FOUNDING SALES DIRECTOR needed at one of our STARTUP quant research applied AI clients! Full time on site (with some flexibility) in NYC only. Base $175k - $250k+ plus strong commission and EQUITY. Chance to be the first commercial hire and one of their earliest hires in general. Ideal profile is someone with around 10 - 15 years of total experience that graduated from a top school, has some experience at a well known firm (fintech, hedge fund, investment bank or PE) and as a sales leader at a startup building GTM (AI would be great). Experience selling into hedge funds, asset managers, wealth managers, etc. also preferred. This is a hands on IC role to start but great opportunity to eventually build and lead a team around you.
Our client provides an applied AI platform engineered specifically for quantitative research and institutional investment management. It provides quantitative analysts with built-in financial models and integrates internal or subscribed data to optimize investment strategies. The company was founded by experts in the Quantitative Trading and Machine Learning fields based on an observation that many institutional investors lack dedicated quant researchers on their teams. As a result, their analytical and risk management capabilities are a step behind cutting edge firms like Citadel.
Key features and components include:
- Agentic Multi-Agent Systems: Uses specialized agents to power investment intelligence, including its flagship portfolio management tool.
- Quantitative-First AI: Built on quant libraries hand-coded by financial and machine learning PhDs.
- Custom Integration: Merges seamlessly into existing research stacks and data environments.
- Transparent Architecture: Focuses on providing verifiable, hallucination-free calculations and algorithmic outputs.
The Opportunity
As Founding Sales Director, you will own the entire revenue function. You'll work directly with the founders to develop the sales strategy, close strategic customers, shape product direction through customer feedback, and build the foundation for a world-class commercial organization.
This is an ideal opportunity for an entrepreneurial enterprise seller who enjoys building from zero, thrives in technical sales environments, and wants meaningful influence over company growth.
What You'll Do:
- Build and execute the company's enterprise sales strategy
- Own the full sales cycle from prospecting through contract execution
- Develop relationships with portfolio managers, CIOs, research directors, analysts, and quantitative investment teams
- Identify and close new business across hedge funds, asset managers, family offices, pension funds, and institutional investment firms
- Work alongside founders to refine positioning, messaging, and pricing
- Create repeatable sales processes, forecasting, CRM discipline, and pipeline management
- Partner closely with product and engineering to incorporate customer feedback into product development
- Represent the company at industry conferences, investment events, and client meetings
- Develop strategic partnerships that accelerate growth
Requirements:
- 10 - 20 years of enterprise B2B software sales and sales leadership experience
- Proven success selling complex technology to hedge funds, asset managers, investment banks, or institutional investors
- Consistent history of exceeding enterprise revenue targets
- Strong understanding of capital markets, investment workflows, or portfolio management
- Entrepreneurial mindset with experience thriving in startup environments
- Excellent executive presentation and communication skills
- Ability to translate highly technical capabilities into clear business value
- Previous experience as an early commercial hire at an investment technology startup
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience selling AI, machine learning, quantitative analytics, portfolio management, market data, or fintech platforms
- Existing relationships across buy-side investment firms
- Experience selling six- and seven-figure SaaS agreements