Sales Director

Crane Venture Partners; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 300,000 - 550,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity

4 days/week in-person culture

Flexible PTO

Learning & development budget

Travel opportunities across US/Europe

Job summary

Encord is seeking a founding Sales Director to lead revenue growth across markets. This rare leadership seat reports to the VP of Global Sales and works with the co-founders to scale the business.

You will inherit and grow a team, shaping how we go to market as we scale. You’ll hire and coach the sales organization, own revenue growth to multi‑million ARR, and manage complex enterprise and mid‑market deals from startups to Fortune 500s.

Qualifications

• Proven sales leader with history of building and scaling teams.
• Ability to lead from the front in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Experience selling to ML engineers, data scientists, CTOs, and AI leaders.
• Strong track record of multi-stakeholder dealmaking and deal strategy.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a high-performing sales team with hiring, coaching, and development.
• Own revenue growth across markets and scale to multi-million ARR.
• Navigate full-cycle enterprise and mid-market sales with diverse customers.
• Partner on GTM strategy, ICP expansion, and new verticals.
• Remain hands-on during ramp to coach from practical experience.
• Represent Encord externally at events and with senior customers.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to shape roadmap and go-to-market.

Skills

Sales leadership

Team building

Enterprise sales

GTM strategy

Ambiguity navigation

Technical buyer engagement

Job description

About us

Encord is the universal data layer for AI that helps 300+ AI teams train and run models on the right data. Our platform indexes, curates, annotates, and evaluates data across the full AI lifecycle, from development through production.

Trusted by Woven by Toyota, AXA, UiPath, Zipline, and more. We're an ambitious team of 100+ working at the frontier of AI and have raised $60M in Series C funding from Wellington Management, CRV, Next47 and Y Combinator.

The role

We're looking for a founding Sales Director to lead revenue growth across our markets. This is a rare opportunity to join a hyper-growth AI infrastructure company in a true leadership seat — reporting directly to the VP of Global Sales and working alongside the co-founders. You'll come in as a leader, inherit and grow a team, and shape how we go to market as we scale.

What you'll do

• Lead and grow a high-performing sales team — hiring, coaching, and developing Encord sellers while staying close to the market yourself

• Own revenue growth across your market — taking the product to leading AI and tech businesses and scaling to $millions in ARR

• Navigate complex, full-cycle enterprise and mid-market sales with customers ranging from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500s

• Partner with the VP of Global Sales on GTM strategy, ICP expansion, and new verticals — with a clear path to owning an expanded geography, sector, or team as we scale

• Roll up your sleeves and run sales cycles yourself during the ramp period — learning the product, the buyers, and the motion firsthand so you can coach your team from experience, not theory

• Become the authoritative voice on how Encord is positioned and pitched — setting the standard for the team around you

• Represent Encord externally — at industry events, in senior customer relationships, and across the broader AI and Physical AI ecosystem

• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and Customer Success to shape the roadmap and inform go-to-market decisions

• Step up wherever needed: marketing, events, community, onboarding — this is a founding leadership role

Who we're looking for

• A proven sales leader with a track record of building and scaling high-performing teams — and the commercial credibility to lead from the front

• Someone who thrives in ambiguity — you don't wait for a playbook, you write it

• Deep experience selling technical products to technical buyers — ML engineers, data scientists, CTOs, and AI platform leads

• A builder mentality — you want to leave something behind, not just hit a number

• High commercial IQ — able to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder deals while keeping momentum and coaching others to do the same

• Genuine excitement about Physical AI and where the market is going

Experience requirements

• 7–12 years in GTM roles at B2B SaaS companies, with a proven track record of leading and scaling high-performing sales teams

• Demonstrated ability to hire, develop, and retain top sales talent — you've built teams, not just joined them

• Strong commercial intuition with the ability to build rapport and influence at all levels — from junior operators to CTOs

• The gravitas to engage and win over senior leadership, and the ability to instil that same credibility in the people around you

• Track record of top-percentile performance in sales leadership, academia, sport, or any competitive environment you've entered

• A clear point of view on what great GTM looks like — and the conviction to build it from scratch in a fast-moving environment

Why Encord

• Competitive salary, commission, and meaningful equity in a high-growth start-up

• Clear, accelerated growth opportunities as the company scales rapidly

• Strong in-person culture: 4 days/week

• Flexible PTO to fully recharge

• Annual learning & development budget

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage

• Frequent travel opportunities across the U.S., London, and Europe

• Bi-annual company offsites, twice-weekly team lunches, and monthly socials