Founding Account Executive | VC backed | £250K OTE

Bluebird; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity EMI options

Job summary

Bluebird seeks a Founding Account Executive in London to own the commercial motion end-to-end, from self-sourced outbound to contract. You will work closely with the founder to scale the enterprise sales engine for a GRC/security platform used by regulated enterprises.

Expect ~3 days in-office per week in London, with equity options and a meaningful EMI plan. The role is founding and autonomous, with early influence on playbooks, pipeline, and future team structure.

Qualifications

• Proven enterprise AE with a track record closing complex, multi-stakeholder software deals at £150k+.
• Builder mentality; self-sources, you pick up the phone, you get deals done with limited infrastructure.
• Experience selling to CISO/GRC/compliance/vendor-risk buyers or ability to learn quickly in a new space.
• You’ve been a founding/early AE before or thrived without a safety net.
• London-based and able to be at Kings Cross ~3 days per week.

Responsibilities

• Own the full enterprise sales cycle end-to-end, from self-sourced outbound through contract signature, with no SDR support or hand-offs.
• Scale the founder-led motion by converting warm pipeline, investor introductions, and live target list into closed business.
• Sell to CISOs, Heads of GRC, Heads of Third-Party Risk, CROs, and Audit & Risk leaders at regulated enterprises.
• Run complex, multi-stakeholder deals (typical ranges £150k–£350k+ in year one).
• Use the use-case-led playbook: demo on prospect data, scope a 5–7 day pilot, deliver a reviewable outcome, build the business case.

Skills

Enterprise AE

Founder-led selling

Self-sourcing

CISO/GRC/compliance selling

London-based

Job description

You're about to see something rare: a company with £1M+ ARR, serious backers, and absolutely no commercial infrastructure yet. The founder has closed deals alone on conviction, there's warm pipeline, investor intros, and a target list sitting completely unworked right now. This is the seat where you build the commercial DNA from day one.

We're partnering with a fast-growing, VC-backed security and compliance startup. Our client just raised funding from Tier-1 investors (including partners known for building world-class GTM teams) and is led by an ex-Palantir executive who ran enterprise security and compliance at scale. They've proven product-market fit with names like Acrisure, TELUS Health, Samsara and the NHS already live. Now they're looking for an ambitious, high-energy Founding Account Executive to own the commercial motion end-to-end in London.

What They're Building

An agentic GRC and security platform: AI agents handle the grinding work of risk, compliance and security assessment, gathering evidence, screening data, producing defensible reports at expert level for a fraction of the cost. Their customers (regulated financial services and tech enterprises) get to the decision faster, with comprehensive coverage, without drowning in data collection.

~3 days per week in-office for sellers; daily team lunch

What You'll Do

• Own the full enterprise sales cycle end-to-end, from self-sourced outbound through contract signature, no SDR support, no hand-offs
• Scale the founder-led motion: convert warm pipeline, investor introductions, and the live target list into closed business
• Sell to CISOs, Heads of GRC, Heads of Third-Party Risk, CROs, and Audit & Risk leaders at regulated enterprises
• Run complex, multi-stakeholder deals (recent deals £150k–£350k+ in year one)
• Use the use-case-led playbook: demo on prospect's data, scope a 5–7 day pilot, deliver a reviewable outcome, then build the business case
• Own pipeline and CRM with rigour; improve and extend the playbook (sequences, personas, account plans) so there's something to hand to the team as it grows
• Feed commercial intelligence from market back into product and GTM
• Direct access to founder and engineering — you're the first commercial hire setting the standard for who follows
• High ownership and low red tape — you're building the process, not following one
• A commercial team of two: you and the founder, until you're not

Must-Haves

• Proven enterprise AE with a track record closing complex, multi-stakeholder software deals at £150k+
• Builder mentality, you self-source, you pick up the phone, you get deals done with limited infrastructure
• Background selling to CISO/GRC/compliance/vendor-risk buyers — or proven ability to learn a new technical space fast and do it well
• Genuine 0-to-1 comfort, you've been a founding/early AE before or can show you thrive without a safety net
• London-based, able to be at Kings Cross ~3 days per week

Nice-to-Haves

• Trained at a company known for great sales culture (MongoDB-type org) where you performed, then also performed somewhere scrappier (not just riding a strong system)
• Background at a GRC/TPRM/security vendor or risk/cyber consulting
• Strong multi-threading — you get to the most senior person in the room and don't stall on one stakeholder
• Can translate a technical security/compliance conversation into a board- and regulator-level business case as deal size grows

This Is Not For You If:

• You need an SDR, inbound, or full enablement programme to hit your number
• You want a defined territory and a built-out system before day one
• You've only ever sold inside very large companies with heavy support around you
• You're looking for your next corporate AE seat, not your next chapter

Compensation & Logistics

OTE: ~£130,000, uncapped, with a 3-month ramp

Equity: Meaningful EMI options, treated as genuine founding hire

Why Join?

You're joining at the rarest moment in a company's life: real traction, a brand-new category forming, and almost no commercial team yet to capture the demand. You'll be the first dedicated seller in a company with £1M+ ARR, serious backers, and a founder who's already proven he can close enterprise deals. In six months, you'll have a playbook, a pipeline, and a clear path to running your own book. By your one-year review, you'll be setting the standard for the commercial team that follows.

This is a founding seat, not a quota seat. If you've built something from scratch before and want to do it again — with more support and more urgency this time — this is it.

(This role is with one of our clients, not Bluebird.)