Director of sales

Straive; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Straive is expanding its Capital Markets team in the U.S. and seeks a high-impact sales leader to drive growth with a primary focus on AI solutions for Private Equity clients.

The role emphasizes developing PE fund and portfolio-company AI opportunities, uncovering high-value use cases, and converting them into scalable engagements. The position requires building senior relationships, leading consultative discovery, and owning the full sales cycle from prospecting to closure while traveling

Qualifications

• 5–12 years in B2B sales across PE, capital markets, financial services, research or tech services.
• Proven success selling AI, data/analytics, or research solutions into PE and capital markets.
• Strong network within US PE and capital markets ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Acquire new logos in Private Equity and expand market presence across capital markets.
• Lead end-to-end sales cycles for AI-enabled deal sourcing, research, diligence, and portfolio ops.
• Build executive relationships, collaborate with AI, research and delivery teams, and close opportunities.

Skills

B2B sales

Private Equity

Capital Markets

AI solutions

Executive engagement

Travel readiness

Job description

We are expanding our Capital Markets business in the U.S. and are looking for a high-impact sales leader to drive growth, with a primary focus on AI solutions for Private Equity clients.

The role will focus on developing AI opportunities at both the PE fund and portfolio-company level. Research will remain an important complementary capability, alongside coverage of investment banks, private credit firms, asset managers, and other Capital Markets clients.

This is a hands-on growth role for someone who can build senior relationships, uncover high-value AI use cases, and convert opportunities into scalable engagements.

Key Responsibilities

1. New Client Acquisition & Market Expansion

• Drive new-logo acquisition, with Private Equity as the primary target segment, while developing opportunities across the broader Capital Markets ecosystem.
• Sell AI solutions across PE fund-level workflows, including deal sourcing and screening, investment research, diligence, portfolio monitoring, investor relations, operations, and other priority workflows.
• Develop portfolio-company AI opportunities with Operating Partners, Heads of AI/Technology/Digital Transformation, and portfolio leadership focused on revenue growth, cost optimization, operational improvement, and AI transformation.
• Lead consultative discovery to identify high-value use cases and build compelling, outcome-focused business cases.
• Partner with AI specialists, domain experts, research, and delivery teams on demos, POCs, proposals, and client presentations.
• Own the full sales cycle from prospecting through negotiation and closure.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline across PE fund-level, portfolio-level, and broader Capital Markets opportunities.

2. Market Presence & Industry Engagement

• Represent the firm at key PE, M&A, and Capital Markets conferences and industry forums.
• Travel across the U.S. to meet clients, prospects, and partners.
• Build senior relationships across PE investment and operating teams, portfolio-company leaders, investment banks, private credit, and other Capital Markets firms.
• Position the firm as a strategic AI solutions partner to Private Equity clients, supported by deep research and Capital Markets expertise.

3. Go-to-Market & Leadership

• Collaborate with Capital Markets leadership to execute the U.S. go-to-market strategy, with AI-led growth in Private Equity as the primary priority.
• Develop strategic account plans to expand PE relationships across both fund and portfolio-company opportunities.
• Identify emerging AI, data, workflow, and research opportunities and translate them into client propositions.
• Coordinate with AI, domain, research, and delivery teams to design scalable solutions.
• Lead proposal development, solutioning, and commercial structuring.

Qualifications

• 5-12 years of B2B sales experience across Private Equity, Capital Markets, financial services, research, consulting, data/analytics, or technology services.
• Proven success selling AI, data/analytics, technology-enabled, or research solutions into Private Equity and/or broader Capital Markets clients.
• Strong network within the U.S. Private Equity and Capital Markets ecosystem.
• Experience managing complex, consultative sales cycles involving business, technology, and executive stakeholders.
• Strong executive presence and the ability to engage C-level executives, Partners, Managing Directors, Operating Partners, and portfolio-company leadership.
• Ability to understand client business problems and work with AI, domain, research, and technical teams to shape solutions.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating commercial and legal terms with a high ownership mindset in a fast-growth environment.
• Willingness to travel extensively within the U.S.

What We’re Looking For

• Entrepreneurial hunter mentality with strong ownership for new-logo and new-revenue creation.
• Ability to articulate the value of AI solutions across PE investment workflows and portfolio-company operations, with research as a complementary capability.
• Strategic thinker who can open senior-level PE relationships, identify high-value AI use cases, and convert them into scalable revenue opportunities.
• Strong commercial acumen, solution-selling discipline, and margin focus.
• Excellent executive communication, relationship-building, and cross-functional collaboration skills.