Strategic Account Sales Lead - Semiconductor Software & AI Services

Department: Sales and Business Development

Role Type: Full-time, Individual Contributor

Territory: North America

Travel: Ability and willingness to travel up to 50%, including travel to customer sites and occasional international travel.

Job Summary

Sapphire Stream Technology (SST) is seeking a Strategic Account Sales Lead to drive growth across strategic semiconductor, AI platform and technology-product accounts in North America.

This is a senior individual-contributor role with no direct reports. The successful candidate will expand business with an existing global semiconductor customer while developing new opportunities with semiconductor, AI platform and technology-product companies.

SST’s delivery models include onsite engineering services and offshore development centres (ODCs). Both models are integral to the company’s account-growth strategy.

The Strategic Account Sales Lead will establish executive and working-level customer relationships; understand customer organizations, product roadmaps, engineering requirements and purchasing processes; and translate these insights into practical engineering-services opportunities. Relevant service areas include semiconductor software, embedded and platform software, AI/ML engineering, product validation, performance optimization and related product-engineering services.

Key Responsibilities

• Achieve assigned revenue, sales and account-growth targets and report performance to senior management.
• Develop and maintain strategic account plans covering customer organizations, key stakeholders, product roadmaps, buying centres, opportunities, competitors, risks and action plans.
• Expand SST’s existing strategic semiconductor account by growing onsite engineering and ODC services, developing new buying centres and strengthening customer relationships.
• Identify, qualify and develop new opportunities involving semiconductor software, embedded and platform software, AI/ML engineering, product validation, performance optimization and related product-engineering services.
• Develop new accounts across the semiconductor, AI platform and technology-product sectors.
• Establish and maintain relationships with customer stakeholders across engineering, product management, sourcing, procurement and vendor-management functions.
• Lead opportunity qualification, proposal development, pricing, commercial negotiations and deal closure in coordination with SST’s delivery, technical and management teams.
• Maintain accurate opportunity-pipeline and revenue-forecast information, including deal value, probability, timelines, risks and next actions.
• Analyze customer businesses, product strategies, technical priorities and competitive environments to develop relevant and differentiated proposals.
• Coordinate with delivery and technical teams to validate scope, staffing, pricing, delivery models and timelines before making customer commitments.
• Support the development of statements of work, commercial proposals, master service agreements and related customer documentation.
• Maintain appropriate records of customer communications, opportunities, proposals and approvals in SST’s designated systems.
• Protect SST and customer confidential information throughout the sales and contracting process.
• Follow applicable company requirements relating to pricing approvals, contracting, information security, anti-bribery, competition, export controls and customer procurement.
• Represent SST professionally at customer meetings, industry events and other business-development activities.

Required Qualifications

• At least five years of strategic account sales or business-development experience in product-engineering services, engineering R&D, outsourced software engineering, technical staffing or related professional services.
• Demonstrated record of meeting or exceeding sales, revenue or account-growth targets.
• Relevant sales experience in one or more of the following areas:

Semiconductor software

Embedded or platform software

AI/ML engineering

Product validation

Performance engineering

Related product-engineering services

• Demonstrated success identifying new opportunities, expanding strategic accounts, negotiating contracts and closing deals.
• Ability to understand customer product roadmaps and technical requirements and translate them into practical engineering-service proposals.
• Strong account-planning, business-development, communication, presentation, negotiation, analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Professional English communication skills sufficient to negotiate contracts, deliver presentations, prepare proposals and communicate with executive and technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and collaborate effectively across organizations, cultures and time zones.
• Ability and willingness to travel approximately [insert percentage], including travel to customer sites and occasional international travel.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, computer science or a related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• Authorization to work in [Canada/the United States/applicable jurisdiction] without violating applicable immigration or employment requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing or expanding global delivery models that combine client-facing teams with offshore or ODC engineering delivery.
• Experience working with global engineering or IT services organizations and coordinating with India-based or other international offshore delivery teams.
• Established professional relationships within major semiconductor, AI platform or technology-product organizations.
• Working knowledge of AI computing platforms, embedded systems, developer tools, semiconductor ecosystems or related engineering technologies.
• Experience working with customer engineering, sourcing, procurement and vendor-management organizations.
• Experience selling services involving both onsite engineering resources and offshore delivery teams.

Performance Expectations

Performance will be assessed using factors such as:

• Achievement of assigned revenue and growth targets
• Strategic-account expansion
• Development of qualified opportunities and new accounts
• Pipeline accuracy and forecast reliability
• Quality and timeliness of account plans
• Successful contract negotiation and deal closure
• Customer-relationship development
• Collaboration with technical and delivery teams
• Compliance with SST’s commercial approval, contracting and information-security requirements

Equal Employment Opportunity and Accommodation

SST is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and maintaining an inclusive recruitment process. Employment decisions are based on job-related qualifications and legitimate business requirements without discrimination prohibited by applicable law.

Reasonable accommodations are available during the recruitment and selection process upon request. Applicants requiring accommodation may contact the HR team.