Founding Account Executive

Catio; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

A pioneering AI software firm is seeking a Founding Account Executive to shape the commercial strategy alongside the CEO. This role involves owning complex enterprise sales cycles and establishing early lighthouse customers in a new category of software governance. The ideal candidate will have 6–10 years of experience in enterprise SaaS sales, particularly with technical buyers, and will be responsible for driving consultative sales processes and guiding technical users through adoption. You will also collaborate closely with the Solutions Architect to convert insights into decision-making artifacts.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of enterprise SaaS sales experience selling complex platforms.
• Experience with infrastructure, cloud, AI/ML, or architecture-level technologies.
• Demonstrated success generating pipeline and closing enterprise business.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle enterprise sales across enterprise and mid-market accounts.
• Generate pipeline through targeted outbound and account-based engagement.
• Work with Solutions Architect to create decision-grade artifacts.

Skills

Enterprise SaaS sales experience

Consultative selling

Technical credibility

Diagnostic skills

High trust communication

Job description

Coding AI IDEs reinvented how software is written. Catio is reinventing how software is decided and governed. This is critical in an AI-first environment.

Catio is the Architecture IDE — the control plane for modern software. It gives engineering leaders the system‑level intelligence they’ve always lacked. While Coding AI IDEs like Claude Code and Cursor turbocharge coding, the real bottleneck is now upstream: deciding what to build, what to modernize, and how to move fast with architectural confidence. That’s where Catio comes in.

Our AI platform builds a living architecture model from production reality, aligns business and product goals with technical context, and uses our reasoning agent — Archie — to generate decision‑grade insights, strategic modernization and optimization plans, and execution‑ready feature specs and designs. Catio amplifies architects and engineering leaders the way coding copilots amplify developers. See this Demo.

Backed by world‑class investors like Eniac Ventures and RRE, and advised by leading enterprise technology operators from Dropbox, Akamai, Databricks, and Cerner, Catio is partnering with hyperscalers and visionary enterprises to define a new category in software and infrastructure.

The Role

We’re hiring our Founding Account Executive to build the commercial engine alongside our CEO. This is a foundational role — you will own complex enterprise sales cycles, help define Catio’s go‑to‑market motion, and land the early lighthouse customers that establish a new category.

This is a PLS‑first, sales‑assisted motion: P2–P4 technical users (architects, tech leads, staff+ engineers) will often enter through self‑serve Free Stacks. Your role is to convert real usage, activation signals, and technical proof into executive alignment and funded outcomes — multi‑threading to P1 (CTO, VPE, and platform leadership) as the economic buyers.

You will operate in partnership with a Solutions Architect, who leads architecture discovery and proof‑of‑value engagements. Together you will transform technical validation into decision‑grade artifacts that allow engineering leadership to confidently move forward with Catio.

The sale is consultative, technical, and multi‑stakeholder. Rather than replacing an incumbent product, you will help engineering leaders frame architectural challenges, connect modernization outcomes to business priorities, and guide organizations through the adoption of a new system of work for architectural reasoning.

You’ll work directly with the CEO, with product and engineering close at hand. Insights from real customer conversations will shape Catio’s positioning, ICP refinement, and the GTM system that scales the company.

What You’ll Do

• Own full‑cycle enterprise sales — from pipeline creation through close across enterprise and technical mid‑market accounts

• Generate pipeline through targeted outbound, network‑driven opportunities, and account‑based engagement with high‑value technical organizations

• Run diagnostic discovery with P2–P4 users to understand architecture challenges, modernization goals, and organizational constraints

• Work with the Solutions Architect to translate technical validation into decision‑grade artifacts that support executive decision‑making

• Multi‑thread complex opportunities across engineering teams, platform organizations, and executive sponsors

• Convert product proof and architecture insights into clear business narratives tied to ROI, modernization velocity, and risk reduction

• Structure and advance proof‑of‑value engagements with clear success criteria, milestones, and mutual action plans

• Guide internal champions as they build alignment within their organizations

• Feed high‑fidelity insights from the field back into Catio’s product, positioning, and activation workflows

• Help define the early sales‑assisted playbook that converts product‑led engagement into enterprise adoption

What We’re Looking For

Experience

• 6–10 years of enterprise SaaS sales experience selling complex platforms into technical buyers

• Experience selling infrastructure, cloud, AI/ML, DevTools, data platforms, or other architecture‑level technologies

• Demonstrated success generating pipeline and closing net‑new enterprise business in emerging or category‑creation markets

• Experience navigating multi‑stakeholder enterprise buying processes with technical champions and executive sponsors

• Experience operating in early‑stage or founder‑led environments where GTM systems were still being defined

• Exposure to modern cloud‑native ecosystems (hyperscalers, data platforms, developer infrastructure, AI platforms)

What Success Looks Like (How You Operate)

• Diagnostic and consultative — you frame the situation before pitching, helping customers articulate their architectural challenges and modernization priorities

• Technically credible — you can engage confidently with architects, principal engineers, and engineering leadership

• Artifact‑driven — you help transform technical validation into decision‑grade deliverables that move deals forward

• Champion builder — you identify and support technical advocates who can drive internal adoption

• PLS‑native — you understand how to convert product‑led engagement and intent signals into structured enterprise sales processes

• High‑trust operator — you bring integrity, clarity, and strong written communication to every interaction

• Builder mindset — you enjoy shaping the early commercial system of a category‑defining company

• Resilient in 0→1 environments — you thrive in ambiguity and continue producing through early‑stage challenges

Shape the Future with Catio

Category Creation We are defining a new layer in the modern software stack — the system of work for architectural reasoning. This is not incremental tooling. It’s foundational.

Cutting‑Edge AI Catio sits at the intersection of AI, software, infrastructure, and enterprise systems — empowering architects and tech leaders, the way coding copilots empower developers.

Ground‑Floor Impact You will help shape how this product is sold, positioned, and adopted in the market. Your work will directly influence the trajectory of the company. You will liaison the brand and the trust of Catio into the market.

Team Pedigree & Vision Our team brings deep experience across AI, enterprise systems, and high‑growth environments. We are ambitious about building a durable, category‑leading company.

Principled Culture High trust and high integrity are paramount — internally and externally. This is how we operate as a team and how we show up with the world.

• High trust and high integrity are paramount — internally and externally. This is how we operate as a team and how we show up with the world.

• We work with senior technical leaders who expect rigor, clarity, and principled communication; we hold ourselves to that same bar.

• This role is a culture carrier: you will represent Catio’s standards in every customer interaction and help scale them through repeatable artifacts and behaviors.

• We optimize for long‑term advantage — and move with urgency and focus.