Founding Account Executive

Phonely (YC S24); San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Direct access to leadership

Meaningful input into go-to-market

Proven product in production

Job summary

A leading voice AI solutions company in San Francisco is seeking an experienced Account Executive to drive revenue and manage full-cycle sales. Candidates should have a strong network in the call center industry and a proven track record in closing mid-market or enterprise deals. Responsibilities include owning a sales quota, collaborating with internal teams, and capturing product feedback. This role offers real ownership and direct access to leadership within a small, high-performing team.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of closing experience (mid-market or enterprise).
• Demonstrable book of business with call center operators and executives.
• Comfortable discussing technical topics without being an engineer.
• Strong discovery and executive communication; focus on outcomes rather than features.
• Comfort with practical technical topics (integrations, CRMs, call routing, data flows) without being an engineer.
• High ownership, initiative, and reliable deal control.

Responsibilities

• Own a quota and full-cycle deals from first meeting through close.
• Source pipeline through targeted outbound and existing network.
• Partner with Solutions and Customer Success to scope pilots.
• Build champions and multi-thread across Ops, Rev, CX, and technical stakeholders.
• Drive a structured deal process with mutual action plans, ROI, security, and procurement.
• Partner with Solutions and Customer Success to scope pilots and align on success criteria.

Skills

Closing experience

Relationship management

Executive communication

Technical understanding

Ownership

Tools

Salesforce

HubSpot

Twilio

Genesys

NICE

Talkdesk

Dialpad

Aircall

Salesforce

HubSpot

Job description

Overview

At some point in the future, every business will answer their phone with voice AI. We are building the platform that lets them optimize these AI agents for performance.

Phonely builds conversational voice AI agents for high volume phone workflows. Our customers use us to qualify leads, book appointments, route calls, and resolve real customer conversations in production.

We’re hiring an Account Executive who can own revenue end-to-end and bring a meaningful network of buyers who run or rely on call centers.

What You Will Do

• Own a quota and full-cycle deals from first meeting through close
• Source pipeline through your network plus targeted outbound, with a focus on call center heavy operators
• Lead discovery around call flows, booking rules, transfers, QA, compliance constraints, and success metrics
• Build champions and multi-thread across Ops, Rev, CX, and technical stakeholders
• Drive a structured deal process: mutual action plans, evaluation criteria, ROI, security, and procurement
• Partner with Solutions and Customer Success to scope pilots and align on success criteria before signature
• Maintain accurate pipeline hygiene and forecasting
• Capture product feedback and market intel and loop it back to leadership

What We Are Looking For

• Five or more years of closing experience (mid-market and or enterprise)
• A demonstrable book of business: relationships with operators and executives at organizations that run or heavily use call centers
• Experience selling into at least one of: insurance, home services, pay per call, BPOs, lead gen, or other high volume phone driven businesses
• Strong discovery and executive communication, you can speak outcomes, not features
• Comfortable with technical topics at a practical level (integrations, CRMs, call routing, data flows) without needing to be an engineer
• High ownership, strong follow-up, and consistent deal control

Bonus points

• Existing relationships with call center leaders, heads of CX, heads of sales ops, lead gen owners, or BPO leadership
• Experience with Twilio, Ringba, Five9, Genesys, NICE, Talkdesk, Dialpad, Aircall, ServiceTitan, Salesforce, HubSpot
• Prior experience selling call center services, telecom, CCaaS, dialers, QA, WFM, or lead gen products

Why join Phonely

Small team, high standards, direct access to leadership, and a product that is already proven in production. You will have real ownership over revenue and meaningful input into go-to-market.

Interview process

• Ten minute chat to confirm fit and network
• Deep dive interview focused on deal motion and your buyer relationships
• Short practical: run a mock discovery and outline a pilot plan