Founding GTM Lead

Contra•San Francisco, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Contra Labs is a human-centered AI lab focused on creative and multimodal outputs, where human taste defines the next generation of AI capabilities. We build industry-leading creative preference datasets that power benchmarking, evaluation, and post-training for the world’s leading AI models and applications. Our work helps define what “good” looks like across design, video, imagery, and beyond. Built on top of Contra, the professional network for independent creatives, Contra Labs connects frontier AI labs with a global network of top creative talent. Together, we turn human judgment into the training and evaluation layer that enables AI models and tools to power the next generation of human creativity. This role will own full-cycle sales (0 → 1 → expansion), build pipeline across AI labs, creative AI apps, and research teams, and run sharp, consultative sales processes. You will turn ambiguous problems into clear, scoped deals and drive repeat revenue through strong outcomes. Additionally, you will own early GTM, contributing to positioning, messaging, identifying wedge use cases, and building repeatable sales motions. You will also contribute to distribution by creating case studies, benchmarks, and social proof, feeding insights into launches and inbound efforts, and feeding learnings back into product and GTM strategies to establish Contra Labs as the authority on creative evaluation.

Requirements

Founding AE / GTM operator — you build, not just execute
You create pipeline and momentum, not wait for it
Comfortable selling ambiguous, non-binary value (quality, taste, experience)
Strong at discovery + framing messy problems
Strong at running sharp, unscripted conversations
Strong at closing complex, non-obvious deals
Can operate across technical buyers (ML, research) and creative stakeholders (design, product)
You think beyond the deal: patterns → positioning conversations → repeatable GTM
High ownership, low ego, moves fast
Experience selling into AI / ML teams
Experience selling into dev tools
Experience selling into creative tooling
Experience in early-stage or ambiguous environments (0→1 or close)
Familiar with (or excited to learn) preference-based evaluation, calibration, benchmarking, quality systems
Comfortable building and executing from scratch: pipeline, messaging + sales materials, early pricing / packaging
Based in San Francisco, CA

Responsibilities

Own full-cycle sales (0 → 1 → expansion)
Build pipeline across AI labs, creative AI apps, and research teams
Run sharp, consultative sales processes across ML / research teams and product + creative leaders
Turn ambiguous problems (“this feels off”) into clear, scoped deals
Sell across dataset creation, benchmarking + evaluation programs, and ongoing quality systems
Close pilots → expand into long-term programs
Drive repeat revenue through strong outcomes
Own early GTM: turn conversations into positioning + messaging
Identify wedge use cases
Build repeatable sales motions
Contribute to distribution: turn work into case studies, benchmarks, and social proof
Feed insights into launches and inbound
Feed learnings back into product + GTM
Help establish Contra Labs as the authority on creative evaluation