Startup Account Executive

Turnkey; New York (NY); On-site; USD 77,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Life insurance

401(k)

Paid parental leave

Unlimited PTO

Learning stipend

Team offsites

Job summary

Turnkey is recruiting a Startup Account Executive who sits at the intersection of developers, startups, and sales. You will cultivate relationships with technical founders, guide startups to evaluate Turnkey APIs/SDKs, and drive from initial exploration to paid adoption.

You’ll engage startup ecosystems, run hands-on demos, and coordinate with product and GTM teams to shape a developer-led startup sales motion as we scale.

Qualifications

• 1–3 years of quota-carrying sales experience, preferably with startups or developers.
• Ability to own the full sales cycle from outreach to close.
• Strong written and verbal communication with technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage a pipeline of startup prospects with self-sourced outbound.
• Run full sales cycle: discovery, evaluation, negotiation, and close.
• Lead discussions with founders and engineers to understand roadmaps and buying processes.
• Participate in developer communities, hackathons, and events to drive awareness and adoption.

Skills

Quota-carrying sales

Startup sales

Technical buyers

Tools

Attio CRM

Job description

Machines will make decisions, move value, and coordinate on behalf of organizations, instantly, autonomously, and at unprecedented scale. But the systems that govern today’s economy weren’t designed for that world. Turnkey is building the infrastructure for this future: programmable guardrails that enable autonomy without sacrificing control.

Founded by the team that scaled Coinbase Custody to $100M+ in ARR and secured more than $100B in crypto assets, we’ve built systems trusted to move and protect billions in value.

Our mission is to help the world operate an economy on autopilot, safely. We’re low-ego, high-agency, and deeply technical. Our team brings expertise in cryptography, security, and systems, and believes great infrastructure is invisible. We’re building the trustless, programmable foundation for the autonomous economy.

The role

We're hiring a Startup Account Executive who thrives at the intersection of developers, startups, and sales. This is a developer-focused, quota-carrying role centered on building relationships with technical founders, helping startups discover and build with Turnkey, and converting developer adoption into commercial relationships.

You'll spend your time breaking down the doors at emerging startups, engaging developer communities, attending hackathons and industry events, helping teams evaluate our APIs and SDKs, and guiding startups from initial experimentation through production and paid adoption. You'll also help shape Turnkey's developer-led startup sales motion as we scale.

What you’ll do

• Build and manage a pipeline of startup prospects, with a strong focus on self-sourced outbound and targeted account research.
• Run the full sales cycle, from first outreach and discovery through evaluation, negotiation, and close.
• Lead useful conversations with founders, product and engineering leaders, and other stakeholders. Understand their roadmap, use cases, buying process, and constraints.
• Actively participate in developer communities, hackathons, technical meetups, conferences, and startup events. Build relationships with developers, founders, and ecosystem partners to drive awareness, adoption, and pipeline.
• Develop hands-on expertise with Turnkey's APIs, SDKs, and infrastructure. Run technical demos, answer developer questions, and help startups understand how to integrate Turnkey into their applications.
• Coordinate product, engineering, and GTM partners when prospects need deeper technical or commercial support.
• Help developers move from initial exploration to building and deploying with Turnkey. Identify friction in the developer journey and collaborate with product, engineering, and solutions to improve technical resources, demos, and onboarding.
• Maintain accurate pipeline records, next steps, and forecasts in Attio. Participate in regular pipeline reviews with the revenue team.
• Meet the role’s quota and track the activity and conversion measures that support it, including pipeline creation, opportunity progress, and closed revenue.
• Build a repeatable startup sales motion. Test messaging and approaches, share what works, and bring structured market and customer feedback to GTM leadership.
• Set up a clear handoff to the appropriate team after close and stay engaged to support a strong start for the customer.

What we’re looking for

• 1 - 3 years of experience in a quota-carrying sales role, with evidence that you can create and close new business. Experience selling to startups, developers/founders, or technical buyers is a plus.
• Comfort owning the full sales cycle rather than relying on a separate team for prospecting or closing.
• Strong written and verbal communication. You can tailor a clear message to the person you’re speaking with.
• Curiosity about crypto, payments, fintech, developer products, or technical infrastructure.
• The ability to learn complex products and explain them without oversimplifying what matters.
• Good judgment in discovery: you ask direct questions, listen closely, and qualify opportunities honestly.
• Strong organization and follow-through across multiple opportunities and stakeholders.
• Resilience, competitiveness, and a bias for action. You can make progress when the playbook is still being built.
• A collaborative approach and comfort working with founders, senior leaders, and technical teams.
• Work with a founding team that has deep experience building trusted financial infrastructure.
• Own a real quota and a complete sales cycle while helping shape a focused startup sales motion.
• Work at the intersection of fintech, payments, crypto, AI, and global commerce.
• Bring customer insight directly to product and GTM leadership.
• Join a collaborative, fast-moving team that values low ego and high agency.

What we offer

• Full benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, HSA/FSA, and 401(k)
• Paid parental leave
• Unlimited PTO
• $3,000 per year for learning and development, including conferences and education
• Multiple team offsites per year

Compensation range

$77,000 - $125,000 USD