Founding Account Executive

Ropes; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Ropes is hiring a founding Account Executive to own the full sales cycle, prospect, demo, negotiate, and close deals with staffing and services firms in the contingent workforce space. This is a hands-on early role in New York City.

You bring 2–5 years in quota-carrying B2B software sales, a track record of $1M+ quotas, and a hunter mindset. You’ll shape our go-to-market, build your own pipeline, and work directly with leadership to define pricing and messaging.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of experience in a quota-carrying sales role.
• Track record of hitting $1M+ quotas and strong activity.
• Experience selling to staffing/services firms a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own the full sales cycle from prospecting to close.
• Run discovery calls, demos, and multi-stakeholder negotiations.
• Build and manage a disciplined pipeline in Salesforce or similar CRM.
• Collaborate with leadership on positioning, pricing, and GTM strategy.
• Develop repeatable sales motions and lay groundwork for the team.
• Work from the New York City office.

Skills

Quota carrying

Pipeline development

Sales presentations

CRM (Salesforce)

Prospecting

Tools

Salesforce

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

ZoomInfo

Apollo

Clay

Job description

TL;DR: We’re looking for a founding Account Executive to own the full sales cycle and close deals with staffing / services firms in the $4T+ contingent workforce industry.

About Ropes

Ropes is building a new way for companies to hire talent, starting with anti-fraud technology and better skill-based interviews. We help staffing and recruiting firms fight fraud, identify top talent, and confidently market that talent to Fortune 500 companies and the top employers in the world.

Company highlights:

• Talent-dense, capable team: We’re a team of 10 from Penn, Stanford, Waterloo, Retool, MongoDB, and top tech companies with seed-stage headcount and Series A-type metrics
• Well-capitalized: $3.1M seed round led by GSV Ventures & Boxgroup with angels from OpenAI, SpaceX, Retool, and more
• Traction: We’ve flown past 7 figures in revenue, with dozens of enterprise staffing customers including the largest staffing firm in the world
• Market opportunity: Our customers are the premier firms of the $600B+ staffing industry. We’re working to reinvent how that market operates from the ground up

What You’ll Do:

• Own the full sales cycle from prospecting to close, generating your own pipeline and converting it into revenue
• Run discovery calls, lead product demos, and navigate complex, multi-stakeholder sales processes with staffing firm leadership
• Build and manage a disciplined pipeline using Salesforce and prospecting tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, Apollo, or Clay
• Partner with leadership to sharpen positioning, pricing, and go-to-market strategy based on what you’re hearing in the field every day
• Develop repeatable sales motions and lay the groundwork for the team we build behind you
• Work on the ground in our office in New York City

Who You Are:

• You’re more interested in earning equity and impact than climbing a predetermined ladder
• You have 2 to 5 years of experience in a quota-carrying sales role with a traditional BDR to AE track record at an early-stage or growth-stage B2B software company where you figured things out without a playbook
• You’ve consistently hit $1M+ quotas and have a track record of strong activity, pipeline development, and closed revenue
• You manage sales cycles end to end and generate your own pipeline rather than relying on inbound leads or a demand gen team to fill your calendar
• You bring a solution-based selling approach with strong presentation, listening, and organizational skills
• You’re coachable, competitive, and energized by working in a fast-paced environment where the playbook isn’t written yet

Why Ropes:

• Early impact: Join as one of the first sales hires and help define how we go to market
• Ownership: You won’t be executing someone else’s plan. You’ll have direct input on messaging, targeting, pricing, and process
• Growth trajectory: High performers will have a clear path to leading a sales team as we scale