Director of Sales Development

WHAT YOU’LL DO: We’re seeking a high-impact, results-driven Director of Sales to lead an agency sales team in NYC. This is a key leadership role within Viant, where you’ll mentor and empower a high-performing team of sellers to drive new business and deepen client relationships across hold cos and independent agencies in the NY and tri-state markets. In this fast-paced, collaborative environment, you’ll play a vital role in growing our presence and revenue in the region. If you're a hands-on leader who thrives on coaching others to succeed, building strategic partnerships, and closing big deals, we want to hear from you. THE DAY-TO-DAY: * Lead and inspire a team of sellers to exceed sales goals and deliver exceptional client outcomes. * Coach and mentor team members, providing ongoing guidance, training, and support to help them grow and succeed. * Drive new business, supporting the team in prospecting, pitching, and closing opportunities. * Build and maintain strong relationships with senior executives across brands and agencies. * Partner with internal teams (Account Management, Client Services) to ensure seamless onboarding and long-term client success. * Provide clear revenue forecasting and market insights to inform company strategy. * Guide discovery sessions and storytelling product demos that highlight Viant’s value proposition. * Participate in industry events and serve as a brand ambassador for Viant in the market. * Deliver customer feedback to internal stakeholders to support continuous product improvement.  GREAT TO HAVE: * 10+ years of experience in digital media or ad tech sales, ideally 4+ years in a leadership or team management role. * Proven success building and leading high-performing, quota-exceeding sales teams. * Strong understanding of the programmatic/DSP/data-driven advertising landscape. * Established network of agency and client-direct relationships across NY and the surrounding tri-state market. * Skilled communicator with experience leading senior-level client meetings. * Passionate about mentorship, professional development, and creating a winning team culture. * Organized, detail-oriented, and proficient in CRM tools like Salesforce. * Confident, driven, and motivated by helping others achieve their goals. LIFE AT VIANT Investing in our employee’s professional growth is important to us, but so is investing in their well-being. That’s why Viant was voted one of the best places to work and some of our favorite employee benefits include fully paid health insurance, paid parental leave and unlimited PTO and more.  Base compensation range: $170,000 - $210,000 In accordance with California law, the range provided is Viant’s reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role.  Final title and compensation for the position will be based on several factors including work experience and education.   #LI-AC1     About Viant   Viant Technology (NASDAQ: DSP) is an exclusively buy-side, AI-powered advertising platform purpose-built for CTV. Viant uniquely combines proprietary content intelligence, household-level identity resolution, and person-level attention signals to connect advertisers with real customers and drive measurable outcomes across the open internet. Through its award-winning AI solutions, Viant is building the future of autonomous advertising, where AI doesn't just assist the campaign, it delivers real results. Learn more at viantinc.com.   Viant is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit.  Viant prohibits unlawful discrimination against employees or applicants based on race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective hairstyles), religion, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, reproductive health decision making, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, military status, veteran status, uniformed service member status, sexual orientation, transgender identity, citizenship status, pregnancy, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws.  Viant also prohibits unlawful discrimination based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics, or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.   By clicking “Apply for this Job” and providing any information, I accept the Viant California Personnel Privacy Notice. [https://www.viantinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Viant-2023-California-Personnel-Privacy-Notice-AMERICAS-1094795100-v11.pdf]

WHO WE ARE Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with less friction. Through our merger with Voltage Park, a neocloud and AI Factory, Lightning AI combines developer-first software with cost-efficient, large-scale compute. Teams get the tools they need for experimentation, training, and production inference, with security, observability, and control built in. We serve solo researchers, startups, and large enterprises. Lightning AI operates globally with offices in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and London, and is backed by Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute. THE WAY WE WORK The people who thrive here are builders who move fast, communicate openly, take ownership, and continuously improve themselves, their teams, and our company. Here's what that looks like in practice: * Move with Urgency: We move quickly, make thoughtful decisions, and keep momentum. We value action over perfection and learn by shipping. * Take Ownership: We own outcomes, not just our individual work. We make decisions that move the company forward and follow through. * Communicate Openly: We communicate directly, seek to understand, and create clarity for others. Honest conversations help us move faster together. * Build Great Teams: We lead by example, empower others, and create healthy teams where people can do their best work. * Raise the Bar: We're always improving ourselves. We learn from feedback, consistently challenge ourselves to grow, and focus on the work that matters most. * Think Long-Term: We design for what's next. We create scalable systems, simplify complexity, and use AI and automation to amplify our impact.   VP OF SALES Team: Revenue Location: [NYC / SF / Seattle / London] - Hybrid Reports to: VP, Sales or CRO ABOUT LIGHTNING AI Lightning AI is building the platform and infrastructure that make it dramatically easier for teams to develop, train, deploy, and scale AI systems. As the company behind PyTorch Lightning, and following our merger with Voltage Park, we bring together developer-first AI tooling with high-performance compute infrastructure for researchers, startups, and enterprises building at the frontier of AI. We operate with a simple set of values: Move Fast, Focus, Balance, Craftsmanship, and Minimal. We care about people who can operate with urgency, solve hard problems directly, and build with high standards without creating unnecessary complexity. ABOUT THE ROLE We are looking for a Sales Director to lead a high-performing enterprise sales team and help scale Lightning AI’s revenue engine across technical, strategic, and high-value accounts. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can coach complex enterprise selling, build durable operating rhythms, and help the team win with technical buyers across AI, infrastructure, engineering, research, and data organizations. WHAT YOU'LL DO *   Lead, coach, and scale a team of enterprise Account Executives focused on strategic and high-growth customers. *   Own team pipeline generation, forecast accuracy, deal inspection, and quota attainment. *   Build a rigorous sales operating cadence around territory planning, account strategy, pipeline creation, MEDDIC/MEDDPICC discipline, and executive alignment. *   Coach sellers through complex technical sales cycles involving ML leaders, infrastructure leaders, engineering executives, procurement, finance, and C-level stakeholders. *   Partner closely with ML Solutions Engineering, Customer Success, Partnerships, Marketing, Product, and Revenue Operations to create a repeatable enterprise GTM motion. *   Help define Lightning AI’s sales playbook for AI infrastructure, model development, training, deployment, and compute-intensive enterprise workloads. *   Identify blockers in the sales motion and build practical systems, content, inspection points, and feedback loops to remove them. *   Represent the voice of the customer internally and help shape product, packaging, pricing, and market positioning. *   Recruit and develop exceptional sales talent while building a culture of high accountability, curiosity, urgency, and craftsmanship. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR *   8+ years of enterprise technology sales experience, including 3+ years managing quota-carrying sellers. *   A track record of leading teams that consistently exceed target in complex, technical sales environments. *   Experience selling to technical buyers such as ML leaders, infrastructure leaders, CTOs, engineering executives, platform teams, or data organizations. *   Strong command of enterprise sales methodology, forecasting, deal inspection, pipeline generation, and multi-threaded account strategy. *   Ability to coach sellers on both strategic account planning and the practical details of running a deal well. *   Comfort operating in a fast-moving startup environment where the playbook is still being built. *   Clear communication, high judgment, and the ability to build trust quickly with executive customers and internal leaders. NICE-TO-HAVES *   Experience selling AI, cloud infrastructure, developer platforms, data platforms, MLOps, GPUs, or high-performance compute. *   Prior experience building a sales team or segment through a period of rapid growth. *   Deep familiarity with MEDDIC/MEDDPICC, command-of-the-message style positioning, or similar enterprise sales frameworks. *   Experience partnering closely with technical pre-sales or field engineering teams. WHY LIGHTNING AI *   You will help define how companies build and scale real AI systems, not just sell another generic software product. *   You will work with technical customers and teammates who care about speed, clarity, craft, and direct problem-solving. *   You will join a company with developer credibility, infrastructure ambition, and a GTM motion that is still early enough to shape.   We are committed to offering competitive compensation that reflects the value each team member brings to our mission. Final offers are based on factors such as experience, skills, geographic location, and role expectations. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package for eligible roles includes a discretionary bonus, a meaningful equity component, and comprehensive benefits. The anticipated annual base salary range for this role is: $450,000—$500,000 USD BENEFITS AND PERKS We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support our employees’ health, well-being, and long-term success: * Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and eligible dependents. * Meaningful Equity: RSUs that give employees a stake in the company's long-term success. * Retirement Savings: 401(k) matching (U.S.) and pension contributions (U.K.). * Flexible Time Off: Unlimited PTO, company holidays, and floating holidays to support work-life balance. * Company-Wide Winter Break: Two weeks of company closure each winter to disconnect and recharge. * Paid Parental & Family Leave: Paid leave to support you and your family through life's important moments. * Professional Development: Annual learning and development allowance to support your professional growth. * Wellness Benefits: Wellness and work-from-home stipends to support your physical and mental well-being. * Sabbatical Program: Four weeks of paid sabbatical leave after four years of service. * Flexible Work: Flexible schedules and a hybrid work model for our office-based teams. * In-Office Meals: Complimentary meals at our office hubs. Benefits may vary by location, team, and role.   At Lightning AI, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We believe that diverse teams drive innovation and create better products. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We are dedicated to building a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to their fullest potential.