Founding Account Executive - Simulation Agent

Clera

$150K — $180K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 6+ years of B2B sales experience in engineering or manufacturing organizations.
  • Proven track record of sourcing and closing new enterprise accounts against quota.
  • Experience conducting software demos and technical evaluations without relying on a solutions engineer.
  • Fluency with AI agents and large language models (LLMs) in engineering contexts.
  • Familiarity with CAE/simulation tools such as ANSYS, SIMULIA, or Altair.
  • Experience in an early-stage sales role, building a sales process from the ground up.
  • Effective communication with engineers, ideally with domain-specific language.

Responsibilities

  • Own the full sales cycle, from prospecting to closing for new enterprise accounts.
  • Convert founder-sourced leads and develop new sales opportunities independently.
  • Demonstrate the simulation agent and design technical evaluations for customers.
  • Navigate complex buying committees, aligning various stakeholders to close deals.
  • Create account plans targeting engineering teams using specific simulation tools.
  • Develop and implement qualification criteria and sales playbooks for future reps.
  • Provide feedback from sales experiences to enhance product and market strategies.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to shape the sales process as a founding hire.
  • Work in a cutting-edge field focused on AI and engineering workflows.
  • Collaborate with a talented team in an innovative startup environment.
  • Potential for career growth as the company scales.
Full Job Description
About the Role

This is a founding sales hire at an early-stage AI software company building an intelligent agent for hardware engineering workflows - covering simulation, CAD, and PLM. You'll own the full new-logo sales motion, converting early momentum into closed deals while creating the playbook that future reps will inherit.
What You'll Do
  • Own the full sales cycle - outbound prospecting through close - for net-new enterprise accounts.
  • Convert founder-sourced warm opportunities and inbound interest into closed revenue 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 to VP/Director-level economic buyers.
  • Run targeted account plans against engineering teams currently using tools like ANSYS, SIMULIA, Altair, or Simcenter.
  • Build qualification criteria, discovery frameworks, evaluation templates, and objection-handling guides that become the company's sales playbook.
  • Feed deal learnings back to product to sharpen the agent and future go-to-market motions.
What We're Looking For
  • 6+ years of full-cycle, outbound-led B2B sales 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 separate solutions engineer in the room.
  • Fluency with AI agents and LLMs; able to articulate the practical value and constraints of agentic workflows in CAE/simulation contexts.
  • Direct exposure to CAE/simulation ecosystems (e.g., ANSYS, SIMULIA, Altair, Siemens Simcenter) as a vendor rep, reseller, or competitor.
  • Background selling CAD/CAE/PLM/EDA or adjacent deep-tech (dev tools, MLOps, infrastructure) into large enterprise accounts.
  • Founding or early-stage sales hire experience - comfortable building a repeatable motion from scratch without an existing playbook.
  • Strong domain language to converse credibly with mechanical, aerospace, or simulation engineers; a formal engineering background is a bonus, not a requirement.
Location

On-site in San Francisco, CA. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Clera

More Manufacturing & Automotive Jobs

Find similar Founding Account Executive - Simulation Agent jobs: