Small Business Account Executive II

At affirm, we exist for the moments that matter—giving people a clear, predictable way to pay over time, with no hidden fees, no surprises, and no tradeoffs on what matters most.

About The Revenue Team
The Revenue team drives Affirms growth by acquiring, retaining, and expanding merchant partnerships across eCommerce, in-store, telesales, and the affirm app. The SMB Sales team focuses on bringing new merchants onto affirm, building relationships with business owners and decision-makers, and demonstrating how affirm's payment solutions can drive conversion, increase sales, and support business growth. Through strategic prospecting, consultative selling, and cross-functional collaboration, the team helps merchants unlock new opportunities while expanding affirm's reach across the SMB market.

About The Role
Affirm is seeking an experienced, quota-carrying Account Executive to own the full sales cycle for complex, high-growth merchants across the upper SMB and Mid-Market segment. This portfolio includes merchants with up to $300M in total annual sales and requires a seller who can operate as the general manager of a territory, create demand, engage executive decision-makers, build a quantified business case, structure a compelling commercial solution, and lead the opportunity through contract and launch.

The Account Executive is accountable for new merchant acquisition and the long-term quality of each partnership. The role translates merchant priorities into solutions across Affirms products and capabilities, while aligning internal stakeholders across Sales, Merchant Pricing, Product, Partnerships, Risk, Legal, Operations, Implementation, and Merchant Success. Success requires strategic prospecting, strong financial and commercial judgment, fluency in technical and operational requirements, and the ability to create momentum across complex buying groups.

What You'll Do

Own a defined territory and revenue plan. Operate as the general manager of a portfolio that includes complex, high-growth merchants with up to $300M in total annual sales. Develop the account strategy, prioritization model, pipeline plan, and execution cadence required to achieve signed GMV and revenue targets.

Generate and develop net-new pipeline. Research priority merchants, identify relevant business and market triggers, and use targeted outbound, partner channels, events, referrals, and internal resources to create qualified opportunities.

Lead executive discovery. Engage founders, C-suite executives, and senior leaders across Finance, E-commerce, Product, Technology, Operations, and Marketing to understand strategic priorities, operating constraints, customer economics, and decision criteria.

Set the strategy for complex opportunities. Independently determine the account plan, stakeholder engagement strategy, competitive positioning, internal resource requirements, negotiation posture, and path to close for each opportunity.

Build quantified business cases. Translate merchant data and objectives into clear recommendations supported by expected conversion, average order value, customer acquisition, repeat purchase, GMV, revenue, unit economics, and operational impact.

Design the merchant solution. Partner with Sales Engineering and Onboarding to define the appropriate product configuration, integration path, rollout strategy, and customer experience. Lead opportunities that may require customized payment configurations, e-commerce platform integrations, technical solutioning, or multi-entity implementation planning.

Navigate complex buying processes. Build champions, map stakeholders, align economic buyers and technical evaluators, manage procurement, security, legal, and risk requirements, and establish a mutual action plan through decision and signature.

Lead commercial negotiations. Develop deal strategy, position differentiated value, handle objections, and negotiate pricing, terms, and partnership structure. Evaluate merchant requirements against expected GMV, revenue, unit economics, implementation complexity, and risk while protecting affirm's long-term financial interests.

Develop recommendations for non-standard partnerships. Use sound commercial judgment to structure and present recommendations involving custom pricing, contractual terms, product requirements, implementation investments, or other exceptions requiring internal approval.

Lead cross-functional deal teams. Lead virtual teams without direct authority by establishing clear owners, operating cadence, decision points, escalation paths, and timelines across Partnerships, Risk, Legal, Implementation, and Merchant Pricing.

Own the path from signature to launch. Remain accountable for a successful handoff and project-manage critical launch dependencies so signed merchants progress efficiently toward integration and go-live.

Maintain forecast and operating discipline. Keep Salesforce current, accurately assess deal stage and material risk, provide reliable weekly and quarterly forecasts, and communicate changes early with a clear recovery plan.

Represent the market internally. Bring structured merchant, industry, and competitive insights to product and business partners, identify recurring barriers, and influence scalable improvements to affirm's products and go-to-market motion.

Raise team performance. Share effective account strategies, executive messaging, business cases, and deal practices. Contribute to a high-accountability culture focused on customer value, commercial discipline, and measurable outcomes.

What We Look For

4 or more years of quota-carrying, full-cycle closing experience in B2B SaaS, fintech, payments, e-commerce, or another complex technology environment.

A demonstrated record of meeting or exceeding revenue targets and creating self-sourced pipeline in a new-logo acquisition role.

Experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles and building relationships with executive and functional decision-makers.

Strong consultative discovery, objection handling, negotiation, and closing skills, including the ability to establish a clear decision process and mutual action plan.

Ability to analyze merchant and market data, develop a quantified business case, and communicate financial and strategic value with credibility.

Experience coordinating legal, risk, technical, pricing, operational, and implementation stakeholders to resolve barriers and close business.

Strong territory planning, pipeline management, CRM discipline, and forecasting capabilities.

Excellent written and verbal communication, including executive presentations and concise internal updates.

High ownership, sound judgment, resilience, and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-changing environment with multiple priorities.

Nice To Have

Experience selling payment, lending, commerce, financial software, or other solutions that require technical integration and commercial structuring.

Familiarity with e-commerce platforms, APIs, payment flows, implementation requirements, and merchant economics.

Experience using a structured sales methodology such as MEDDPICC, Challenger, or Sandler.

Prior experience in business development or another role requiring high-volume prospecting and disciplined pipeline creation.

Bachelors degree or equivalent practical experience.

Base Pay Grade - E

Equity Grade - 5

Employees new to affirm typically come in at the start of the pay range. affirm focuses on providing a simple and transparent pay structure which is based on a variety of factors, including location, experience and job-related skills. For sales roles, the range provided is the role's On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, which includes the annual base pay and the sales incentive target.

Base pay is part of a total compensation package that may include equity rewards, monthly stipends for health, wellness and tech spending, and benefits (including 100% subsidized medical coverage, dental and vision for you and your dependents.)

USA On Target Earnings (CA, WA, NY, NJ, CT) per year: $142,000 - $182,000

USA On Target Earnings (all other U.S. states) per year: $160,000 - $200,000

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Remote-first with flexibility built in
affirm is proud to be a remote-first company. most roles can be done from almost anywhere within the country of employment. some positions may occasionally require in-person work at an affirm office, and a few are office-based due to the nature of the work. all new hires will be invited to attend an in-person onboarding experience.

Benefits Designed For You

Health coverage at no cost: We cover 100% of premiums for employees and their dependents.

Spending stipends: Monthly stipends support your tech setup, and the ability to choose health and wellness options that are right for you.

Time off to recharge: Flexible time off and generous holiday calendars help you rest when you need to.

Own a piece of what you build: Our employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) lets you buy affirm stock at a discount.

We're committed to providing an inclusive interview process, including accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you need support, we're happy to help.

For positions based in San Francisco or Los Angeles: affirm considers qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, as required by law.

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