Sales Director (Telecom)

BrainWave Professionals; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 300,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

BrainWave Professionals is seeking a Sales Director – Telecom & Communications to own enterprise relationships end to end, diagnosing business challenges and landing engagements across data, AI, modernization, andContextOps programs.

You will sell to CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, CFOs, and other executives, drive land-and-expand motions, build multi-year transformation pipelines across CSPs, MNOs, broadband, and telecom ecosystems.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of enterprise B2B sales experience with quota performance.
• Deep Telecom / Communications expertise across CSPs, MNOs, broadband, fiber, and related domains.
• Proven ability to land and expand multi-year transformation deals.
• Strong executive engagement with CIO/CTO/CDO and other C-suite stakeholders.
• Fluent in data and AI concepts relevant to telecom transformation.

Responsibilities

• Own the full enterprise sales cycle from prospecting to close for data, AI, cloud, and modernization engagements.
• Lead consultative executive conversations to translate capabilities into business value.
• Build and manage enterprise pipeline across telecom operators and related sectors.
• Develop and activate executive relationships across technology, network, data, and finance.
• Quar terback deal teams to shape SOWs, RFP responses, and proposals.

Skills

Enterprise sales

Quota carrying

Telecom expertise

Consultative selling

Executive relationships

Data & AI fluency

Land-and-expand

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

Help telecom operators and communications service providers (CSPs) turn AI ambition into measurable business value.

You will sell the foundation required to move AI from pilots into production across complex telecom environments — trusted data, shared business meaning, governed context, modern architecture, and AI-ready operating models.

You will engage senior executives focused on reducing network and technology costs, improving customer experience, accelerating time-to-market, modernizing legacy platforms, and monetizing data and AI.

This is a consultative enterprise sales role: part trusted advisor, transformation strategist, and deal-closer.

The Opportunity

Telecom operators have invested heavily in cloud, data, automation, analytics, and AI, yet many struggle to scale beyond pilots. The challenge is often not the AI model, but the data foundation, architecture, governance, context, and operating model required to deploy AI across network, customer, product, and enterprise operations.

As Sales Director – Telecom & Communications, you will own enterprise relationships end to end: diagnose business challenges, create executive-level value propositions, land initial engagements, and expand accounts into broader data, AI, modernization, architecture, and ContextOps programs.

You will sell to CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, Chief Digital Officers, Chief Data Officers, Chief Network Officers, Chief Customer Officers, CFOs, CISOs, and COOs.

What You'll Do

• Own the full enterprise sales cycle — targeting, prospecting, qualification, discovery, solution shaping, proposal, negotiation, and close — for data, AI, cloud, architecture, and digital transformation engagements.
• Lead consultative executive conversations, translating our capabilities into business outcomes such as revenue growth, customer experience, network performance, operational efficiency, technology cost reduction, data monetization, security, and AI transformation.
• Run the land-and-expand motion. Open with a focused AI readiness, architecture, opportunity, or cost-takeout diagnostic; prove value quickly; and expand into multi-workstream, multi-year transformation programs.
• Build and manage enterprise pipeline across telecom operators, mobile network operators, broadband, cable, fiber, wireless, satellite, and other CSPs.
• Develop and activate executive relationships across technology, network, data, digital, operations, finance, and customer organizations.
• Quarterback deal teams with solution architects, data/AI leaders, and delivery executives to shape solutions, proposals, SOWs, and RFP responses.
• Sell outcomes, not features, tying solutions to measurable KPIs such as:
  • Network and technology cost reduction
  • Customer churn and service-cost reduction
  • ARPU and revenue growth
  • Network availability and reliability
  • Automation and workforce productivity
  • AI cost and token efficiency
  • Data quality and trust
• Identify AI and automation opportunities across network operations, customer service, sales, marketing, fraud, field operations, service assurance, product development, and enterprise functions.
• Act as the voice of the market, bringing customer needs, competitive intelligence, telecom trends, AI adoption patterns, partner signals, and pricing intelligence into GTM strategy.

What You'll Be Selling

Data Foundation

Modern data ecosystems, governance, quality, lineage, metadata, access controls, and reusable data products across network, customer, product, billing, usage, device, location, and operational data.

Production-grade AI, intelligent agents, evaluation, observability, automation, and responsible AI capabilities to move from experimentation to scaled production.

Key use cases include network optimization, predictive maintenance, customer-service automation, churn prevention, personalization, fraud detection, field-service optimization, network incident management, and AI-powered operations.

Modernize and simplify complex telecom environments across OSS/BSS, CRM, billing, network platforms, data platforms, cloud, digital channels, legacy applications, and enterprise integration

Advisory Consulting

Senior expertise and AI-enabled playbooks to accelerate transformation, recover stalled programs, define AI strategies, modernize architecture, and deliver measurable ROI.

Ontologies as a Service

Domain ontologies built on our framework and accelerator, creating a common understanding of customers, products, services, devices, networks, locations, orders, incidents, and business relationships so AI can reason over enterprise context rather than disconnected data.

AI Governance & ContextOps

Capabilities that help organizations move from AI experimentation to AI Readiness 2.0, with trusted data, governance, lineage, observability, evaluation, and governed context.

Our differentiators include Context Engineering & ContextOps, semantic-first data foundations, knowledge graphs and GraphRAG, active metadata, AI-native delivery, and AI cost discipline through AI Alertness, TokenOps, and AIAM.

What You Bring

• 8+ years of enterprise B2B sales experience, including Director or senior individual-contributor experience, selling data, analytics, cloud, AI, digital transformation, enterprise architecture, or technology consulting/SI services to large telecom or communications organizations.
• Proven quota performance is required. Personally carried a $5M–$10M+ annual bookings quota, consistently met/exceeded quota, closed complex enterprise deals, and built $50M+ pipeline.
• Deep Telecom / Communications expertise — required. Strong understanding of telecom business, technology, data, and operating environments, including MNOs, broadband, fiber, cable, wireless, satellite, OSS/BSS, network operations, customer lifecycle, billing, service assurance, and telecom AI/data transformation.
• Strong understanding of telecom buying centers and ability to navigate relationships across CIO, CTO, CDO, Chief Network Officer, Chief Digital Officer, COO, CFO, CISO, and business-unit leadership.
• Consultative selling DNA. Ability to lead with the customer's business problem, establish executive credibility, create urgency, and build consensus across business and technical stakeholders.
• Working fluency in data and AI. Understand data platforms, cloud, governance, semantic layers, knowledge graphs, RAG, intelligent agents, AI observability, and the practical challenges of moving AI into production.
• Land-and-expand experience, converting assessments, advisory engagements, or initial projects into larger transformation programs and multi-year relationships.
• Outcome and ROI orientation, with the ability to build business cases and articulate measurable commercial and operational value to C-level stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of telecom transformation priorities including network modernization, cloud migration, OSS/BSS transformation, customer experience, data monetization, automation, AI adoption, network optimization, and technology cost reduction.
• Customer-first, commercially rigorous, curious, and accountable, with an operator's mindset and comfort working in a high-ownership environment.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; willingness to travel as required.

Nice to Have

• Established executive relationships within major telecom operators, CSPs, broadband, cable, fiber, wireless, or communications organizations.
• Experience selling alongside hyperscalers, cloud providers, data-platform providers, telecom technology vendors, or strategic technology partners.
• Background combining consulting, solution selling, pre-sales, architecture, or delivery with quota-carrying enterprise sales.
• Experience selling into network, OSS/BSS, data, digital, customer experience, or enterprise transformation organizations.
• Experience with telecom cost-takeout, cloud optimization, FinOps, AI economics, or technology modernization.
• Familiarity with AI governance, cybersecurity, data governance, privacy, and telecom regulatory considerations.

What Success Looks Like

In your first 12 months, you will:

• Establish C-level relationships across technology, network, data, and business functions.
• Land initial AI, data, advisory, modernization, or diagnostic engagements.
• Expand initial wins into larger transformation programs.
• Build a repeatable Telecom sales motion around AI, data foundation, ContextOps, and modernization.
• Achieve or exceed bookings targets.
• Develop strategic account plans for high-value telecom customers.
• Build strong hyperscaler and technology-partner relationships.
• Become a trusted executive advisor on the journey from AI experimentation to AI at scale.

If you understand how telecom operators buy, know where AI and data transformation create measurable economic value, and have the enterprise sales track record to open doors and close complex deals, this is an opportunity to shape a major growth market from the ground up.