Founding Account Executive

Sterling Placements; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive equity at seed stage

Job summary

Sterling Placements is looking for a Founding Account Executive for an AI company in San Francisco. This is a unique opportunity to shape the sales process from the ground up while working closely with the company's founders. You will own the full sales cycle, targeting trucking carriers and businesses.

The ideal candidate has 3–6+ years of SaaS sales experience, a hunter mentality, and a strong track record of exceeding quotas. Competitive compensation includes a target OTE of $150,000–$200,000.

Qualifications

• 3–6+ years of full-cycle SaaS sales experience.
• Proven track record of quota attainment.
• Experience building or refining a sales process.

Responsibilities

• Run the full sales cycle: outbound prospecting, cold calling, discovery, demos, trials, and closing.
• Define and iterate on the sales playbook alongside the founders.
• Manage customers through a trial process and convert to close.

Skills

SaaS sales experience

Outbound prospecting

Quota attainment

Sales process building

HubSpot proficiency

Salesforce proficiency

Job description

A client of ours — an early-stage AI company backed by top-tier VCs and founded by ex-Samsara engineers — is hiring their first Account Executive. Their AI platform is already deployed with some of the largest trucking fleets in the US, autonomously handling back-office operations and delivering measurable ROI. With 8 employees and real traction, this is a ground-floor opportunity to own the sales motion and grow into a leadership role as the company scales.

The Role

You'll be the founding AE, working directly with the founders to build and refine the sales process from scratch. This is a full-cycle hunter role — you'll own everything from outbound prospecting to close, selling into trucking carriers and physical operations businesses.

Responsibilities

• Run the full sales cycle: outbound prospecting, cold calling, discovery, demos, trials, and closing
• Define and iterate on the sales playbook alongside the founders
• Manage customers through a trial process and convert to close once value is validated
• Build pipeline reporting, dashboards, and process infrastructure from the ground up
• Travel to customer sites and represent the company at industry events

What We’re Looking For

• 3–6+ years of full-cycle SaaS sales experience with a proven track record of quota attainment
• Mid‑market to enterprise AE experience with 6–7 figure ACVs
• Outbound hunter mentality — you don’t wait for leads
• Verifiable performance: attainment %, Presidents Club, early promotions
• Experience building or refining a sales process, not just running one
• HubSpot and/or Salesforce proficiency

Nice to Have

• Logistics, trucking, or freight industry experience
• Founding or early‑stage startup experience
• Familiarity with AI or agentic AI products
• OTE: $150,000–$200,000 (50/50 split)
• Competitive equity at seed stage
• San Francisco — 5 days/week in office (required)
• Travel to client sites expected

If you’ve crushed quota as a mid‑market or enterprise AE and want to build something from zero, we’d love to talk.