Director of Sales - Enterprise AI

Axelera AI

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

Axelera AI is a deep-tech company designing AI inference silicon for edge and enterprise deployments. Their low-power architecture delivers strong performance-per-watt. The company is expanding its US presence to target hyperscalers, neoclouds, and frontier model vendors who face power and TCO constraints. Axelera AI's product line includes edge inference platforms and a next-generation architecture for large-scale inference economics. They are scaling their Americas commercial team to bring this technology to market. The company has raised $370 million in five years and has over 250 employees, including 60+ PhDs. While headquartered in the Netherlands, they are investing in US growth to be closer to customers and partners. The US market is central to their future. This role is based in the Bay Area, CA, with a flexible remote setup and the potential for future in-office work.

Requirements

10–15+ years of semiconductor or compute infrastructure sales experience, with a track record selling to hyperscalers, neoclouds, enterprises, and/or frontier AI labs
Fluency in how routes to market layer within a single account - direct commercial ownership of the buyer relationship, working through or alongside OEM/ODM system builders, and understanding any channel/qualification process the buyer runs — not just experience running separate direct, channel, and OEM motions in isolation
Existing relationships with US hyperscaler, neocloud, or frontier model vendor buyers - infrastructure, procurement, or technical leaders evaluating customer inference silicon - that you can activate quickly
Experience selling technical products with long, capacity-driven sales cycles, ideally AI/ML accelerators, GPUs, custom silicon, or related infrastructure
Prior experience at a semiconductor chip company or hyperscaler, neocloud, enterprise, or frontier lab accounts -established or startup
Comfort operating in a fast-moving startup environment with limited internal infrastructure
Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate deep technical concepts (power ceiling, TCO, performance-per-watt) for both engineering and executive audiences.
Heavy use of AI skills and technology to drive efficiency in your role.
Willingness to travel regularly for customer visits and industry events

Responsibilities

Own and grow a book of business across hyperscalers, neocloud/inference-as-a-service providers, enterprises, and frontier model vendors in the US
Manage complex, technical sales cycles involving infrastructure engineering, procurement, capacity planning, and executive stakeholders
Navigate the layered routes to market inside each account - direct commercial relationship with the buyer, the OEM/ODM partners who build and integrate the physical systems, and any channel or qualification process the buyer runs for compute suppliers
Translate technical differentiation (power ceiling as revenue ceiling, performance-per-watt, TCO versus incumbent GPU/accelerator options) into commercial outcomes at hyperscaler and neocloud scale
Identify and close capacity commitments and design-in opportunities, from technical evaluation through deployment
Build and manage a qualified pipeline, forecast accurately, and report progress through Salesforce
Represent Axelera at industry events, customer visits, and technical reviews
Partner closely with product, field applications engineering, and marketing to shape go-to-market strategy for new silicon launches
Create, negotiate, and drive contracts through to close, working with legal and finance as needed