Founding Account Executive, Talent Solutions - Startups

About the role

We are building the definitive talent infrastructure for top-tier enterprises. As our Startup Account Executive, you will own the relationship with venture-backed tech companies and growth-stage startups that need world-class engineering, research, and technical talent deployed fast.

Your buyers are CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Heads of AI, and technical founders who evaluate vendors on talent quality, speed to deploy, and technical credibility. You will be a one-person revenue engine: building pipeline, running discovery, presenting solutions, negotiating terms, and ensuring successful account launches.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive new business for Mercor. Find your way to the right people at prospective customers, educate them about AI-powered recruiting solutions, and help them succeed.
• Manage rapid sales cycles (1-4 weeks): qualify, demo, propose, close.
• Speak the language of technical buyers: understand ML infrastructure, cloud, engineering org design, and talent market dynamics.
• Develop startup-specific packaging: flexible engagement models, pilot programs, and ramp-based pricing.
• Become a visible presence in the AI/tech talent community through content, events, and thought leadership.
• Feed market intelligence back to Product and Delivery.

Requirements

• 4-7 years of quota-carrying sales experience in SaaS, developer tools, tech marketplaces, or tech-enabled talent platforms.
• Track record of selling to CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and technical founders.
• Experience at a high-growth startup or as an early sales hire (employee #1-30).
• Genuine curiosity and fluency in technology, especially AI/ML: can discuss fine-tuning, inference costs, GPU clusters, and engineering team scaling.
• Strong personal network in the tech/AI startup ecosystem.
• Bias toward speed: default urgency in everything.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical or business field; CS or engineering background a plus.

Skills

• Technical acumen: understanding of ML infrastructure, cloud, engineering org design, and talent market dynamics.
• Market intelligence: ability to gather and share insights with the product and delivery teams.
• Networking: building relationships within the tech/AI startup ecosystem.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and commission earning potential + meaningful equity.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401(k) monthly meal stipend.
• Excellent in-office culture.

Pay

OTE: $150,000 - $250,000

Schedule

Work in-person five days a week in our San Francisco, NYC, or London offices.