Inside Sales Rep, Austin, Texas

Aiven•Austin, TX

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Aiven is seeking an Inside Sales Representative for their Customer Growth team in North America. This role is crucial for the company's growth and profitability, focusing on becoming a trusted data platform. The company operates with a customer-first philosophy and utilizes the V2MOM framework and 'Crabby Principles' to guide their work. This position is a closing role responsible for the full sales cycle, from initial engagement to signed contract, targeting companies under $250M in revenue and converting users from Aiven's self-service and trial base. The role emphasizes product-led growth and inside sales execution, requiring the ability to convert high-intent signals into revenue. Success is measured by closing new logos, achieving ARR targets, qualifying opportunities, and generating qualified pipeline through various channels. The role involves engaging technical decision-makers and requires a disciplined approach to sales, understanding how to convert product usage into commercial commitment.

Requirements

1-3 years of success in inside sales or SDR/BDR roles with demonstrated progression and quota attainment.
Proven ability to close deals independently — not just qualify and hand off, but own the full cycle through contract signature.
Track record of consistent quota attainment (90-100%+) in a high-velocity sales environment.
Experience with $15K-$50K ACV deal sizes and 30-90 day sales cycles.
Experience working PLG or trial conversion motions where product usage signals inform sales engagement.
Ability to read and interpret product usage data to prioritize outreach and qualify buying intent.
Understanding of how to add value to self-service users without being intrusive.
Comfort selling to technical buyers who have already evaluated the product and formed opinions.
Demonstrated ability to generate pipeline through outbound prospecting — cold calls, personalized emails, LinkedIn engagement, video messaging.
Experience working marketing-sourced leads with rapid follow-up and disciplined qualification.
Ability to maintain high activity levels (80+ weekly touches) while preserving quality and personalization.
Strong research skills using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, Crunchbase, 6sense, or similar tools to identify trigger events and buying signals.
Familiarity with MEDDPICC, MEDDIC, or similar qualification frameworks — formal training preferred but not required if you demonstrate structured qualification discipline.
Ability to document qualification evidence in CRM, not just self-assessed confidence scores.
Understanding of the difference between activity and progress — you measure yourself on qualified pipeline and closed revenue, not calls made or emails sent.
Familiarity with data infrastructure, cloud services, and developer tools sufficient to have credible conversations with technical buyers.
Ability to learn technical concepts quickly and translate them into business value for different buyer personas.
Interest in open-source technologies and the developer ecosystem.
Excellent verbal communication for discovery calls, demos, and negotiations conducted primarily via video and phone.
Strong written communication for personalized outreach, follow-up emails, and proposal summaries.
Ability to simplify complex technical concepts into clear value statements for different audiences.
Professional presence that builds credibility with technical decision-makers.
Self-driven and disciplined.
Competitive without being political.
Coachable — you actively seek feedback, incorporate it quickly, and demonstrate improvement over time.
Resilient — you handle rejection and setbacks without losing momentum or making excuses.
Ownership mentality.
Willingness to travel 10-20% for field events, team meetings, and customer engagements as needed.

Nice To Haves

Formal training in MEDDPICC, MEDDIC, or similar qualification frameworks.

Responsibilities

Close 10 new logos annually at $25K average ARR, delivering $300K in total ARR against your annual quota.
Own the full sales cycle from initial engagement through contract signature—discovery, qualification, demo, proposal, negotiation, close.
Execute 30-60 day sales cycles with discipline and urgency.
Maintain 85%+ forecast accuracy at commit through evidence-based qualification and disciplined pipeline management.
Monitor and prioritize trial activations, self-service usage, and consumption patterns to identify high-intent prospects ready for sales engagement.
Engage self-service users demonstrating expansion signals—increased cluster usage, new service adoption, team account additions—and convert them to committed contracts.
Develop expertise in reading product usage data to qualify buying intent.
Execute speed-to-lead on PLG conversions.
Qualify 6 opportunities per month (72 annually) using the MEDDPICC framework.
Generate $1.4M in qualified pipeline annually through outbound prospecting, PLG conversion, field events, and digital marketing campaign follow-up.
Execute 80-100+ weekly prospecting touches across calls, emails, LinkedIn, and video messaging to secure meetings with target personas.
Work marketing-sourced leads from digital campaigns, content programs, and field events with rapid follow-up and qualification discipline.
Build and maintain target account lists of 75-100 ideal customer profile companies within your territory.
Build relationships with technical decision-makers like Engineering Managers, Platform Leads, Senior Engineers, DevOps Managers, and Data Engineering Leads.
Position Aiven's value in terms that matter to technical buyers: reduced operational overhead, faster time-to-production, developer productivity, and infrastructure reliability.
Challenge the status quo of customers' current data infrastructure and demonstrate how Aiven delivers better outcomes.
Conduct compelling product demonstrations that connect platform capabilities to specific customer pain points and use cases.
Rigorously qualify all opportunities using the MEDDPICC framework to ensure pipeline quality and forecast accuracy.
Maintain complete MEDDPICC documentation in Salesforce for every qualified opportunity.
Manage opportunities with stage-appropriate evidence.
Forecast based on evidence, not optimism.
Become expert in Aiven's platform and open-source technologies: Kafka, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, ClickHouse, Valkey, and Grafana.
Articulate business value in concrete terms: reduced operational overhead (40-60%), faster time-to-production (3-5x), infrastructure cost optimization (30-50%).
Maintain Command of the Message when conveying Aiven's value proposition.
Tailor messaging to buyer context.
Partner with Solution Architects on technical validation for qualified opportunities.
Coordinate with Marketing on campaign follow-up, event participation, and lead quality feedback.
Provide product feedback based on customer conversations to inform roadmap priorities.
Collaborate with Customer Success on smooth handoffs for closed accounts.
Consistently meet and exceed monthly, quarterly, and annual quotas.
Maintain minimum 3x pipeline coverage against quarterly targets with balanced distribution across the quarter.
Take complete ownership of your territory and results.

Benefits

Competitive base salary + commission structure with accelerators for overachievement
Participate in Aiven's equity plan
Hybrid work policy
Equipment to set yourself up for success
Employer support for career development (learning platforms, annual learning budget)
Global Employee Assistance Program for holistic wellbeing support
Paid time to contribute to meaningful open-source projects (Plankton program)
Up to 5 days per year to volunteer for a good cause
Join team member resource groups
Comprehensive health insurance options including dental and vision benefits
Life and AD&D insurance
Health savings account with Aiven contributions
Short and long term disability plans
401(k) and Roth 401(k) retirement plans