AI Search Account Executive | Agencies & Advertisers

Smalk AI is a Generative Engine Advertising (GEA) platform that helps brands and agencies gain strategic visibility inside AI-generated search answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other AI engines. On the supply side, we help premium publishers monetize the content AI engines rely on to generate their answers. We work with worldwide leading T1 agencies and major Enterprise advertisers.We are VC backed, Paris based, and moving fast.

Your mission

You are the first Account Executive on the commercial team. You own France and the EMEA territory. You're not here to follow a playbook — you're here to write it. Open doors at major agencies and advertisers, translate a genuinely new category into clear business value, build pipeline, close deals, and lay the foundation for a team you may one day lead.

What you'll do

• Own the full commercial cycle: sourcing, qualifying, pitching, proposing, negotiating, and closing across France and EMEA.
• Build relationships with Heads of Media, Heads of Search, CMOs, CDOs, and agency strategy and trading leads.
• Run sharp discovery calls and product demos that turn skepticism into urgency.
• Educate the market — articulate the GEA category in business terms and position Smalk AI as the definitive platform for AI Search visibility.
• Build tailored proposals and business cases aligned to each client's acquisition objectives and agency structure.
• Maintain rigorous commercial discipline: CRM hygiene, accurate forecasting, and tight follow-up.
• Feed market signals, client objections, and competitive intelligence back to founders, product, and GTM teams.
• Help shape the commercial narrative and sales methodology for a category-defining product.

What we're looking for

• 8–15+ years in media, AdTech, programmatic, or digital advertising sales — with a track record closing deals with agencies or large advertisers.
• Deep fluency in the media agency ecosystem: how briefs flow, who controls budget, who influences the decision. You don't need to be introduced.
• You sell as an expert, not a rep. You earn trust through understanding, not just effort.
• Strong outbound ability — you build pipeline from scratch without waiting for inbound or a large SDR team.
• Excellent storytelling — you can make a new concept feel intuitive and urgent to a senior decision-maker in minutes.
• Comfortable in fast, ambitious, early-stage environments where your decisions have visible consequences.
• Genuine curiosity for AI Search, GEA, and where advertising is heading — as a conviction, not a buzzword.
• English mandatory. Our office is in Paris. Available to travel EMEA 1–2× per quarter.

What success looks like

Learn & activate -You know the product, the ICP, and the sales narrative cold. Target accounts are mapped, first outreach is live, and you already have a hypothesis about what this market needs to hear.

Build & qualify -Pipeline is taking shape. You're running demos, contributing to pitch refinement, and feeding clearmarket feedback to the founding team. At least one live opportunity at advanced stage.

Close & own -First deals closed. Repeatable sales motion on your territory. You're the person agency leads call when they want to understand GEA — not just a vendor, but a reference in the category.

• You're early. GEA is not mainstream yet — first-mover advantage is real for those who build expertise now.
• You sell at the frontier. A platform at the edge of where AI and advertising are converging, before the market catches up.
• Direct founder access. No layers. Real decisions. Visible impact from day one.
• You write the playbook. Your deals, your objections, your wins directly shape how Smalk AI builds and sells.

Package

• 120K€ OTE — 50% fixed / 50% variable | Aggressive upside for performance above target.
• Equity / BSPCE | Participation in the company's equity plan, reflecting your founding team status.
• Smalk Office, Paris · Hybrid · EMEA travel 1–2×/quarter London and key EMEA agency markets.
• Fast-track AI knowledge program | GEA, AI Search, and the publisher ecosystem — we get you up to speed fast.

If you've spent a decade in media and AdTech and you're watching AI reshape everything you know about search and advertising — and if that makes you want to run toward it — this role was built for you. We're not looking for someone to fill a seat. We're looking for a commercial partner to help write the next chapter of digital advertising.Contact us & drop us a line for a discovery meeting -->

Interested in this role?

Send your CV and a short note about why you'd be a great fit to our team.