Director Account Executives (SMB) (Hybrid)

KnowBe4 • Clearwater, FL

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

KnowBe4 is the global leader in Human Risk Management, trusted by over 70,000 organizations worldwide to secure their employees and AI agents for over 15 years. We're pioneering a new era of security. AI-powered since 2016. And market-leading since day one.

Our HRM+ combines continuous risk intelligence, advanced technical defenses, and personalized training to help organizations build strong security cultures. We help organizations understand, measure, and reduce human risk across their entire workforce, defending against, deepfakes, and emerging AI-powered threats.

We believe that protecting organizations from cyberthreats and creating a positive environmental impact go hand in hand. True resilience is collective, it requires us to protect our people, our data, and our planet.
Clearwater positions open to candidates located in greater Tampa Bay area.
The Opportunity
Join our high-performing SMB Sales organization as the leader who transforms individual contributors into revenue-generating powerhouses. As Director of Account Executives (SMB), you'll be the driving force behind a team of 8-12 sales professionals—coaching them to crush quotas, master the art of the close, and turn cold prospects and lapsed customers into loyal advocates. You'll own the full sales motion for your team: pipeline accuracy, deal progression, skill development, and the daily wins that compound into exceptional quarterly results. The successful candidate is a player-coach at heart, someone who thrives on the energy of a sales floor, leads from the front with proven closing expertise, and takes genuine pride in watching their team members grow into top performers.

Requirements

• 2+ years managing sales teams in a fast-paced environment where you've been accountable for team quota, coached reps through complex deals, and built a culture of accountability and achievement.
• Mastery of the sales craft—you're an expert in closing techniques, discovery questions, prospecting methods, rapport-building, and objection handling, and you can teach these skills as naturally as you execute them.
• Pipeline discipline and forecasting rigor—you know how to inspect what you expect, identify when deals are slipping, and coach your team to maintain accurate pipelines that consistently convert to revenue.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to motivate diverse personalities, hold people accountable with respect, and make tough calls on performance when needed—all while keeping morale high.
• Excellent communication skills—you write clear emails, deliver direct feedback, and know how to rally a team around goals while keeping senior leadership informed of progress and challenges.
• Grit and determination—you don't back down from ambitious targets, you push through obstacles, and you instill that same resilience in your team.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Communications, or related field
• SaaS sales background, ideally in SMB or mid-market segments where velocity and volume matter
• Cybersecurity industry experience or genuine passion for the cybersecurity space—you understand the threat landscape, the value prop, and can speak credibly about protecting organizations
• Proficiency with CRM and sales tools (Salesforce, Outreach, Gong) alongside core platforms like Gmail, Google Docs, and MS Office

Responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Development: Manage and coach 8-12 Account Executives to build a world-class sales team—conducting regular 1:1s, skills assessments, and development plans that elevate individual and collective performance.
• Pipeline Management & Forecasting: Maintain razor-sharp pipeline visibility through weekly reviews with each Account Executive, ensuring forecast accuracy, identifying at-risk deals, and driving the activities that translate to consistent quota attainment.
• Sales Execution Support: Jump into live deals to assist with complex closes, handle objections alongside your reps, coach through customer negotiations, and demonstrate the techniques that win business—especially in reactivating lapsed accounts.
• Performance Optimization: Monitor team statistics daily, identify performance gaps early, and implement targeted training, coaching plans, or disciplinary actions that move the needle on productivity and revenue achievement.
• Strategic Prioritization: Direct the daily activities and workload of your Account Executives—helping them focus on the highest-value opportunities while maintaining coverage across new business development and customer reactivation efforts.
• Talent Management: Provide genuine recommendations as to the hiring, firing, disciplining, and promoting of subordinate employees to which the organization gives significant weight.
• Sales Mastery: Serve as the go-to expert on closing techniques, discovery frameworks, prospecting strategies, and the full sales cycle—modeling the behaviors that consistently drive quota achievement month over month, quarter over quarter.

Benefits

• We offer company-wide bonuses based on monthly sales targets, employee referral bonuses, adoption assistance, tuition reimbursement, certification reimbursement, and certification completion bonuses - all in a modern, high-tech, and fun work environment. For more details about our benefits in each office location, please visit www.knowbe4.com/careers/benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director