Enterprise Account Executive, Aiven
AI-ready open source data platform
Be an early applicant
AI-ready open source data platform
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
201-500 employees
Company mission
To help customers create outcomes and accelerate building applications.
Role
Who you are
- Enterprise Sales Excellence: 5–10+ years of success in enterprise SaaS or cloud infrastructure sales, selling complex technical solutions to large organizations. A proven track record of overachievement against multimillion-dollar targets is required (e.g. President’s Club or top 10% performer)
- Strategic Deal Maker: Demonstrated ability to close complex, consultative deals with long sales cycles and multiple stakeholders. Experience engaging senior technical (CTO, VP Engineering, Architects) and business leaders, with an emphasis on solving strategic challenges rather than just pushing products
- Outcome-Focused Challenger: Skilled in outcome-based selling – you focus on customers’ business objectives and pains, and tailor solutions to deliver measurable value. Comfortable challenging customers’ thinking (in a professional, insightful manner) to guide them toward better solutions, in line with the Challenger Sales methodology
- MEDDPICC & Methodology Mastery: Hands-on experience with MEDDIC/MEDDPICC or similar sales frameworks, and adept at using structured qualification in your sales process. Able to maintain Command of the Message, communicating value and differentiation clearly at every stage of the sales cycle
- Domain & Technical Acumen: A strong understanding of the value of data and the importance of the data journey in delivering tangible business value to organisations. Experience in the data and technology landscape is essential, with familiarity with open-source data infrastructure, cloud services, and developer platforms being a strong preference. You can credibly discuss technical concepts and align them with business outcomes, bridging conversations between engineering teams and executives
- Executive Presence & Communication: Excellent communication, presentation, and negotiation skills. Able to engage in consultative discussions with C-level executives and simplify complex ideas into compelling narratives. Fluent English and German language proficiency is strongly preferred to effectively serve the DACH market
- High-Performance Mindset: A self-driven, entrepreneurial approach with the discipline to thrive in a high-performance, high-growth culture. You take ownership of your results and also collaborate well within a global team. Experience in a fast-paced startup or scale-up environment is a plus
- Education & Training: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required. Ongoing professional development (e.g. sales training certifications) is a plus, reflecting a commitment to honing your craft
- Don’t worry if your experience doesn’t line up perfectly – we still encourage everyone to apply. We believe in investing in our crabs’ professional growth
What the job involves
- In this role, you will engage C-level and senior stakeholders across both technical and business functions (e.g. CTO, CIO, VP Engineering, Head of Product).
- You’ll leverage Aiven’s proven sales methodologies – MEDDPICC qualification, the Challenger Sales approach, and Command of the Message – to manage complex sales cycles from prospecting to close.
- If you are a top-performing enterprise SaaS seller with a talent for outcome-based selling and executive engagement, and you’re excited about helping enterprises succeed with cutting-edge open-source data technologies, we want to hear from you
- Drive New Business: Identify, target, and win new enterprise logos in the DACH region, focusing on organizations with $500M+ in revenue. Lead the full sales cycle from initial outreach and value proposition through negotiation and closing
- Expand Strategic Accounts: Grow revenue within existing enterprise customers by uncovering new use cases, upselling additional Aiven services, and increasing commitments beyond baseline usage. Develop strategic account and demand plans to maximize value for both the client and Aiven
- Executive Stakeholder Engagement: Build trusted relationships at the C-suite and VP level, as well as with leaders in development, DevOps, and product management. Challenge the status quo of customers’ current data infrastructure and inspire a vision for how Aiven’s platform can drive better business outcomes
- Solution Selling & Value Articulation: Become an expert in Aiven’s platform and the open-source technologies we offer (Kafka, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, Clickhouse and more). Articulate the business value of our multi-cloud data and AI platform in terms of agility, cost efficiency, and time-to-market improvements. Maintain a strong Command of the Message when conveying Aiven’s value proposition and differentiation
- MEDDPICC Sales Process: Rigorously qualify opportunities using the MEDDPICC framework to ensure a high-quality pipeline. Accurately forecast and execute on quarterly and annual sales plans. Manage complex sales cycles with a disciplined, metrics-driven approach to qualification, value demonstration, and closing deals
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Marketing to generate pipeline, and partner with Solution Architects on technical validation and solution design for customers. Work closely with Product and Engineering to incorporate customer feedback, align on roadmap priorities, and ensure technical validation for complex solution designs
- Market Insight & Strategy: Stay informed on industry trends in cloud, data infrastructure, and the DACH enterprise market. Provide feedback to Aiven’s product and leadership teams on customer needs and competitive insights. Represent Aiven at regional industry events and conferences to build brand awareness as needed
- Exceed Targets: Consistently meet and exceed your sales quotas and KPIs. Take full ownership of your territory and accounts, leveraging Aiven’s high-performance sales culture and resources to deliver results and grow our presence in the region
Our take
The cloud infrastructure is booming as more businesses rely on open-source technologies to run their operations at scale. In this fast-growing space, Finnish company Aiven has carved out a strong reputation since founding in 2016. The company provides fully managed cloud services, helping organizations use open-source tools without the hassle of managing the technical details themselves.
The company works with a wide range of clients around the world, offering services that cover everything from databases to messaging systems and analytics tools. So, Aiven is helping businesses streamline their cloud operations and focus on growth instead of infrastructure headaches. Making complex technology accessible, reliable, and scalable for teams of all sizes.
Recently, Aiven his a major milestone of surpassing $100M in annual recurring revenue, a signal of its growing impact in the cloud space. To support this next phase of growth, it's opening a new hub in Cork, Ireland, creating a bunch of new jobs over three years.This expansions puts AIven in a prime position to scale internationally and bring its managed open-source solutions to more companies.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
6% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
May 2022
$210m
SERIES D
Oct 2021
$60m
SERIES C
Total funding: $420m
Company benefits
- Stocks: Stock options for permanent employees
- Learning & growth: Get ahead with an individual learning budget, access to a web learning platform, coaching, and the ever-growing Aiven library.
- Work/life balance: Flexible, regular working hours, and hybrid work friendly.
- Health care: Private health and dental care.
- Work equipment: The tools you need to do your job.
- Cool, collaborative work spaces: with free drinks, treats and fruit.
Company HQ
Kamppi, Helsinki
Leadership
Oskari Saarenmaa
(Co-Founder CEO)Senior Software Engineer and Software Architect for F-Secure Corporation from 2002 to 2011.CEO and Software Architect of Ohmu Ltd. from 2010 to 2016.
Heikki Nousiainen
(Co-Founder & Field-CTO)Experience as Information Security Specialist for TietoEnator. Lead Software Architect for F-Secure Corporation from 2008 to 2015.
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