Founding In-Market Account Executive
Hey there!
Lemon.io is planting a flag in San Francisco, and we're looking for the person to carry it. This is our first in-market, full-cycle Senior AE, a founding seat that reports directly to the President and helps build and execute the growth plan for the most important tech market on earth.
You sell best in person; at the conference, over dinner, or in the meeting you landed. This is your market to own. We hand you the pipeline engine, the budget, and the mandate. You build the book.
Why Lemon.io
We're a bootstrapped, fast-growing developer marketplace connecting top-tier vetted developers with companies building and scaling their tech. We're moving upmarket — from "staff a role" to "deliver an outcome" with embedded engineers, Forward-Deployed Engineers (FDEs), and outcome-based project work. Our CEO is hands-on, our culture is transparent, and our eNPS sits at 82. We work hard and have fun doing it.
We've tested the in-person motion, and it converts at roughly twice our remote rate. So we're building around it, starting with you.
Why this role is different
Most AE jobs hand you a territory, a script, and a Zoom link. This one hands you a city and a mandate. You report to the President, your wins are visible company-wide from day one, and your read of the market becomes company strategy. You won't inherit a playbook, but you'll help write the one every future market runs on.
Who you'll be selling to
What we solve: We help companies skip long, costly hiring cycles by matching them with pre-vetted senior developers in 24–48 hours, and increasingly, by delivering full outcomes through FDEs and project-based teams.
Stage & size: Moving upmarket; funded startups through Series A–C, plus enterprise software and technology accounts.
Verticals: SaaS, AI/ML, fintech, healthtech, marketplaces.
Buyer: People who own engineering and building; founders, CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Heads of Product.
Sales cycle: Longer and more relationship-led than our core velocity motion. You're earning trust with senior buyers on larger, outcome-based deals. Typical cycle will be 3 months.
Team & reporting.
You'll report directly to the President and help shape strategy, targets, and where we play. You're not alone on the pipeline: our SDR team, Founder BDR, and 3rd-party outreach partner drive strong demand for in-person meetings + we leverage event and conference attendee lists you help source. That frees you to spend your time where it matters most in the room, in discovery, and closing, but self-generating meetings is also part of the job.
Key Responsibilities
Own the market. Register for and work every conference, summit, and demo day worth attending in the Bay. Turn attendee lists into booked meetings and become a known face on the SF tech circuit within a quarter.
Sell across the table. Coffees, lunches, dinners, whiteboard sessions, events, and entertainment. You know how to use hospitality to build real relationships, and you're funded to do it.
Close and grow. Run the full cycle: discovery, scoping, demo, negotiation, close - then expand usage, drive repeat business, and turn happy clients into referrals.
Self-source with pride. Marketing, SDRs, the BDR, and outbound feed you pipeline, and you still book plenty of your own. The best field AEs never wait for the phone to ring.
Build the growth plan. Partner with the President on strategy and bring the market intel that sharpens targeting, positioning, and where we go next.
Manage pipeline & KPIs. Maintain a structured pipeline, forecast accurately, and hit conversion, revenue, and growth targets.
Collaborate cross-functionally. Work with Product, Marketing, CDX, and Developer Matching to align solutions with client needs.
What success looks like
Month 3: In-market and ramped; working the event circuit, pipeline building, first deals closing.
Month 6–12: Consistently exceeding quota, expanding accounts, and turning your in-person motion into a repeatable playbook we take to the next city.
Qualifications
5+ years of full-cycle B2B sales with a demonstrable, quantifiable track record of over-performance against plan, period. You can walk us through your quota, attainment, and biggest wins with specifics, not adjectives.
A field seller at heart - outside sales, in-person, relationship-driven. You close eye-to-eye, and it energizes you.
Bay Area–based and Bay Area–wired. You know the SF tech ecosystem, or you'll own it within 90 days. A network here is a strong plus.
A builder. You've been early at something before, or you've wanted to be. Ambiguity is oxygen.
Fluent in the buyer - you can hold a real conversation with a founder or engineering leader about hiring pain, roadmap, and what outcome-based delivery means for them.
Sharp qualification instincts - efficient discovery, quick signal-vs-noise judgment.
Fluent English (all company-wide communication is in English).
Hands-on with HubSpot, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, Slack, and Notion.
Compensation
USD base [120-150]
Commission: % of revenue with accelerators above quota, fully uncapped
What we offer
USD salary + uncapped commission
An expensed events, travel, and entertainment budget; the tools of the trade, funded
14 vacation days + 7 sick days
Annual reimbursements for health, self-development, travel, home office, and mental wellness
A founding seat with a direct line to the President and real influence over how we grow
Selection process
Screening call with a recruiter
Call with the President
Reference check
Call with founders