Sales Executive, Applied AI, Cloudera

Cloudera•US-Texas-Remote, TX

4d•Remote

About The Position

At Cloudera, the Applied AI Sales Executive sells a Cloudera-supported OEM version of Mistral together with Cloudera Anywhere Cloud. The offering provides models, deployment, and support within customers’ existing Cloudera environments, as well as Sovereign AI Models for new customers. The role owns enterprise deals end to end, from initial engagement and proof of concept through negotiation, close, and expansion. The Sales Executive is the commercial owner for external stakeholders and coordinates internal customer engineering, product, legal, implementation, and executive sponsors, working alongside Cloudera’s account executives who oversee the broader client relationship. The goal is to grow new and expansion subscription revenue and establish AI as a durable part of customers’ data strategies. The position develops and manages pipeline, forecasts accurately, and pursues quarterly and annual goals for new and expansion subscriptions, renewals, and related services. It introduces and grows enterprise accounts and strategic prospects, leads complex transactions, qualifies opportunities, and creates plans that connect the Mistral offering to customer priorities, technology footprints, growth plans, and competitive environments. The Sales Executive leads structured, time-bound proofs of concept with implementation and technical teams, then converts successful evaluations into long-term agreements. This involves connecting model performance, deployment options, governance, and support to customers’ operating needs on Cloudera; explaining how the offering fits the Cloudera platform; coordinating technical specialists; aligning customer and internal stakeholders; negotiating agreements; and building executive consensus. The role also brings market and field intelligence back to the company and retains overall account and customer-success ownership while engaging domain and technical specialists.

Requirements

At least 8 years of enterprise software sales experience, with a record of exceeding quota on complex, consultative deals.
Comfort engaging and negotiating with senior C-level stakeholders.
Experience selling highly technical products; data management, data platforms, analytics, or AI infrastructure experience is ideal.
Familiarity with public cloud, hybrid architectures, and modern infrastructure such as containers and Kubernetes, sufficient to guide technical discussions and know when to involve specialists.
Meaningful exposure to the AI ecosystem or adjacent data and infrastructure markets.
Strong negotiation skills, written communication, and executive presence.
English proficiency is required.
Ability to operate as the commercial owner within a matrix, partnering with portfolio account executives, partner sales teams, implementation specialists, solution engineers, product, and legal.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

A degree in business, computer science, or a related field.
Experience in a startup-paced environment combined with large-enterprise processes.
Additional languages, such as French, German, or Spanish, for multinational accounts.

Responsibilities

Develop and manage pipeline, forecast accurately, and pursue quarterly and annual goals for new and expansion software subscriptions, renewals, and related services for Mistral and Cloudera Anywhere Cloud.
Coordinate account plans with Cloudera’s primary account executives and Mistral partner sales team.
Introduce and grow designated enterprise accounts and strategic prospects, aligning plans with company objectives and customer priorities in data, analytics, and AI.
Lead large, multi-threaded transactions and maintain commercial control of deals while coordinating specialists.
Conduct strategic outbound prospecting and convert qualified inbound opportunities into broader, potentially multi-year agreements.
Use warm introductions, installed-base relationships, and partner channels to engage data, AI, innovation, and C-suite leaders.
Develop account and opportunity plans that connect the Mistral offering to customers’ technology footprints, growth plans, and competitive landscapes.
Lead structured, time-boxed proofs of concept with implementation and technical teams, tied to commercial outcomes.
Convert successful proofs of concept into long-term contracts by relating model performance, deployment options, governance, and support to customer needs.
Explain how the OEM Mistral offering fits the Cloudera platform, including data under management, security, and hybrid operations, and coordinate specialists on technical questions while retaining account ownership.
Align customer engineering, product, commercial, and legal stakeholders on both sides, including executive stakeholders.
Negotiate agreements end to end with legal and implementation support.
Build consensus among executive sponsors, influencers, and decision-makers, and position the offering within strategic AI and data initiatives.
Share field intelligence about use cases, objections, competitive activity, and deployment constraints to inform roadmap priorities and sales plays.
Introduce domain and technical specialists while retaining overall account responsibility and customer-success ownership.