Founding Account Executive - Simulation Agent

Clera

$150K — $180K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 6+ years in technical B2B sales targeting engineering firms
  • Track record of acquiring new logos against quota
  • Ability to run software demos independently
  • Fluency in AI agents and their engineering applications
  • Experience with major CAE/simulation platforms
  • Background in CAD, CAE, PLM, or related technologies
  • Founding-hire mindset with comfort in ambiguity

Responsibilities

  • Own the complete sales cycle from prospecting to closing new accounts
  • Convert founder-sourced leads into closed deals while building new pipeline
  • Demo the product and design technical evaluations for customer validation
  • Align various stakeholders, including VPs and engineering champions, during the sales process
  • Develop account strategies for current users of major simulation tools
  • Create playbook materials such as qualification criteria and objection-handling guides
  • Provide product feedback based on sales experiences to improve offerings

Benefits

  • Direct influence over product direction and sales strategy
  • Work closely with the founding team in a startup environment
  • Opportunity to shape the sales playbook from the ground up
  • Potential for significant career advancement as the company grows
  • Engagement with cutting-edge AI technology in engineering workflows
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, including CAD, simulation, and PLM. You will own the full new-logo sales motion from day one, turning early wins into the repeatable playbook that future sellers will inherit. The role sits directly alongside the founding team and carries real influence over go-to-market strategy and product direction.
What You'll Do
  • Own the full sales cycle from outbound prospecting through close for net-new accounts, without SDR or BDR support.
  • Convert warm founder-sourced opportunities and inbound interest into closed deals while simultaneously building new pipeline.
  • Demo the simulation agent solo and design technical evaluations that validate value inside customer models and workflows.
  • Navigate complex buying committees, aligning CAE and simulation champions with VP- and Director-level economic buyers.
  • Run target account plans against teams that currently use major simulation platforms such as ANSYS, SIMULIA, Altair, or Simcenter.
  • Create qualification criteria, discovery frameworks, evaluation templates, and objection-handling guides that become the company playbook.
  • Feed deal learnings back to the product team to improve the agent and future sales motions.
What We're Looking For
  • 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.
  • At least half of quota history from net-new logo acquisition rather than renewals or expansion.
  • Proven ability to run unaided software demos and technical evaluations with engineering teams, without relying on a solutions engineer.
  • Fluency with AI agents and LLMs, including the ability to articulate concrete engineering value and constraints of agentic workflows in CAE and simulation contexts.
  • Direct experience selling into environments that use major CAE or simulation platforms (ANSYS, SIMULIA, Altair, Siemens Simcenter, or equivalent), whether as a vendor rep, reseller, or competitor.
  • Background selling CAD, CAE, PLM, EDA, or adjacent deep-tech (dev tools, MLOps, infrastructure) into large enterprises, with strong domain fluency.
  • Founding-hire temperament: comfortable building a go-to-market motion from scratch, owning ambiguity, and moving fast without an established support structure.
  • Prior experience as an early or founding sales hire is a strong plus.
  • Background in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering discipline, or strong domain language to hold credible technical conversations, is a bonus.
Location

On-site in San Francisco, California. No visa sponsorship is available.

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