Account Executive

Job Description

At Sakana AI, we are advancing world-class R&D through unique generative AI techniques inspired by nature. Our Product Team is on a mission to leverage our proprietary research to conceptualize and launch AI products that defy traditional boundaries. Through our proprietary products including Sakana Chat 🐟, Sakana Marlin 🐬, and Sakana Fugu 🐡, we deliver this value to enterprises and government agencies in Japan and globally.

This position will be the first dedicated Product Sales member within the Product Team. You will expand Sakana’s proprietary products to enterprises and major clients, directly driving business growth. Our GTM is product-driven; we build sales and growth mechanisms based on the intrinsic value of the product, with repeatability and scalability as core prerequisites. You will cover both Japanese and global markets, leading the acquisition of major domestic accounts while driving the establishment of international markets.

Responsibilities

• Drive new customer acquisition and maximize product revenue across both Japanese and global markets; lead the expansion into major domestic and international enterprises
• Lead the entire sales lifecycle from lead generation to closing on an End-to-End basis; drive discovery, demos, PoC (Proof of Concept), price negotiation, and contract execution seamlessly
• Continuously generate high-quality pipelines from both inbound and outbound approaches; identify target segments and execute strategic outbound initiatives autonomously
• Navigate complex procurement processes inherent to large enterprises; drive large-scale deals forward by managing IT department evaluations, legal and security reviews, and multiple stakeholders
• Design a product-driven sales model; build and refine a repeatable sales methodology and highly accurate forecasting mechanism from scratch based on the product’s core value proposition
• Lead the launch of the sales organization and hiring aligned with business growth, taking responsibility for team building
• Feed real market and customer insights back to the product and research teams to contribute to product roadmap development
• Collaborate with the product team to define initial GTM frameworks, including target customer profiles, pricing strategies, and proposal process optimization
• Drive seamless collaboration across global teams and markets utilizing both Japanese and English

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise sales or account management for B2B SaaS or highly technical enterprise products (Strong emphasis on independently managing the entire sales lifecycle from lead generation to closing)
• High technical aptitude; deep understanding of complex AI products to drive consultative sales without relying entirely on dedicated sales engineers
• Deep technical understanding of LLMs and generative AI with the ability to catch up on latest trends and engage in peer-level discussions with engineers and AI researchers
• Proven track record of closing large-scale enterprise deals worth tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yen involving multiple decision-makers
• Ability to autonomously design and execute sales processes in an unestablished, fast-paced startup environment
• Professional or native fluency in both Japanese and English, with the ability to drive business expansion for both Japanese and global markets
• Experience selling products in a phase where the sales methodology itself needs to be defined, such as frontier AI or new product categories (Preferred)
• Experience presenting proposals or selling to corporate decision-makers such as corporate planning, business strategy, research, or finance teams (Preferred)
• Experience with early-stage startups as the first sales hire or establishing a sales organization (Preferred)

Notes

• CV and cover letter must be submitted in English
• Candidates will be asked to submit an assignment after passing the initial document screening
• Available for full-time, contract (24+ hours/week), or internship (2+ months, 24+ hours/week)

Send a brief introduction and indicate which role you are applying for on careers@sakana.ai and fill form click on apply now