Account Executive

Proton; Barcelona; On-site; EUR 40,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Proton for Business is seeking a driven Account Executive with native French language skills to join our growing team. You will own, grow and close opportunities across outbound and inbound channels, applying SPICED or similar discovery to match customer challenges with Proton solutions.

You will work with SDRs, Marketing and Product teams to drive multi-channel engagement, maintain a healthy pipeline and hit ARR targets.

Qualifications

• Proven track record as a Sales Account Executive in SaaS or cybersecurity.
• Experience multi-threading across stakeholders to move deals forward.
• Strong pipeline management and process orientation.
• Native/Fluent French; English fluency required.
• Comfort with CRMs and modern sales intelligence tools.
• Passion for digital rights and privacy; Proton value proposition.

Responsibilities

• Own business opportunities across outbound and inbound channels.
• Strategic prioritization of deals and pipeline management.
• Engage across phone, email and social selling channels.
• Close new business and meet ARR targets.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Marketing, and Customer Success.
• Mentor SDRs on phone etiquette and process mastery.

Skills

Sales

Multi-threading

Pipeline management

CRM experience

French fluency

English fluency

Tools

HubSpot

Gong

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Clay

Instantly

Salesforce

Job description

Join Proton and build a better internet where privacy is the default

Proton was founded in 2014 by scientists from CERN on a simple truth: privacy is a fundamental human right. Since then, we've built the world’s largest encrypted email service (Proton Mail) and expanded into Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Pass, and Proton Calendar - tools used by millions globally to protect their freedom, fight censorship, and keep their data safe. In some situations, Proton has literally helped save lives!

We are profitable, independent (no VC control), and selectively hire from the top ~1% of applicants. Our 500+ team members across 50+ countries come from leading organizations and elite academic backgrounds. We move fast, keep hierarchy light, and prioritize impact over optics. If you want to do meaningful work with exceptionally high-caliber people, this is it. Join us and do work you can truly be proud of. Check our open-source projects here !

About the role

We are looking for a driven Account Executive with native French language skills to join our Proton for Business team. As a New Business Account Executive, you will own, work and grow business across a mix of outbound and inbound opportunities. You will play a significant role securing new business for Proton during our current period of hyper-growth. You should be business oriented, customer focused, and a self-starter who can manage their pipeline across all segments; from SMB to Enterprise. You will manage qualified high potential opportunities, using the SPICED sales framework to drive deep discovery, match customer challenges with Proton solutions, and work directly with our outbound and inbound SDRs to drive increasing win rates.

If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, love mastering complex tech stacks, and want to play a key role in driving growth for solutions you genuinely believe in, we want to hear from you.

Key responsibilities

• Own business Opportunities : Take ownership and manage well qualified opportunities generated by our SDR team across outbound and inbound channels. Use deep discovery and effective deal management to identify the best way to help potential customers reach their desired business outcomes.
• Strategic Prioritization: Manage your sales pipeline to optimize and ensure complex, key deals are prioritized, while also efficiently managing smaller, fast-moving requirements with future growth potential.
• Multi-channel Engagement: You will drive successful business engagement across a mix phone, email and social selling channels, utilizing a multi-channel approach to drive business forward.
• Close New Business: Work pipeline deals across business segments to successful close and consistently meet ARR targets.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Product Business Units, Marketing, and Customer Success to ensure seamless handoffs and gather market feedback.
• Cultural Ambassadorship - Model a high-energy, resilient mindset; mentor newer team members & SDRs on phone etiquette, objection handling, process flows and tool mastery.

Your profile

• Sales Driven: You have a proven track record as a Sales Account Executive, preferably in SaaS or cybersecurity.
• Confident Multi-threader: You have experience successfully multi-threading across various stakeholders to keep deals moving forward throughout each stage of the deal cycle.
• Process Oriented: You understand the importance of building an effective system for pipeline management and driving deal velocity and can manage time effectively to ensure quick wins don’t slip through the cracks.
• Qualified Communicator: You are a Native/Fluent French speaker. Fluency in English is also a must. Other languages are a major plus.
• Tech Savvy: You are comfortable navigating CRMs (HubSpot experience is a plus) and modern sales intelligence tools.
• Mission Aligned: You care about digital rights and privacy, making it easy to authentically advocate for Proton's value proposition.
• Resilient & Adaptable: You can handle high volumes of inbound traffic while maintaining a personalized, consultative approach.

Technical & Tool Fluency

• Proficient with modern outreach stacks: Clay , Instantly , Gong , LinkedIn Sales Navigator , multichannel sequencing platforms, and a CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.).
• Comfortable working with simple reporting dashboards to track activity, conversion and forecast meeting volume.

Personal Attributes

• High-energy & competitive - thrives on quota-driven environments and loves beating targets.
• Resilient & tenacious - sees rejection as the data that will help us develop an expert understanding of where we win the most.
• Customer-centric - quickly uncovers prospect pain points and frames the conversation around value.
• Tech-savvy - embraces automation to eliminate manual grunt work and focus on high-impact activities.
• Growth-oriented - ready to take the next step in your sales career by not only qualifying deals, but closing them as well.

Bonus

• Experience selling security-oriented SaaS or privacy-focused products across various business segments.

Hard Skills

• Deal Mastery - Expert at effectively prioritising and managing strong business opportunities based on product fit & ability to solve customer challenges.
  Outreach Excellence - Confident customer facing presence driven by polished business acumen, written communication skills, and objection navigation.
• Tool Mastery - Strong familiarity with Clay, Instantly, Gong, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and CRM reporting.
• Data-Driven Optimization - Ability to analyse response SLAs & conversion metrics