Inside Sales Rep, Austin, Texas

About Aiven

Aiven is a global team of over 400 people working together to push the boundaries of open-source technology and multi-cloud solutions. Our vision is to become the trusted Data & AI Platform for everyone, leveraging popular open-source technologies to help companies accelerate time-to-market, drive efficiency, and build innovative solutions across any cloud.

About the Customer Growth Team

Our Customer Growth team plays a crucial role in our growth and profitability. We are dedicated to being the trusted data platform for everyone, with our sales, pre-sales, and post-sales teams driving rapid expansion. Our customer-first philosophy ensures that customers are at the center of everything we do, providing active support through collaboration, sharing, and innovation.

The Role: Inside Sales Representative, North America

As an Inside Sales Representative, you will drive new customer acquisition and revenue growth within high-velocity segments of the North American market. This is a closing role where you will own the full sales cycle from initial engagement through signed contract for companies under $250M in revenue, as well as PLG conversions from Aiven’s self-service and trial user base. This role operates at the intersection of product-led growth and inside sales execution, converting high-intent signals into qualified opportunities and closed revenue. You will also generate pipeline through outbound prospecting, field events, and digital marketing campaigns. The ability to read product usage data, prioritize based on buying signals, and execute fast sales cycles is essential.

Key Success Metrics

• Annual Quota: 10 closed new logos at $25K average ARR, delivering $300K in total ARR.
• Pipeline Generation: Qualify 6 opportunities per month (72 annually) using MEDDPICC standards, generating $1.4M in qualified pipeline annually.
• Sales Cycle: Target 30-60 day sales cycles.
• Activity: Execute 80-100+ weekly prospecting touches.

Responsibilities

Close New Business:

• Close 10 new logos annually at $25K average ARR, delivering $300K in total ARR against your annual quota.
• Own the full sales cycle from initial engagement through contract signature—discovery, qualification, demo, proposal, negotiation, close.
• Execute 30-60 day sales cycles with discipline and urgency.
• Maintain 85%+ forecast accuracy at commit through evidence-based qualification and disciplined pipeline management.

Convert PLG Signals into Revenue:

• Monitor and prioritize trial activations, self-service usage, and consumption patterns to identify high-intent prospects.
• Engage self-service users demonstrating expansion signals and convert them to committed contracts.
• Develop expertise in reading product usage data to qualify buying intent.
• Execute speed-to-lead on PLG conversions.

Generate Pipeline Through Multi-Channel Prospecting:

• Qualify 6 opportunities per month using the MEDDPICC framework.
• Generate $1.4M in qualified pipeline annually through outbound prospecting, PLG conversion, field events, and digital marketing campaign follow-up.
• Execute 80-100+ weekly prospecting touches across calls, emails, LinkedIn, and video messaging.
• Work marketing-sourced leads from digital campaigns, content programs, and field events with rapid follow-up.
• Build and maintain target account lists of 75-100 ideal customer profile companies.

Engage Technical Decision-Makers:

• Build relationships with Engineering Managers, Platform Leads, Senior Engineers, DevOps Managers, and Data Engineering Leads.
• Position Aiven’s value in terms of reduced operational overhead, faster time-to-production, developer productivity, and infrastructure reliability.
• Challenge the status quo of customers’ current data infrastructure and demonstrate how Aiven delivers better outcomes.
• Conduct compelling product demonstrations connecting platform capabilities to customer pain points.

Execute MEDDPICC Sales Process:

• Rigorously qualify all opportunities using the MEDDPICC framework.
• Maintain complete MEDDPICC documentation in Salesforce for every qualified opportunity.
• Manage opportunities with stage-appropriate evidence.
• Forecast based on evidence, not optimism.

Solution Selling & Value Articulation:

• Become an expert in Aiven’s platform and open-source technologies (Kafka, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, ClickHouse, Valkey, Grafana).
• Articulate business value in concrete terms (e.g., reduced operational overhead 40-60%, faster time-to-production 3-5x, infrastructure cost optimization 30-50%).
• Maintain Command of the Message when conveying Aiven’s value proposition.
• Tailor messaging to buyer context.

Collaborate Cross-Functionally:

• Partner with Solution Architects on technical validation.
• Coordinate with Marketing on campaign follow-up and lead quality feedback.
• Provide product feedback to inform roadmap priorities.
• Collaborate with Customer Success on smooth handoffs for closed accounts.

What We’re Looking For

Inside Sales Excellence:

• 1-3 years of success in inside sales or SDR/BDR roles with demonstrated progression and quota attainment.
• Proven ability to close deals independently, owning the full cycle through contract signature.
• Track record of consistent quota attainment (90-100%+) in a high-velocity sales environment.
• Experience with $15K-$50K ACV deal sizes and 30-90 day sales cycles.

PLG & Product-Led Sales Experience:

• Experience working PLG or trial conversion motions where product usage signals inform sales engagement.
• Ability to read and interpret product usage data to prioritize outreach and qualify buying intent.
• Understanding of how to add value to self-service users without being intrusive.
• Comfort selling to technical buyers who have already evaluated the product.

Prospecting & Pipeline Generation:

• Demonstrated ability to generate pipeline through outbound prospecting (cold calls, personalized emails, LinkedIn, video messaging).
• Experience working marketing-sourced leads with rapid follow-up and disciplined qualification.
• Ability to maintain high activity levels (80+ weekly touches) while preserving quality and personalization.
• Strong research skills using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, Crunchbase, 6sense.

MEDDPICC & Sales Methodology:

• Familiarity with MEDDPICC, MEDDIC, or similar qualification frameworks.
• Ability to document qualification evidence in CRM.
• Understanding of the difference between activity and progress.

Technical Acumen:

• Familiarity with data infrastructure, cloud services, and developer tools sufficient to have credible conversations with technical buyers.
• Ability to discuss Kafka use cases, database comparisons, cloud deployment models, and operational trade-offs at a conceptual level.
• Ability to learn technical concepts quickly and translate them into business value.
• Interest in open-source technologies and the developer ecosystem.

Communication & Presence:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to simplify complex technical concepts into clear value statements.
• Professional presence that builds credibility with technical decision-makers.

High-Performance Mindset:

• Self-driven and disciplined.
• Competitive without being political.
• Coachable and resilient.
• Ownership mentality.

Geography & Work Style:

• Willingness to travel 10-20% for field events, team meetings, and customer engagements as needed.

Our Offer

• Competitive base salary + commission structure with accelerators for overachievement.
• Participation in Aiven’s equity plan.
• Hybrid work policy.
• Investment in professional growth.