Head of Sales, Lambda Cloud

Lambda•San Francisco, CA

3d•$276,000 - $315,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Lambda is building the cloud infrastructure that powers the frontier of AI. As AI workloads grow in scale and complexity, enterprises, research labs, and hyperscalers need a cloud provider that can deliver GPU capacity with reliability, flexibility, and speed. Lambda Cloud is that provider — and we're looking for a Head of Sales to lead the commercial engine that brings it to market. This is a senior leadership role reporting directly to the GM of Lambda Cloud. You will own the sales motion end-to-end: building and managing a high-performing sales team, designing the commercial frameworks that make deals possible, and being the connective tissue between customer demand and Lambda's product and capacity roadmap. You'll be equally comfortable negotiating a nine-figure enterprise commitment and coaching a junior AE through their first pipeline review. This is not a role for someone who wants to manage from a distance. Lambda Cloud is in a pivotal growth phase, and the Head of Sales will be a key voice in how we scale — not just in revenue, but in how we operate, how we prioritize, and how we show up for customers.

Requirements

12+ years of B2B enterprise sales experience, with at least 4 years in a sales leadership role managing quota-carrying teams
Deep domain experience in cloud infrastructure, GPU compute, or AI/ML infrastructure — you understand what you're selling and can credibly engage with both technical and business buyers
Demonstrated track record of building and scaling enterprise sales teams from an early stage, including designing territory models, compensation structures, and sales processes
Experience owning and closing large, complex deals ($10M+ TCV) with long sales cycles, multiple stakeholders, and custom commercial terms
Strong command of pipeline management and forecasting methodology — you run disciplined reviews, understand degradation signals, and hold your team accountable to forecast accuracy
Experience working cross-functionally with product, finance, and operations in a fast-moving environment where sales and capacity planning are tightly coupled
Excellent communication and executive presence — able to represent Lambda externally at the C-suite level and internally as a peer to engineering and product leadership
Demonstrated ability to build feedback loops between sales and product, translating customer signal into actionable input rather than anecdote
Exposure to cloud marketplace channels (GCP, AWS, Azure Marketplace) as a distribution mechanism
Experience in a player-coach sales model where you personally own strategic accounts while managing a team

Nice To Haves

Experience selling GPU cloud or HPC capacity specifically, with familiarity in how frontier AI labs and hyperscalers evaluate and procure compute
Prior exposure to neocloud or infrastructure startup environments where product gaps are real and commercial creativity is required to compete against larger, more established players
Familiarity with Nvidia ecosystem, GPU cluster economics, and how customers think about CapEx vs. opex tradeoffs for AI infrastructure
Experience structuring and selling reserved capacity or long-duration committed use agreements
Existing relationships with infrastructure decision-makers at large enterprises with AI programs
Background working alongside or within a deal desk function, with hands-on experience structuring non-standard commercial terms

Responsibilities

Recruit, develop, and retain a team of enterprise account executives and sales support functions, setting a high bar for rigor, customer focus, and commercial creativity
Define and evolve pod/vertical structure for sales coverage — including assignment of sellers to segments across enterprises, AI-native startups, and developers — ensuring each segment has a clearly owned GTM motion
Establish clear performance expectations, coaching cadences, and career development frameworks that help individual sellers grow and succeed
Design and maintain scalable, flexible commercial terms that can accommodate a wide range of deal structures — from short-term on-demand credits to long-duration reserved capacity commitments
Partner with finance and legal to build a deal desk function capable of turning around complex enterprise quotes quickly without sacrificing margin discipline
Advise leadership on incentive compensation structure for the sales team, balancing bookings, revenue, and strategic account objectives
Own and close a portfolio of strategic accounts personally where executive presence and relationships are a differentiator
Drive a rigorous weekly and monthly pipeline review cadence, including systematic evaluation of pipeline degradation — identifying deals at risk, understanding root causes, and taking corrective action
Maintain accurate, real-time forecasting discipline across the team, ensuring Lambda leadership has reliable signal on near-term and long-term revenue trajectory
Develop early warning indicators and pipeline health metrics that help the team get ahead of slippage before it becomes a miss
Work with finance and accounting teams to drive MBR/QBR
Work closely with infrastructure and capacity planning teams to translate customer demand signals into GPU capacity allocation decisions, helping Lambda deploy capital where it will generate the highest commercial return
Manage the assignment and prioritization of salable GPU capacity across customer segments and deal types, balancing short-term revenue with strategic account development
Collaborate with the GM and product teams to surface customer demand patterns that should inform capacity investment and site expansion decisions
Systematically gather and synthesize customer feedback on GPU availability, pricing, product features, and service quality, and channel that input into product management with the specificity needed to drive action
Serve as the commercial voice of the customer in internal roadmap and prioritization discussions, advocating for features and capabilities that will open new revenue opportunities or protect existing ones
Build strong relationships with technical buyers and economic decision-makers at key accounts, developing a deep understanding of their infrastructure roadmaps and where Lambda can grow share of wallet
Coordinate with marketing on demand generation, event strategy, and account-based programs that fill the top of the funnel for enterprise segments
Collaborate with commercial/technical partnership team to Identify and develop channel and reseller relationships — including cloud marketplace channels (e.g. GCP Marketplace, AWS Marketplace) — that extend Lambda's commercial reach
Work with business development on strategic partnership opportunities that have commercial implications for Lambda Cloud revenue
Partner with marketing to identify and lock-in customer references spanning case studies, logo placements, podcasts, and other critical reusable collateral