Clera
A well-funded, Series A/B AI startup building category-defining agentic software for hardware engineering teams is hiring a Founding Account Executive. You'll own the full new-logo sales motion for an AI simulation agent product that integrates directly with the CAE/CAD/PLM tools engineers use every day. Joining a small, founder-led team, you'll convert early momentum into a repeatable go-to-market playbook that future sellers will inherit — and you'll have a direct line to product based on what you learn in the field.
This is a hands-on, high-autonomy role for a proven technical seller who thrives without an existing playbook and wants to shape a company's commercial foundation from the ground up.
Own the full sales cycle — outbound prospecting through close — for net-new enterprise accounts.
Convert founder-sourced warm opportunities and inbound interest while independently building new pipeline.
Demo the simulation agent solo and design technical evaluations that validate value within customer models and workflows.
Navigate complex buying committees, aligning CAE/simulation champions with VP/Director-level economic buyers.
Run targeted account plans against engineering teams that currently use tools such as ANSYS, SIMULIA, Altair, or Simcenter.
Build the qualification criteria, discovery frameworks, evaluation templates, and objection-handling guides that form the company sales playbook.
Feed field learnings back to the product team to sharpen the agent and future sales motions.
Create repeatable processes and documentation that future reps will execute at scale.
Required
6+ years of full-cycle hunting in complex, technical B2B deals into engineering or manufacturing organizations, with a verifiable track record of sourcing and closing net-new logos against quota.
Proven ability to run unaided software demos and technical evaluations with engineering teams — no reliance on a Sales Engineer in the room.
Fluency with AI agents and LLMs; ability to articulate concrete engineering value and the practical constraints of agentic workflows in CAE/simulation environments.
Direct experience selling into environments that use ANSYS, SIMULIA, Altair, or Siemens Simcenter — as a vendor rep, reseller, or competitor regularly engaging these tool owners.
Founding-hire temperament: comfortable building a motion from scratch, owning ambiguous high-impact work, and operating without guardrails.
Background selling CAD/CAE/PLM/EDA or adjacent deep-tech (dev tools, MLOps, infrastructure) into large enterprises; strong domain fluency is valued over formal engineering credentials.
Nice to Have
Prior early or founding sales hire experience with documented playbook-building outcomes.
Background in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering discipline — or the domain language to hold credible technical conversations with simulation engineers.
Familiarity with PLM platforms and enterprise procurement cycles in hardware-intensive industries.
Compensation details were not provided for this role. Salary, equity, and benefits information will be shared during the interview process.
Location: San Francisco, CA, United States
Work arrangement: On-site
Visa sponsorship: Not available
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About the Role A well-funded, Series A/B AI startup building category-defining agentic software for hardware engineering teams is hiring a Founding Account Executive. You'll own the full new-logo sales motion for an AI simulation agent product that integrates directly with the C