Founding Account Executive

At Grist, we’re building a low-code platform that lets teams turn spreadsheet workflows into custom applications with enterprise-grade security and governance controls. We give people the spreadsheet interface they already know, backed by a real relational database, with Python formulas, role- and row- based user permissions, and the ability to self-host the whole thing on-prem. It’s a powerful combination, and technical people tend to get excited about it quickly.

We’re a small but mighty team in the early stages of growth, with a product that punches well above its weight. Our customers love us—genuinely—and their enthusiasm tells us we’re onto something big in the enterprise data productivity space. We’re post-revenue with a clear ICP and early sales traction. Now we need someone to take that foundation and run with it.

The role

You’ll be Grist’s first dedicated salesperson, owning the full cycle from lead qualification through close. Today, our pipeline is primarily inbound: IT leaders and technical champions who’ve researched Grist and need help mapping it to their specific projects. Our best customers come to us already convinced. They’ve tried the product, read the documentation, and show up to the first call ready to talk specifics. Other inbound leads have heard great things about Grist, but need more guidance grasping its flexibility and power.

This is consultative, technical selling. Your job is primarily to guide leads to close through expert consultation. You must understand the buyer’s environment, earn their trust, and show them how Grist solves their problems. You’ll work closely with marketing to sharpen how we attract and speak to the right buyers, and you’ll shape the sales process as much as execute it. Founding sales hire means real ownership and real influence over the company’s direction.

We know who our buyers are and why they buy. You’re building on real traction, but Grist is a general-purpose product, and there’s a lot of market left to discover.

What you’ll do

• Own the full sales cycle: qualify inbound leads, run discovery and demos, navigate procurement, and close enterprise deals.
• Conduct consultative, solution-oriented conversations with CIOs, CTOs, and senior IT/infrastructure leaders at mid-market companies (200–2,000 employees).
• Translate technical buyer needs—on-prem requirements, security compliance, data portability—into clear Grist use cases they can champion internally.
• Help prospects see how Grist replaces the specific Excel and other data workflows that are holding them back, whether that’s KPI tracking, project management, audit trails, or something else entirely.
• Work hand-in-hand with marketing. You’ll bring back what buyers are saying—their language, their objections, their priorities—and marketing will use that to create content and campaigns that bring in more of the right people.
• Build and refine the sales playbook. Document what works, identify repeatable patterns, and help us scale.
• Prospect when needed. Our focus is inbound, but you should be comfortable picking up the phone or writing a thoughtful email when you see an opportunity.
• Manage your pipeline in our CRM. Keep it honest, keep it current.

Who you are

Must-haves:

• You’ve sold software to technical buyers (IT teams, developers, or engineering leadership) and you can speak their language. You know what on-prem means, you’re not fazed by a Docker conversation, and you can hold your own when a CTO asks hard questions.
• You’re comfortable with consultative, high-touch sales. Your best deals come from listening carefully, understanding the problem deeply, and showing how the product solves it, not from pushing volume.
• You have full-cycle experience. You can prospect when needed, but your real strength is running the deal from qualified lead to signed contract.
• You’re energized by early-stage work. We have a nascent playbook with many pages yet unwritten. Taking it from draft to handbook for future sales hires sounds exciting to you.
• You can learn a technical product quickly and demo it credibly. Grist has Python formulas, relational data, role-based access controls, and self-hosted deployment. You don’t need to be an engineer, but you need to understand why these things matter to the people you’re selling to.

Nice-to-haves:

• French language fluency. France is one of our fastest-growing markets, and being able to sell there natively is a real advantage.
• Familiarity with how IT operates at engineering-heavy companies. You know what “get this approved” really looks like in those environments.
• Experience selling developer-oriented or open source products. You understand the dynamics of a community-led funnel and technical evaluation cycles.
• $80k-$100k base + commission. We’ll discuss specifics in the process.
• Equity
• 401k
• Fully remote

How to Apply

Solve our data puzzle — a short challenge to get your hands on Grist. Once you solve it, you’ll be given a code to send along with your resume and a cover letter to .