Director of Sales - Enterprise AI

About Us Axelera AI https://www.axelera.ai is not your regular deep-tech company, we design AI inference silicon spanning edge and enterprise deployments, built on a low-power architecture that delivers strong performance-per-watt from embedded devices up through large-scale inference infrastructure. We're building out our US presence to bring this technology directly to the American compute buyers who feel power and TCO constraints most acutely: hyperscalers, neoclouds, and frontier model vendors. Our product line spans today's shipping edge inference platforms through our next-generation architecture purpose-built for large-scale inference economics, and we're scaling our Americas commercial team to land it with these customers. We are creating the next-generation AI platform to support anyone who wants to help advance humanity and improve the world around us. In just five years, we have raised a total of $450 million and built a world-class team of 250+ employees (including 60+ PhDs with more than 40,000 citations). While headquartered at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Netherlands, we are investing heavily in growing our footprint across the US to be close to the customers and partners driving the next wave of AI infrastructure. Our commitment to innovation has firmly established us as a global industry pioneer, and the US is central to that next chapter. Are you up for the challenge? Position Overview We're looking for a Director of Sales to own new business and account growth across hyperscalers, neocloud/inference-as-a-service providers, enterprises, and frontier AI labs in the Americas. This is a hands-on, quota-carrying role for someone who has sold complex semiconductor or compute infrastructure before and knows how to navigate long, technical, multi-stakeholder sales cycles - from technical evaluation through capacity commitment and deployment at scale. These deals rarely fit one route to market cleanly - a direct relationship with the buyer, an OEM/ODM layer building the physical systems, and the buyer's own supplier qualification process are usually all in play at once. You need to understand how those pieces interact, not just have experience in each individually. Success in this role depends on relationships you already have - decision-makers and technical buyers at target accounts who will take your call on day one. Key responsibilities: - Own and grow a book of business across hyperscalers, neocloud/inference-as-a-service providers, enterprises, and frontier model vendors in the US - Manage complex, technical sales cycles involving infrastructure engineering, procurement, capacity planning, and executive stakeholders - Navigate the layered routes to market inside each account - direct commercial relationship with the buyer, the OEM/ODM partners who build and integrate the physical systems, and any channel or qualification process the buyer runs for compute suppliers - Translate technical differentiation (power ceiling as revenue ceiling, performance-per-watt, TCO versus incumbent GPU/accelerator options) into commercial outcomes at hyperscaler and neocloud scale - Identify and close capacity commitments and design-in opportunities, from technical evaluation through deployment - Build and manage a qualified pipeline, forecast accurately, and report progress through Salesforce - Represent Axelera at industry events, customer visits, and technical reviews - Partner closely with product, field applications engineering, and marketing to shape go-to-market strategy for new silicon launches - Create, negotiate, and drive contracts through to close, working with legal and finance as needed Qualifications: - 10–15+ years of semiconductor or compute infrastructure sales experience, with a track record selling to hyperscalers, neoclouds, enterprises, and/or frontier AI labs - Fluency in how routes to market layer within a single account - direct commercial ownership of the buyer relationship, working through or alongside OEM/ODM system builders, and understanding any channel/qualification process the buyer runs — not just experience running separate direct, channel, and OEM motions in isolation - Existing relationships with US hyperscaler, neocloud, or frontier model vendor buyers - infrastructure, procurement, or technical leaders evaluating customer inference silicon - that you can activate quickly - Experience selling technical products with long, capacity-driven sales cycles, ideally AI/ML accelerators, GPUs, custom silicon, or related infrastructure - Prior experience at a semiconductor chip company or hyperscaler, neocloud, enterprise, or frontier lab accounts -established or startup - Comfort operating in a fast-moving startup environment with limited internal infrastructure - Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate deep technical concepts (power ceiling, TCO, performance-per-watt) for both engineering and executive audiences. Heavy use of AI skills and technology to drive efficiency in your role. - Willingness to travel regularly for customer visits and industry events What Success Looks Like in Year One - A qualified, forecastable pipeline built substantially from your own network across hyperscaler, neocloud, and frontier model accounts - At least one significant capacity commitment or design-in secured - Established presence at 2–3 key industry events representing Axelera Location This role is based in the Bay Area, CA. We currently offer a flexible remote setup, with the option to move to in-office work in the future as we establish our Bay Area office. What we offer  This is your chance to shape and be part of a dynamic, fast-growing, international organisation. We offer an attractive compensation package, including a pension plan, extensive employee insurances and the option to get company shares.    An open culture that supports creativity and continual innovation is awaiting you. Collaborative ownership and freedom with responsibility is characteristic for the way we act and work as a team.  At Axelera AI, we wholeheartedly embrace equal opportunity and hold diversity in the highest regard. Our steadfast commitment is to cultivate a warm and inclusive environment that empowers and celebrates every member of our team. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds to join us in shaping the future of AI.