Enterprise Account Executive, Aiven
Participate in Aiven’s equity plan
Open source cloud data management platform
Open for applications
Open source cloud data management platform
501-1000 employees
Open for applications
Participate in Aiven’s equity plan
501-1000 employees
Company mission
Aiven aims to be the world’s leading cloud data platform – by making developer’s lives better.
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: Familiarity with open-source technologies, data infrastructure, cloud services, and developer platforms (e.g. Apache Kafka, databases, analytics, AI/ML use cases). 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
- Our Customer Growth team plays a crucial role in our growth and profitability. We want to be the trusted data source data platform for everyone – which, let’s face it, is an ambitious target. But thanks to our dedicated sales, pre-sales, and post-sales teams we are growing fast. Right now, we are looking for an Enterprise Account Executive
- Aiven is a global technology company providing an open-source data and AI platform across all major clouds
- Our platform empowers businesses to stream, store, and analyze data in multi-cloud environments with speed, security, and scalability
- As an Enterprise Account Executive for the DACH region, you will drive strategic growth by acquiring new enterprise customers and expanding relationships within our existing large accounts (>$500M revenue)
- This is a high-impact, quota-carrying role focused on new logo acquisition, growing usage over baseline, and increasing customer commitments in one of Aiven’s most important markets
- 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
Application process
- Once applying you should hear from our Talent Experience team within 5 days regarding the status of your application. If you are selected to move forward you can generally expect 4 stages with us
- 30-45 minute call with one of our Talent Partners
- 45 minute Depth of Expertise Interview with the hiring manager
- Skills interview and or presentation for 1 hour with the wider team
- Company values interview for 1 hour
Our take
Cloud computing presents massive implications for the way businesses use data, with cloud-based databases ensuring high uptime, frictionless scalability, and simple software integrations. However, achieving this requires setting up cloud databases in the first place, an obstacle that can be incredibly tough and prevent companies from migrating to cloud-based data infrastructure altogether.
Aiven provides an open-source cloud data management platform, allowing users to easily set up cloud databases, access cloud tool integrations, automate data infrastructural management, and control data security within a single platform. The platform integrates directly into open source data services such as Apache Kafka and OpenSearch, supports multi-cloud deployments, and includes built-in compliance, encryption, and end-to-end security features. In 2023, it added AI-powered data optimisation capabilities via its integration of EverSQL's engine into its products.
Whilst various companies are tackling the difficulties of setting up cloud databases, Aiven has smartly taken more of an all-in-one approach, tackling everything from the building and managing of databases to software integrations, multi-cloud hosting, and security. The company claims that its cloud data solutions can massively reduce the amount of time, money, and resources that businesses must spend to migrate to cloud-based data infrastructure.
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
- Stock options for permanent employees
- Training/language courses & Aiven library
- Flexible work/life balance
- Private health and dental care
- Proper equipment to do your job
- Office snacks
Company HQ
Kamppi, Helsinki
Leadership
Oskari Saarenmaa
(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
(CTO)Experience as Information Security Specialist for TietoEnator. Lead Software Architect for F-Secure Corporation from 2008 to 2015.
Hannu Valtonen
(CPO)Experience as Senior Software Engineer and Lead Architect for F-Secure Corporation. Software Architect and Partner of Ohmu Ltd. since 2010.
Mika Eloranta
(Chief Architect)Experience as Lead Software Engineer and Architect for F-Secure Corporation from 1998 to 2011. Software Architect and Partner of Ohmu Ltd. from 2010 to 2016.
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