Job Details

Overview

Head of Sales location: Greater Seattle or San Francisco Bay areas or remote USA. Compensation: $150k to $190K + equity. Our client is on a mission to transform how professional organizations, industry associations, and expert communities solve problems, deliver value, and engage their members. They believe that with the right blend of innovation, leadership, and technology, these communities can play an even more powerful role in shaping industries and society. Our client is building intelligent, human-centered solutions that help these organizations thrive—combining the promise of AI with a deep understanding of how people and communities' work. Founded by experienced leaders in technology, product strategy, and go-to-market execution, they are ready to scale. The Sr. Director, Sales is responsible for ensuring that these customers experience deep, lasting success from the moment they engage with our client in the sales cycle, through their onboarding and through ongoing use, impact, and renewal. This will be one of the first sales roles in the company and is very hands-on in the selling process with customers. This position reports to the Chief Commercial Officer. Until funding is closed over the next 60 to 90 days, this is an equity-only position. This leader will work closely with each early customer, embedding themselves within the customer environment to understand their unique context, challenges, needs, and use cases—and ensure their platform delivers maximum relevance, adoption, and transformative value. This is a foundational role, initially hands-on and later team building and system-scaling, that directly influences customer delight, product-market fit, use case validation, reference ability, and renewal expansion. As a Sr. Director, Sales, you will be a hands-on commercial leader—both executing and guiding their go-to-market efforts in a key territory. This is a true "player-coach" role, ideal for a driven, entrepreneurial sales professional who can close deals while building and mentoring a high-performing regional team. You'll be directly responsible for driving customer acquisition, pipeline development, and revenue growth across your region, working closely with executive stakeholders, industry associations, and professional communities to bring their flagship AI platform to market. In the early stages, you'll personally lead high-impact sales engagements with their most strategic prospects, shaping their sales playbook and influencing product-market fit through real-time customer feedback. This role is a great fit for a customer-obsessed, solutions-oriented salesperson who thrives in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and wants to help define the commercial foundation of a high-growth company at the cutting edge of AI and enterprise productivity.

Core responsibilities:

• Customer Acquisition & Early Revenue Generation — Personally engage with and close earliest customer accounts, from Pre/Beta to Commercial Sales, including expert communities & networks, leadership groups, and professional associations.
• Identify and map ideal customer profiles (ICPs), target industries, and top-of-funnel prospecting strategies.
• Collaborate with the Client's leadership team to ensure positioning, messaging, and platform features align with real-world executive pain points.
• Create a structured process for qualifying prospects, forecasting revenue, and prioritizing high-value opportunities.
• Customer Onboarding, Implementation & Enablement.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in enterprise B2B sales, commercial operations, or business development roles, preferably in SaaS, AI, AIaaS, or Knowledge Services.
• 7+ years in senior executive leadership roles with end-to-end sales responsibility, including P&L exposure and GTM team leadership.
• Proven track record of closing large, complex deals with C-level executives, professional communities & networks, board members, and decision-making groups.
• Experience selling into or partnering with professional networks, member-based organizations, executive peer groups, or knowledge-driven enterprises.
• Demonstrated success in launching early-stage sales infrastructure and processes from zero-to-one in startup environments.

Skills & Competencies

• Deep understanding of enterprise solution & service buying cycles, deal structuring, and high-trust relationship building.
• Strategic thinker with operational rigor; capable of designing sales systems, presentation & pitch methods, partnership models and executing against timelines.
• Natural storyteller and value translator with excellent executive presence.
• Exceptional written, visual, verbal communication skills with strong negotiation ability.
• Exceptional EQ, empathic intelligence, and active listening skills to uncover customer needs and ensure satisfaction.
• Proven ability to operate in ambiguity, iterate rapidly, and serve as both a hands-on operator and executive leader.
• Excellent communicator with strong presentation and storytelling capabilities.
• Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
• Prior experience in startups (particularly Seed–Series A), preferred.
• Background working in or with professional networks, affinity-based organizations, or executive user communities.
• Knowledge of AI, vertical AI, or collective intelligence systems is a plus.

Qualified candidates are welcome to submit resume to ...@Peopleconnectstaffing.com