Strategic Account Executive (Central)

solo.io; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Solo.io seeks a high-caliber Enterprise Software Sales Executive to drive growth across cloud-native connectivity and agentic AI platforms. You will strategize market expansion in the Central US, build cross-functional relationships, and manage POCs, demos, and architecture reviews to win large enterprise deals.

The role demands leadership in cloud-native, Kubernetes, and AI infrastructure conversations, with a track record of quota attainment and travel up to 20%.

Qualifications

• Expertise in Enterprise Software Sales with cloud technologies; experience or strong familiarity with the AI infrastructure market is a significant plus
• 7+ years selling to DevOps, Platform Engineering, or AI/ML personas at the enterprise level
• A proven, consistent track record of exceeding quota and plan targets
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex cloud native and AI infrastructure concepts for both technical and executive audiences
• Familiarity with the Kubernetes ecosystem, open source go-to-market motions, and CNCF project dynamics
• Willingness to travel up to 20% as needed

Responsibilities

• Own business growth and market expansion for geographic region across both the cloud native connectivity suite (Gloo Gateway, Gloo Mesh) and the agentic infrastructure suite (agentgateway, kagent, agentregistry)
• Develop collaborative relationships with Customers, Solution Engineering, SDR, Engineering, Marketing, and Legal teams
• Coordinate and manage prospect activities including POCs, demos, trials, and architecture reviews
• Demonstrated experience successfully implementing systems and tactics that have wider impact on team
• Commands the technical domain of service mesh, cloud infrastructure, AI agent infrastructure, security, and adjacent markets
• Establish and implement a consistent, repeatable process; mentors peers in the process
• Self-starter on staying current with fast-moving additions to Solo.io products and related technologies — including emerging AI protocols like MCP and A2A — such that you're able to converse and write about them fluently
• Partner with Solutions Engineering to evangelize Solo.io products and related technology through attending speaking engagements (conferences, meetups, webinars) and promoting content (blogs, articles) as needed
• Identify and engage platform engineering, AI/ML, and DevOps personas who are navigating the challenge of bringing agentic AI to production in regulated, large-scale environments

Skills

Enterprise Software Sales

DevOps

Cloud technologies

Kubernetes

AI infrastructure

Communication

Job description

Solo.io is reimagining infrastructure for cloud and AI — helping enterprises Connect, Secure, and Observe modern applications across APIs, microservices, AI agents, and the connections between them. Our platform spans two suites built for where the industry is heading.

Our cloud native connectivity suite — built around our open source technologies — delivers the industry's leading API gateway and service mesh management, trusted by some of the world's largest companies to run mission-critical traffic at scale.

Our agentic infrastructure suite is the first complete platform for running AI in production on Kubernetes. Agentgateway is the first data plane built from the ground up for AI agents, governing and securing communication across agent-to-agent, agent-to-tool, and agent-to-LLM interactions — a Linux Foundation project. Kagent runs AI agents where workloads already live — on Kubernetes — letting platform teams deploy, observe, and govern AI agents with the tools they already trust. Kagent is a CNCF Sandbox project. Agentregistry provides full lifecycle management of AI agents, MCP tools, and Agent Skills — a centralized, trusted, curated registry that completes the foundation for agentic infrastructure on Kubernetes. Agentregistry is also a CNCF project.

Together, our platform gives enterprise platform teams the connectivity, runtime, and registry capabilities to manage cloud connectivity workloads at scale while taking agentic AI from experimentation to production on a single platform.

Solo is a VC-backed company, founded in 2017 by Idit Levine. In 2021, Solo was valued at $1B. Solo's customers are some of the largest in the world, spanning all geographies and industries. Solo's team has deep expertise in Cloud Computing, Linux, Containers, Kubernetes, Service Mesh, APIs, Security, Microservice Applications, Application Modernization, Agentic AI, MCP, and eBPF.

About the role.

We are looking for a self-motivated Enterprise Software Sales Executive with a keen sense of market trends to strategically position our products and solutions across both our cloud native connectivity and agentic AI suites.

Our Account Executives find success through their deep interest in cloud native and AI technologies, possessing hunter mentalities, and their desire to help others. Candidates who thrive here are comfortable selling at the intersection of platform engineering and AI — a space moving fast and creating significant urgency in large enterprises. This role is highly specialized sales and business development in a fast-growing technology company.

This role requires candidates to be based in the Central US area to effectively serve our clients and attend in-person meetings as needed. Candidates must have the ability to travel within the region.

Job Description:

• Own business growth and market expansion for geographic region across both the cloud native connectivity suite (Gloo Gateway, Gloo Mesh) and the agentic infrastructure suite (agentgateway, kagent, agentregistry)
• Develop collaborative relationships with Customers, Solution Engineering, SDR, Engineering, Marketing, and Legal teams
• Coordinate and manage prospect activities including POCs, demos, trials, and architecture reviews
• Demonstrated experience successfully implementing systems and tactics that have wider impact on team
• Commands the technical domain of service mesh, cloud infrastructure, AI agent infrastructure, security, and adjacent markets
• Establish and implement a consistent, repeatable process; mentors peers in the process
• Self-starter on staying current with fast-moving additions to Solo.io products and related technologies — including emerging AI protocols like MCP and A2A — such that you're able to converse and write about them fluently
• Partner with Solutions Engineering to evangelize Solo.io products and related technology through attending speaking engagements (conferences, meetups, webinars) and promoting content (blogs, articles) as needed
• Identify and engage platform engineering, AI/ML, and DevOps personas who are navigating the challenge of bringing agentic AI to production in regulated, large-scale environments

Job Requirements:

• Expertise in Enterprise Software Sales with cloud technologies; experience or strong familiarity with the AI infrastructure market is a significant plus
• 7+ years selling to DevOps, Platform Engineering, or AI/ML personas at the enterprise level
• A proven, consistent track record of exceeding quota and plan targets
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex cloud native and AI infrastructure concepts for both technical and executive audiences
• Familiarity with the Kubernetes ecosystem, open source go-to-market motions, and CNCF project dynamics
• Willingness to travel up to 20% as needed

What you\'ll love about Solo.

At Solo, our culture is all about hiring great people, creating a fun and fast-paced work culture, and letting our teams work with our customers to successfully solve their challenges.

Solo works collaboratively with our customers, partners, and open source communities to deliver technology innovation, architectural best-practices, and hands-on education. Solo uses a unique engagement model with our customers that allows us to quickly make them successful, and continue to work closely with them as their production environments grow — whether that's a service mesh carrying billions of API calls or an agentic AI platform trusted to act autonomously on critical infrastructure.

Solo is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.