{"id":2303795,"url":"https://alion.io/job/aiven-account-executive-smb","title":"Account Executive, SMB","company":{"id":40678,"name":"Aiven","domain":"aiven.io","url":"https://alion.io/company/aiven","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":11,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":45,"computed_at":"2026-10-23T05:54:15Z"}},"role":"Sales","role_family":"Sales","seniority":null,"employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Austin, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Apache Kafka","optional":false},{"name":"ClickHouse","optional":false},{"name":"Grafana","optional":false},{"name":"LinkedIn","optional":false},{"name":"OpenSearch","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"Salesforce","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-08T13:25:38Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-15","last_verified_at":"2026-10-23T18:48:52Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":137,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":136},"description":"Account Executive SMB, Austin, TX\nAiven - The Trusted Data & AI Platform\nWe're a global team of over 400 people, working together to push the boundaries of open-source technology and multi-cloud solutions. Our vision is to become the trusted Data & AI Platform for everyone, leveraging the most popular open-source technologies like Apache Kafka®, PostgreSQL®, ClickHouse®, and OpenSearch® to help companies accelerate time-to-market, drive efficiency, and build innovative solutions across any cloud.\nAbout this Team\nOur Customer Growth team plays a crucial role in our growth and profitability. We want to be the trusted 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.\nOur customer-first philosophy: The software we create is merely a means of delivering value. Our thinking is customer-first. That's why our customers are at the front and center of all we do. We're by their side, actively helping them solve their challenges through collaboration, sharing, and innovation.\nOur Crabby Principles\nAiveners use the V2MOM framework to set and align on business goals. In order to achieve those business goals we live by our 'Crabby Principles' which unite us in our ways of working, globally. These principles are embedded in our business processes and support us in collaborating and role modelling positive and productive behaviours in our daily work, something you will have the opportunity to demonstrate throughout your interview journey with us.\nThe Role\nAs an AE in North America, you will drive new customer acquisition and revenue growth within high-velocity segments of the North American market. This is a closing role -you own the full sales cycle from initial engagement through signed contract for companies under $250M in revenue, as well as PLG conversions from Aiven's self-service and trial user base.\nThis role operates at the intersection of product-led growth and inside sales execution. You will convert high-intent signals-trial activations, self-service usage, consumption spikes-into qualified opportunities and closed revenue. You will also generate pipeline through outbound prospecting, field events, and digital marketing campaigns. The ability to read product usage data, prioritize based on buying signals, and execute fast sales cycles is essential.\nThere are clear success metrics: 10 closed new logos annually at $25K average ARR, delivering $300K in total ARR per fiscal year. You will qualify 6 opportunities per month using rigorous MEDDPICC standards and generate $1.4M in qualified pipeline annually through a combination of PLG conversion, outbound prospecting, and marketing-sourced leads. This is a high-activity, high-velocity role with 30-60 day sales cycles.\nYou will engage technical decision-makers -Engineering Managers, Platform Leads, Senior Engineers, DevOps Managers-at companies professionalizing their data infrastructure. These buyers can often evaluate and approve purchases without extensive procurement cycles, which means your ability to build urgency, demonstrate value quickly, and close efficiently determines your success.\nIf you are a disciplined inside seller who thrives on velocity, understands how to convert product usage into commercial commitment, and can execute a high-quality sales process without cutting corners-we want to hear from you.\nWhat You'll Do\nClose New Business:\nClose 10 new logos annually at $25K average ARR, delivering $300K in total ARR against your annual quota.\nOwn the full sales cycle from initial engagement through contract signature-discovery, qualification, demo, proposal, negotiation, close.\nExecute 30-60 day sales cycles with discipline and urgency-these are not long enterprise evaluations; speed and efficiency are competitive advantages.\nMaintain 85%+ forecast accuracy at commit through evidence-based qualification and disciplined pipeline management.\nConvert PLG Signals into Revenue:\nMonitor and prioritize trial activations, self-service usage, and consumption patterns to identify high-intent prospects ready for sales engagement.\nEngage self-service users demonstrating expansion signals-increased cluster usage, new service adoption, team account additions-and convert them to committed contracts.\nDevelop expertise in reading product usage data to qualify buying intent: which behaviors indicate serious evaluation vs. casual exploration.\nExecute speed-to-lead on PLG conversions-these opportunities have short windows; the first seller to engage with value often wins.\nGenerate Pipeline Through Multi-Channel Prospecting:\nQualify 6 opportunities per month (72 annually) using rigorous MEDDPICC framework-each opportunity must have identified pain, decision-maker access, and defined timeline.\nGenerate $1.4M in qualified pipeline annually through outbound prospecting, PLG conversion, field events, and digital marketing campaign follow-up.\nExecute 80-100+ weekly prospecting touches across calls, emails, LinkedIn, and video messaging to secure meetings with target personas.\nWork marketing-sourced leads from digital campaigns, content programs, and field events with rapid follow-up and qualification discipline.\nBuild and maintain target account lists of 75-100 ideal customer profile companies within your territory.\nEngage Technical Decision-Makers:\nBuild relationships with Engineering Managers, Platform Leads, Senior Engineers, DevOps Managers, and Data Engineering Leads who can evaluate and approve purchases.\nPosition Aiven's value in terms that matter to technical buyers: reduced operational overhead, faster time-to-production, developer productivity, and infrastructure reliability.\nChallenge the status quo of customers' current data infrastructure-DIY open-source management, cloud vendor lock-in, operational burden-and demonstrate how Aiven delivers better outcomes.\nConduct compelling product demonstrations that connect platform capabilities to specific customer pain points and use cases.\nExecute MEDDPICC Sales Process:\nRigorously qualify all opportunities using the MEDDPICC framework to ensure pipeline quality and forecast accuracy.\nMaintain complete MEDDPICC documentation in Salesforce for every qualified opportunity-Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Paper Process, Identified Pain, Champion, Competition.\nManage opportunities with stage-appropriate evidence: no advancing deals without documented proof points for each MEDDPICC element.\nForecast based on evidence, not optimism -if you cannot articulate the decision process, timeline, and buying authority with specificity, the deal does not belong in commit.\nSolution Selling & Value Articulation:\nBecome expert in Aiven's platform and open-source technologies: Kafka, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, ClickHouse, Valkey, and Grafana.\nArticulate business value in concrete terms: reduced operational overhead (40-60%), faster time-to-production (3-5x), infrastructure cost optimization (30-50%).\nMaintain Command of the Message when conveying Aiven's value proposition-you can clearly articulate why Aiven vs. self-managed, why Aiven vs. hyperscaler native services, why Aiven vs. other managed platforms.\nTailor messaging to buyer context: a startup scaling from prototype to production has different priorities than a mid-market company consolidating fragmented infrastructure.\nCollaborate Cross-Functionally:\nPartner with Solution Architects on technical validation for qualified opportunities requiring deeper architectural engagement.\nCoordinate with Marketing on campaign follow-up, event participation, and lead quality feedback.\nProvide product feedback based on customer conversations-objections, feature requests, competitive intelligence-to inform roadmap priorities.\nCollaborate with Customer Success on smooth handoffs for closed accounts to ensure strong onboarding and adoption.\nExceed Targets:\nConsistently meet and exceed monthly, quarterly, and annual quotas.\nMaintain minimum 3x pipeline coverage against quarterly targets with balanced distribution across the quarter.\nTake complete ownership of your territory and results-no excuses, no deflection, no waiting for leads to arrive.\nWhat We're Looking For\nInside Sales Excellence:\n1-3 years of success in inside sales or SDR/BDR roles with demonstrated progression and quota attainment.\nProven ability to close deals independently -not just qualify and hand off, but own the full cycle through contract signature.\nTrack record of consistent quota attainment (90-100%+) in a high-velocity sales environment.\nExperience with $15K-$50K ACV deal sizes and 30-90 day sales cycles -you understand velocity selling, not just enterprise account management.\nPLG & Product-Led Sales Experience:\nExperience working PLG or trial conversion motions where product usage signals inform sales engagement.\nAbility to read and interpret product usage data to prioritize outreach and qualify buying intent.\nUnderstanding of how to add value to self-service users without being intrusive-you know when to engage and when to let product do the work.\nComfort selling to technical buyers who have already evaluated the product and formed opinions.\nProspecting & Pipeline Generation:\nDemonstrated ability to generate pipeline through outbound prospecting -cold calls, personalized emails, LinkedIn engagement, video messaging.\nExperience working marketing-sourced leads with rapid follow-up and disciplined qualification.\nAbility to maintain high activity levels (80+ weekly touches) while preserving quality and personalization.\nStrong research skills using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, Crunchbase, 6sense, or similar tools to identify trigger events and buying signals.\nMEDDPICC & Sales Methodology:\nFamiliarity with MEDDPICC, MEDDIC, or similar qualification frameworks -formal training preferred but not required if you demonstrate structured qualification discipline.\nAbility to document qualification evidence in CRM, not just self-assessed confidence scores.\nUnderstanding of the difference between activity and progress -you measure yourself on qualified pipeline and closed revenue, not calls made or emails sent.\nTechnical Acumen:\nFamiliarity with data infrastructure, cloud services, and developer tools sufficient to have credible conversations with technical buyers.\nYou don't need to be an engineer, but you can discuss Kafka use cases, PostgreSQL vs. other databases, cloud deployment models, and operational trade-offs at a conceptual level.\nAbility to learn technical concepts quickly and translate them into business value for different buyer personas.\nInterest in open-source technologies and the developer ecosystem-you're curious about how these tools work and why they matter.\nCommunication & Presence:\nExcellent verbal communication for discovery calls, demos, and negotiations conducted primarily via video and phone.\nStrong written communication for personalized outreach, follow-up emails, and proposal summaries.\nAbility to simplify complex technical concepts into clear value statements for different audiences.\nProfessional presence that builds credibility with technical decision-makers who are evaluating both the product and the vendor.\nHigh-Performance Mindset:\nSelf-driven and disciplined -you don't need someone watching over your shoulder to maintain high activity and quality standards.\nCompetitive without being political-you want to win and you measure yourself against top performers.\nCoachable -you actively seek feedback, incorporate it quickly, and demonstrate improvement over time.\nResilient -you handle rejection and setbacks without losing momentum or making excuses.\nOwnership mentality -when something goes wrong, you ask what you could have done differently, not who else is to blame.\nGeography & Work Style:\nWillingness to 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