Principal Account Executive

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity and enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people, prioritizing a diverse community where each individual can thrive.

About the role

F5 is transforming how organizations deliver, secure, and operate modern applications. BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes (BNK) is F5's cloud-native platform for Kubernetes networking, application delivery, and edge security. We are building a specialized sales team to target the most explosive-growth sector in technology: Neoclouds, AI-Native Platforms, Hyperscalers, and AI Foundationals.

The Principal Account Executive, BNK, is a quota-carrying, hunter-focused role responsible for driving new logo acquisition and expansion across these strategic accounts. Partnering in lockstep with a Solutions Architect, you will sell complex, high-value AI infrastructure solutions to senior technology leaders (CTOs, VP of Infrastructure), building long-term partnerships that drive growth.

Responsibilities

• Own the Strategic AI Territory: Drive new logo acquisition and expansion within a targeted portfolio of Neoclouds, AI-Native Platforms, Sovereign AI clouds, and Hyperscalers.
• Lead the Sales Team: Partner seamlessly with a BNK Solutions Architect to build and execute strategic account plans, operating as a unified commercial and technical front.
• Engage the C-Suite: Pitch directly to CIOs, CTOs, Chief Architects, and Cloud Infrastructure leaders, focusing on critical business drivers like "Time-to-Compute," "Energy Margin Defense," and "Sovereign AI Isolation."
• Position BNK at the AI Edge: Position BNK as the critical North-South infrastructure layer for Kubernetes, optimizing GPU utilization and delivering security on NVIDIA BlueField DPUs.
• Drive ROI-Based Sales Cycles: Develop comprehensive business cases that quantify the value of host CPU reclamation, thermal smoothing, and rapid deployment velocity.
• Manage Complex Deal Execution: Lead multi-stakeholder sales cycles, contract negotiations, and massive multi-year capacity agreements.
• Forecast & Pipeline Rigor: Maintain accurate forecasting, pipeline management, and CRM discipline to ensure 3-4x qualified pipeline coverage.

Requirements

• 10+ years of successful enterprise technology sales experience, specifically targeting Hyperscalers, Cloud Providers, or major AI/Infrastructure platforms.
• Proven track record of exceeding quota, winning new business, and managing six- and seven-figure enterprise agreements.
• Deep experience selling complex software, cloud, bare-metal infrastructure, networking, or platform engineering solutions.
• Strong understanding of the AI ecosystem, cloud-native architectures (Kubernetes), and high-performance networking economics.
• Proven ability to thrive in a high-growth, hyper-competitive emerging technology landscape.

Skills

• Executive presence with the ability to communicate profound business value (e.g., Megawatt scaling, infrastructure TCO) to senior leaders.
• Exceptional consultative selling, discovery, and account planning skills.
• Skilled at orchestrating complex sales motions across highly technical infrastructure teams and C-level executives.
• Fierce collaboration skills, particularly in maximizing the impact of your Solutions Architect partner.
• Disciplined approach to forecasting and territory planning.

Benefits

More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: F5 Benefits.

Pay

The annual base pay for this position is $153,600.00 - $230,400.00. You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits.