Founding Account Executive, Akai

Who we are is what we do.

Deel is the all-in-one payroll and HR platform for global teams. Our vision is to unlock global opportunity for every person, team, and business. Built for the way the world works today, Deel combines HRIS, payroll, compliance, benefits, performance, and equipment management into one seamless platform. With AI-powered tools and a fully owned payroll infrastructure, Deel supports every worker type in 150+ countries—helping businesses scale smarter, faster, and more compliantly.

Among the largest globally distributed companies in the world, our team of 7,000 spans more than 100 countries, speaks 74 languages, and brings a connected and dynamic culture that drives continuous learning and innovation for our customers.

Why should you be part of our success story?

As the fastest-growing Software as a Service (SaaS) company in history, Deel is transforming how global talent connects with world-class companies – breaking down borders that have traditionally limited both hiring and career opportunities. We're not just building software; we're creating the infrastructure for the future of work, enabling a more diverse and inclusive global economy. In 2024 alone, we paid $11.2 billion to workers in nearly 100 currencies and provided healthcare and benefits to workers in 109 countries—ensuring people get paid and protected, no matter where they are.

Our momentum is reflected in our achievements and customer satisfaction: CNBC Disruptor 50,  Forbes Cloud 100, Deloitte Fast 500, and repeated recognition on Y Combinator's top companies list – all while maintaining a 4.83 average rating from 15,000 reviews across G2, Trustpilot, Captera, Apple and Google.

Your experience at Deel will be a career accelerator. At the forefront of the global work revolution, you'll tackle complex challenges that impact millions of people's working lives. With our momentum—backed by a $17.3 billion valuation and $1 B in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in just over five years—you'll drive meaningful impact while building expertise that makes you a sought-after leader in the transformation of global work.

Founding Account Executive, AkaiWho we are is what we do.

Akai by Deel is the agent platform built for your operations. We build cutting-edge AI technology to automate the manual, repetitive work that operational teams grind through every day — the work that doesn’t have an API, doesn’t have a clean integration, and doesn’t get solved by traditional automation.

We built Akai out of Deel’s own frustration. To run one of the most complex financial structures in the world — transacting billions of dollars per month across 170+ countries — we needed agents that could operate the same systems our teams do, only faster, more accurately, and without the burnout. Nothing on the market did it. So we built it ourselves and it worked. Now we’re bringing it to every operations team that’s been told to “just hire more people” to clear the queue.

Why should you be part of our success story?

As the fastest-growing Software as a Service (SaaS) company in history, Deel is transforming how global talent connects with world-class companies – breaking down borders that have traditionally limited both hiring and career opportunities. We’re not just building software; we’re creating the infrastructure for the future of work, enabling a more diverse and inclusive global economy. In 2024 alone, we paid $11.2 billion to workers in nearly 100 currencies and provided healthcare and benefits to workers in 109 countries—ensuring people get paid and protected, no matter where they are.

Our momentum is reflected in our achievements and customer satisfaction: CNBC Disruptor 50, Forbes Cloud 100, Deloitte Fast 500, and repeated recognition on Y Combinator’s top companies list – all while maintaining a 4.83 average rating from 15,000 reviews across G2, Trustpilot, Capterra, Apple and Google.

Your experience at Deel will be a career accelerator. At the forefront of the global work revolution, you’ll tackle complex challenges that impact millions of people’s working lives. With our momentum—backed by a $17.3 billion valuation and $1B in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in just over five years—you’ll drive meaningful impact while building expertise that makes you a sought-after leader in the transformation of global work.

About Akai

Akai was built internally to solve a problem we had ourselves. Running payroll, compliance, and finance operations across 170+ countries means living inside hundreds of government portals, banking interfaces, and legacy systems that will never expose an API. Our own teams were drowning in it. So we built Akai to put agents on those workflows and give the time back.

It worked internally and the interest from customers and prospects who wanted the same thing started immediately. Today Akai is going to market with a product and roadmap that puts us at the front of the operational AI agent category.

This is a founding GTM role. You’ll be the first dedicated Account Executive on the team — hunting net new logos, expanding accounts, and helping shape how Akai goes to market. We practice what we preach: we dogfood our own product, run our own GTM motion through Akai, and expect you to do the same.

Responsibilities

• Own a greenfield target account list across Akai’s ICPs, ranging from scale-ups to multinational enterprises

• Hunt. Build pipeline through outbound prospecting, creative multi-channel outreach, and relentless follow-up. Inbound demand is strong but you don’t wait for it

• Run the full sales cycle end-to-end: discovery, technical demo, business case, procurement, and close — selling into Operations, AI, and Finance teams

• Translate a technical, agent-based product into clear, simple business outcomes for non-technical buyers

• Expand existing accounts by identifying new workflows, teams, and use cases where Akai can automate

• Partner closely with Product, Engineering and FDE to shape the offering based on what you hear in the market — your feedback loop is short and direct

• Use Akai itself, plus the cutting-edge AI tooling we ship across the company, to automate and compound your own workflow

• Keep CRM and pipeline data clean and current so the team learns from every motion

Requirements

• 4–6 years of full sales cycle experience in SaaS or a technology company, with meaningful exposure to AI, generative AI, LLM-based products, agent platforms, or API products

• Top percentile attainment — a documented track record of exceeding quota in a fast-paced, high-velocity environment. We’re hiring killers, not coasters

• Proven success developing greenfield territories and landing net new logos — you’ve done zero-to-one before and you want to do it again

• Experience selling technical solutions to Operations, AI, Finance, Product, Engineering, or Innovation teams

• Hunter mentality. Outbound is muscle memory. You don’t take no for an answer and you don’t wait to be handed pipeline

• Genuine, demonstrable passion for AI in the world of work — you follow the frontier models, you have opinions on agents, you’ve already rebuilt parts of your own workflow with AI before anyone asked you to

• Sharp technical aptitude — you pick up new products fast and can explain complex systems in simple language

• Detail-oriented and creative — you think outside the box on prospecting, deal strategy, and account expansion

• Excellent written and verbal communication; you can hold the room with a CFO and a Head of AI in the same call

• A hunger to build from the ground up inside groundbreaking technology — you want founding-team energy, not a seat in a machine that already runs

Total Rewards

Our workforce deserves fair and competitive pay that meets them where they are. With scalable benefits, rewards, and perks, our total rewards programs reflect our commitment to inclusivity and access for all.

• Our salary range reflects gross base salary. For commercial roles with commission eligibility, this figure represents On-Target Earnings (OTE), inclusive of base salary and target commission.

• Salary ranges are quoted in USD as a consistent global reference. Your offer will be localized to your country's currency using a market-aligned conversion.

• Final pay is based on objective, job-related criteria including experience, skills, and location.

• We don't ask about salary history. Offers are based on the role and what you bring to it.

Some things you'll enjoy

• Stock grant opportunities dependent on your role, employment status and location

• Additional perks and benefits based on your employment status and country

• The flexibility of remote work, including optional WeWork access

At Deel, we're an equal-opportunity employer that values diversity and positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of  race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy or maternity or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Unless otherwise agreed, we will communicate with job applicants using Deel-specific emails, which include @deel.com and other acquired company emails like @payspace.com and @paygroup.com. You can view the most up-to-date job listings at Deel by visiting our careers page.

Deel welcomes persons with disabilities to apply to any of our open roles. We will provide application and/or interview accommodations on request throughout the recruitment, selection and assessment process for applicants with disabilities or other needs. If you require application and/or interview accommodations, please inform our Talent Acquisition Team via email (recruiting@deel.com) and a team member will be in touch to ensure your equal participation. 

As part of our hiring process, we primarily rely on interviews and role-related assessments. In limited cases, we may also consider informal background information relevant to the role, in line with our privacy and fairness obligations.

This application process may utilise Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT) and AI systems to assist in evaluating candidates based on experience level, technical skills and qualifications. This processing is conducted in compliance with applicable Data Protection, AI Governance and Labour Laws. We ensure human oversight is maintained in all final hiring decisions. Your personal data is not used to train AI models. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.

• For NYC Residents: In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, an independent bias audit has been conducted on AEDT