Founding Account Executive, AI

About Akai

Akai was built internally to solve a problem we had ourselves. Running payroll, compliance, and finance operations across 170+ countries means living inside hundreds of government portals, banking interfaces, and legacy systems that will never expose an API. Our own teams were drowning in it. So we built Akai to put agents on those workflows and give the time back.

• Ran the full sales cycle end-to-end: discovery, technical demo, business case, procurement, and close — selling into Operations, AI, and Finance teams
• Expanded existing accounts by identifying new workflows, teams, and use cases where Akai can automate
• Partnered closely with Product, Engineering and FDE to shape the offering based on what you hear in the market — your feedback loop is short and direct
• Used Akai itself, plus the cutting-edge AI tooling we ship across the company, to automate and compound your own workflow
• Maintained CRM and pipeline data clean and current so the team learns from every motion

Responsibilities

• Own a greenfield target account list across Akai’s ICPs, ranging from scale-ups to multinational enterprises
• Hunt. Build pipeline through outbound prospecting, creative multi-channel outreach, and relentless follow-up
• Inbound demand is strong but you don’t wait for it
• Run the full sales cycle end-to-end: discovery, technical demo, business case, procurement, and close — selling into Operations, AI, and Finance teams
• Translate a technical, agent-based product into clear, simple business outcomes for non-technical buyers
• Expand existing accounts by identifying new workflows, teams, and use cases where Akai can automate
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering and FDE to shape the offering based on what you hear in the market — your feedback loop is short and direct
• Use Akai itself, plus the cutting-edge AI tooling we ship across the company, to automate and compound your own workflow
• Maintain CRM and pipeline data clean and current so the team learns from every motion

Requirements

• 4–6 years of full sales cycle experience in SaaS or a technology company, with meaningful exposure to AI, generative AI, LLM-based products, agent platforms, or API products
• Top percentile attainment — a documented track record of exceeding quota in a fast-paced, high-velocity environment. We’re hiring killers, not coasters
• Proven success developing greenfield territories and landing net new logos — you’ve done zero-to-one before and you want to do it again
• Experience selling technical solutions to Operations, AI, Finance, Product, Engineering, or Innovation teams
• Hunter mentality. Outbound is muscle memory. You don’t take no for an answer and you don’t wait to be handed pipeline
• Genuine, demonstrable passion for AI in the world of work — you follow the frontier models, you have opinions on agents, you’ve already rebuilt parts of your own workflow with AI before anyone asked you to
• Sharp technical aptitude — you pick up new products fast and can explain complex systems in simple language
• Detail-oriented and creative — you think outside the box on prospecting, deal strategy, and account expansion
• Excellent written and verbal communication; you can hold the room with a CFO and a Head of AI in the same call
• A hunger to build from the ground up inside groundbreaking technology — you want founding-team energy, not a seat in a machine that already runs