Founding Account Executive

About the role

The Founding Account Executive role is a full-cycle commercial position based in New York City. This role is designed for either a top-performing mid-market SDR or BDR who has overachieved on pipeline generation and is ready to step up to closing, or a recently-promoted Account Executive who came up through an SDR role and is hungry for founding-level ownership at a venture-backed startup.

Key Responsibilities

• Personal ownership of the sales cycle stages:

  • Prospecting
  • Qualification
  • Demonstration
  • Negotiation
  • Closing

• Partner with the New York-based Sales Development Representative and the broader Toronto-based SDR pod for incremental pipeline support.

• Represent Starboard at industry conferences and customer events, with occasional domestic and international travel.

• Provide structured feedback to the product and marketing organizations on ICP refinement, competitive intelligence, and feature gaps observed in the field.

• Maintain accurate forecast hygiene and pipeline discipline in the company CRM.

Required Qualifications

• 1–4 years of B2B SaaS sales experience.

• At least 12 months as a Sales Development Representative or Business Development Representative selling into mid-market accounts.

• Documented top-quartile performance against pipeline-generation or quota targets in your current or most recent seat.

• Comfort with high-volume, high-quality outbound activity across email, LinkedIn, phone, and in-person channels.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Authorization to work in the United States.

Preferred Qualifications

• 6–18 months of full-cycle or closing experience as an Account Executive.

• Direct experience selling into freight forwarding, logistics, supply chain, or adjacent vertical software markets.

• Prior experience at a Seed- or Series A-stage startup.

• Familiarity with modern sales tooling (e.g., Apollo, Outreach, HubSpot, or comparable platforms).

• Existing network within the freight forwarding or logistics technology community.

Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary: $90,000–$120,000 USD/CAD [depending on location]

• On-target earnings: $180,000–$240,000 USD/CAD (50% base / 50% variable)

• Uncapped commission structure with accelerators above quota

• Founding equity grant, vesting over four years with a one-year cliff

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits or a health allowance

• Paid time off and standard United States holidays

Reporting Structure

This role reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer until a VP of Sales is hired. The Founding Account Executive will work alongside the New York-based Sales Development Representative and partner with the Director of Implementation, Head of Product, and Head of Engineering as needed.