VP of Sales

Upbound is the company behind Crossplane, the open source project which started the control plane revolution in the cloud native community. Upbound helps companies rise above the clouds with our Crossplane powered Universal Cloud Platform. With Upbound you get universal real-time visibility into all of your infrastructure environments, the same API centric approach Kubernetes pioneered for managing infrastructure and policies, and self service infrastructure capabilities.

As the VP of Sales at Upbound, you will play a pivotal role in driving revenue growth, developing and executing sales strategies, and leading a high-performance sales team. You will work closely with the leadership team and cross functionally with Marketing, Product and Engineering to refine and execute our go-to-market strategy. This role will, in part, focus on engaging customers within the AI ecosystem to provide platform solutions with Upbound proprietary products in addition to other PaaS and SaaS enterprise and mid market customers. Your mission will be to expand Upbound’s customer base, maximize sales pipeline, and nurture relationships with key stakeholders across our customer and prospect landscape.

In this role you will…

• Sales Strategy & Execution: Develop and implement a comprehensive sales strategy focused on driving revenue growth through targeting artificial intelligence companies and other verticals that require advanced cloud infrastructure orchestration.
• Customer Acquisition: Lead efforts to identify and secure new business, particularly with companies leveraging AI and platform solutions that depend on flexible and scalable cloud infrastructures.
• Team Leadership: Build, manage, and mentor a growing sales team. Establish performance metrics, conduct regular coaching sessions, and ensure alignment with company goals.
• Product & Market Expertise: Be the subject matter expert on Upbound’s suite of products, Crossplane technology, and the broader cloud orchestration landscape. Articulate the unique value proposition to customers and partners.
• Pipeline Management: Own the entire sales funnel from lead generation to closing, ensuring an optimized and efficient sales process. Utilize CRM tools to track progress and drive accountability.
• Collaborate Across Teams: Work closely with the marketing, product, and customer success teams to ensure a cohesive customer journey and a clear value proposition is communicated to prospects.
• Strategic Partnerships: Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships within the AI, cloud infrastructure, and DevOps communities that can bolster sales efforts and expand Upbound’s reach.
• Forecasting & Reporting: Provide accurate forecasting and regular reporting to the executive team on sales performance, key metrics, and market feedback.
• Enterprise Sales Focus: Understand and navigate complex sales cycles with enterprise-level customers, specifically focusing on industries that require complex cloud infrastructure and platform solutions.
• Travel: Participate in industry events, customer meetings, and conferences to represent Upbound, particularly those focused on cloud technologies and artificial intelligence.

You’re a good fit if you have…

• Proven Success as a Sales Leader: 8+ years of experience in B2B sales, with a focus on cloud infrastructure, SaaS, or enterprise software solutions.
• Industry Expertise: Demonstrated experience selling to companies across a spectrum of industries such as AI infrastructure, cloud infrastructure orchestration, PaaS/SaaS, and Enterprise. 
• Commercial Open Source: Successfully taken a product with an open source software component to market.
• Leadership Skills: 7+ years of experience managing and building high-performance sales teams in fast-paced startup environments.
• Deep Technical Knowledge: Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure orchestration, including Kubernetes, open-source technologies, and cloud-native architectures. Familiarity with Crossplane or adjacent technologies is a big plus.
• Customer-Centric: A track record of building strong relationships with customers, understanding their unique business challenges, and delivering solutions that align with their goals.
• Proven Success in a Startup: Experience scaling sales efforts in a high-growth, startup environment is essential.
• Excellent Communication Skills: Ability to clearly communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• CRM Proficiency: Experience using CRM tools (e.g. Salesforce) to track sales performance and manage the pipeline.

It’s a plus if you have…

• Experience with selling cloud orchestration tools or DevOps platforms to AI-focused organizations.
• Strong network within the artificial intelligence, cloud-native, and Kubernetes communities.

While building amazing technology is important, Upbound has an intense commitment to building a great culture. With company values like Be Accountable, Demonstrate Craftsmanship, Champion the Customer, Collaborate Decisively, Care For Our Communities, Act as an Owner and Engage Vulnerability; you'll find yourself in a place where learning, growth, impact, and fun finally intersect. Similar to the open source community we serve, we look to each other to constantly iterate and improve on what we're building and you will be a key contributor in this effort.

We encourage people of all backgrounds, gender identities, ethnicities, ages, or any other descriptors that make you uniquely you, to apply with enthusiasm and confidence.  Upbound is a place where you can be 100% comfortable being you.