Strategic Account Executive

About the role

Astronomer enables data teams to deliver essential software, analytics, and artificial intelligence solutions to their organizations, operating Astro as a premier unified DataOps platform built on Apache Airflow. This powerful platform speeds up the creation of dependable data products, generating valuable insights and driving artificial intelligence applications forward for over 800 major global enterprises. The organization is currently up 300% year-over-year with high energy and momentum, and we are actively searching for an experienced Strategic Account Executive to generate significant income from large prospect and customer accounts within California. The right individual understands how to market and sell software to AI, IT, and Data leaders in extensive, complicated organizations while possessing a proven capability to clearly explain the commercial worth of sophisticated enterprise technology to diverse stakeholders.

Key facts

What you'll do

1 Drive maximum sales profitability, sustained growth, and deep account penetration within a designated geographic territory.

2 Achieve consistent logo acquisition and exceed sales target goals across all assigned enterprise accounts.

3 Manage the complete sales cycle from initial discovery and qualification through final contract signing.

4 Understand detailed product offerings deeply while identifying and addressing specific, complex client business needs.

5 Participate actively in creating, presenting, and selling a compelling value proposition to prospective buyers.

6 Run and partner closely with Sales Engineers to conduct effective and informative product demonstrations.

7 Manage customer relationships by identifying new opportunities and maximizing existing sales within current accounts.

8 Penetrate accounts and meet with various stakeholders within large, complex customer organizations regularly.

9 Develop strategic account plans that align company solutions with client business objectives and goals.

10 Collaborate with marketing and product teams to ensure accurate messaging and effective market positioning.

11 Maintain detailed records of all sales activities and pipeline movements in the tracking system.

12 Provide regular forecasts and updates to leadership regarding deal progress and potential risks.

Requirements

1 Demonstrate a clear history of success selling SaaS to highly technical buyers consistently over time.

2 Possess a strong customer-facing attitude and a genuine, enduring love of solving complex problems.

3 Remain motivated, curious, hungry, and driven as a dedicated and resilient sales professional daily.

4 Show a great track record of success and a verifiable history of quota attainment.

5 Have outstanding communication skills, both written and oral, including strong and persuasive presentation abilities.

6 Exhibit exceptional time management skills and the ability to prioritize multiple tasks effectively always.

7 Maintain high integrity, sharp intelligence, and a self-driven approach to all daily responsibilities.

8 Develop highly skilled selling, customer relations, and negotiation capabilities through continuous professional practice.

9 Stay open to travel to customer locations as needed for important face-to-face meetings.

10 Build the ability to penetrate accounts and confidently meet with internal stakeholders efficiently.

Nice to have

1 Possess solid knowledge of Open Source technologies and active community development practices and trends.

2 Demonstrate a genuine passion for tech and the rapidly growing cloud computing industry space.

3 Have hands-on experience with Salesforce as a primary customer relationship management and tracking tool.

4 Understand the nuances of the data operations, analytics, and artificial intelligence industry sectors.

5 Bring familiarity with enterprise software sales cycles and complex procurement processes within large firms.

Skills & tools

1 Proficiency in enterprise software sales methodologies and strategic account planning for large organizations.

2 Expertise in managing complex sales cycles across large, multi-layered enterprise environments successfully.

3 Familiarity with data operations platforms and unified DataOps solutions used by modern teams.

4 Strong understanding of artificial intelligence and analytics business applications in the enterprise sector.

5 Ability to navigate procurement processes within highly technical enterprise environments and decision-making units.

6 Skill in building and maintaining long-term customer partnerships through consistent, high-quality engagement.

Practical notes

1 This role requires occasional travel to onsite customer meetings to build strong, lasting relationships.

2 The position is based in the Bay Area or Southern California locations for this hire.

3 Candidates must be open to working within a customer-facing environment on a daily basis.

4 The company is an equal opportunity employer and deeply values workforce diversity and inclusion.

5 Astronomer is a rapidly scaling company with high energy and strong market momentum currently.

6 Many team members are already at their annual quota for the year at the halfway mark.