Senior Account Executive, Marketer Direct

ABOUT FIRSTHAND Firsthand has built the first AI-powered Brand Agent platform, transforming the way marketers and publishers engage consumers through their own AI agents, anywhere online. While most AI applications in marketing and advertising focus on back-office automation, the Firsthand Brand Agent Platform™ powers front-line consumer engagement. Operating across both owned properties and paid media, Firsthand's Brand Agents make a company’s expertise accessible in real time, adapting to consumers’ interests and guiding them towards the information they need to take action. Central to the platform is Lakebed™, the company’s AI-first data and knowledge rights management system that ensures brands retain full ownership and control of their expertise. Firsthand is led by Jon Heller, Michael Rubenstein, and Wei Wei, whose previous ventures helped build the foundations of modern digital advertising. Backed by Radical Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Aperiam Ventures, and Crossbeam Venture Partners, Firsthand is shaping the future of AI-driven consumer engagement. Firsthand is headquartered in NYC, with team members working together in-office three days a week. ABOUT THE ROLE Firsthand is hiring a Senior Account Executive to build and grow relationships with leading brand marketers and drive adoption of Firsthand's Adaptive Marketing Experiences. This is a senior, quota-carrying role for someone who knows how to turn relationships into revenue and wants to help build Firsthand's brand marketer business from the ground up. You'll leverage your existing network, develop new prospects, build a robust sales pipeline, and own opportunities from the first conversation through close. You won't just generate new relationships. You'll identify where the biggest opportunities exist, develop strategies to unlock them, and drive meaningful commercial outcomes. This is not a traditional media sales role. Adaptive Marketing Experiences are an emerging category, which means there often aren't established budgets, buying processes, or playbooks. You'll need to create urgency, navigate complex stakeholder groups, build consensus, and ask for the business. You'll work closely with Firsthand's leadership to turn early brand adoption into a repeatable, scalable growth engine. WHAT YOU'LL DO 1. OWN BRAND REVENUE & CLOSE BUSINESS - Build a portfolio of brand relationships and own an associated revenue target - Build and manage a pipeline from the first conversation through close - Turn brand relationships into commercial opportunities across teams, business units, and brands - Create urgency and establish clear paths to close in an emerging category - Navigate objections, procurement processes, and complex stakeholder groups - Independently drive opportunities forward, bringing in leadership, product, and technical expertise when it helps get the deal done - Remain accountable for commercial relationships, renewals, and expansion 2. BUILD PIPELINE & GROW BRAND PARTNERSHIPS - Prospect into new brands, teams, and opportunities within existing relationships - Build relationships with net-new brands and other priority partners - Leverage your existing brand marketer network to create new commercial opportunities - Develop relationships across product, product marketing, business development, search, strategy, AI, innovation, and brand marketing leadership - Navigate complex brand organizations and connect their business priorities to opportunities for Firsthand's products - Identify high-potential accounts and determine where to focus time and resources to maximize revenue opportunities 3. SELL A NEW CATEGORY - Educate brands on Firsthand's products and the shift toward agentic marketing experiences - Sell across Firsthand's Agentic Ads and Agentic Site Experience offerings - Help clients understand how agentic experiences can connect paid media, owned experiences, and customer intelligence - Translate emerging and complex technology into a compelling commercial story - Position Firsthand as a strategic partner helping brand marketers build new capabilities, rather than simply another media vendor 4. HELP BUILD THE BRAND MARKETER PLAYBOOK - Identify patterns across brand marketers and translate them into repeatable use cases - Turn campaign performance, customer insights, and product learnings into compelling expansion opportunities - Bring market feedback into Firsthand to sharpen our positioning, products, and commercial strategy - Develop strategies for growing your brand portfolio and identifying new revenue opportunities - Help define how we scale brand partnerships as the business grows WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - Proven track record of owning a revenue target and closing complex deals with a hunter mentality - Extensive B2B sales experience, ideally within martech or a related technology category with experience in paid search, SEO, or landing page optimization - Deep experience selling to brand marketers, including teams focused on search, landing page conversion, and innovation - Demonstrated ability to hunt for new business and expand existing accounts - A strong closer who knows how to move a deal from enthusiasm to commitment - Experience selling emerging or complex products that require education and consultative selling - Ability to navigate complex organizations and influence stakeholders, from practitioners to senior executives - Strong commercial judgment and the ability to identify and prioritize high-value opportunities - A strong sense of ownership and urgency: you create paths forward rather than waiting for someone else to define them - Comfort operating in an early-stage environment where the playbook is still being built WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE - You consistently deliver against your revenue targets - You independently generate and close meaningful revenue - You build a healthy pipeline across existing and net-new relationships - You expand brand partnerships across multiple teams, business units, and use cases - You turn early pilots into renewals, expansions, and long-term programs - You become a trusted commercial partner to brand marketing teams navigating the shift toward agentic marketing - You help build a scalable commercial model that allows Firsthand's brand marketer business to grow - Established relationships with brand marketers and the ability to activate those relationships commercially especially in the B2B tech vertical HOW TO APPLY If you are ready to embark on an exhilarating journey at the forefront of AI, seize this incredible opportunity and apply here. We eagerly anticipate hearing from you! Note: Compensation and equity will be market-competitive for well-capitalized, early stage startups and will be discussed during the interview process.