as the systems, tooling, and playbook that will power future hires. For a high performer, there is a clear, direct path to GTM leadership as the company scales its sales organization. What You’ll Do Own the full sales cycle end-to-end: prospecting, discovery, demo, negotiation, and close Convert high-intent product signups and inbound leads into revenue via multi-channel outreach (email, LinkedIn, calls, in-person) Build and document the sales playbook to turn what’s working into a repeatable, scalable motion Design and run automated outbound workflows using Clay, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and AI tools Run technical discovery with CTOs, Heads of Engineering, and AI leads on APIs, voice infrastructure, and deployment architecture Collaborate closely with the engineering team to refine positioning and stay technically sharp What You Bring 2–5 years of closing experience selling developer tools, AI infrastructure, or conversational AI products to technical buyers Degree in AI/Engineering or Sales Engineering experience (required) — you can run real technical discovery on APIs and AI infrastructure Proven full-cycle ownership — you’ve prospected, run outbound, and closed without SDR or SE support Hands-on experience building outbound workflows with Clay, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or equivalent, and you use AI tools (e.g., GPT, Claude) daily to make your workflow faster and smarter Early-stage startup experience (seed–Series B) where you contributed to building GTM, not just inheriting it Based in San Francisco or genuinely excited to relocate; 5 days in-office is non-negotiable Key Success Drivers You treat sales like an engineering problem: systematic, data-driven, and always iterating You create the playbook instead of waiting for one You’re energized by ambiguity and operate with high ownership You care about the product and like going deep on technical details Compensation & Benefits Base salary: $100K – $125K OTE: $200K – $225K with transparent accelerators Founding equity: 0.15% – 0.35% Premium tooling and learning stipend Visa sponsorship available for exceptional candidates Direct path to GTM leadership for high performers as the sales team scales Interview Process Intro call with the Founder Case study & live demo Final call with the Founder Offer Extended At Lavendo, we partner with clients who care about building high‑performing, inclusive teams, and we hold ourselves to the same standard. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, disability, genetic information, veteran or military status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.