Founding Account Executive

About Kana

Kana is pioneering the agentic marketing platform for the AI era. Founded by veterans of successful tech ventures (Rapt, acquired by Microsoft; Krux, acquired by Salesforce for $700M), Kana launched in February 2026 with $15M in seed funding from Mayfield. We empower marketers by integrating customizable AI agents into their existing technology stacks, rather than replacing them. Our platform streamlines campaign management, customer engagement, marketing intelligence, synthetic data generation, answer engine optimization, and media proposal creation. Kana offers a unique 'third path' for marketing teams, bridging the gap between custom development and off-the-shelf solutions. Our philosophy centers on augmented intelligence, where AI enhances marketer capabilities.

We are a lean, experienced team focused on deliberate growth. This is a ground-floor opportunity to significantly influence Kana's go-to-market strategy alongside founders with proven track records.

The Role

Kana is seeking a Founding Account Executive, our first dedicated sales professional. Reporting directly to the CRO and founders, you will transform our founder-led sales approach into a scalable and repeatable process. This is a foundational role requiring a builder's mindset, not just an operational one.

Responsibilities in the First Six Months

• Manage the complete sales cycle for Kana's agentic marketing platform, from initial outreach to deal closure.
• Collaborate with founders on early enterprise engagements, identifying successful strategies to develop a repeatable sales playbook.
• Contribute to defining Kana's Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), messaging, and sales processes based on direct market feedback.
• Generate sales pipeline through proactive outbound efforts, leveraging your professional network, and establishing strategic partnerships.
• Engage with key decision-makers including CMOs, Heads of Growth, Marketing Operations leaders, and data/analytics buyers within mid-market and enterprise companies in the consumer brands, media, and consumer-tech sectors.
• Work closely with Engineering and Marketing teams to provide market insights that inform product development and positioning.

Who You Are

You are a proactive builder, driven by innovation rather than established procedures. You thrive in ambiguous environments, are comfortable initiating discussions with nascent strategies, and possess a genuine curiosity about AI's impact on marketing. You have a proven history of selling complex software solutions to senior executives, demonstrating a consultative approach that builds trust and challenges conventional thinking.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Minimum of 4 years of experience in enterprise or mid-market software sales, with a preference for backgrounds in martech, adtech, CDP, marketing analytics, or AI-native companies.
• Demonstrated experience selling to marketing stakeholders such as CMOs, VPs of Marketing, Heads of Growth, Marketing Operations, or Data/Analytics leaders.
• A consistent record of achieving sales quotas, including experience at an early-stage company where you played a key role in building the sales motion.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of leading discovery calls, crafting concise follow-up communications, and delivering executive-level presentations.

Potential Additional Qualifications

• Non-traditional career paths into sales, such as management consulting, marketing operations, agency strategy, or product marketing, are highly valued.
• Experience selling AI or agentic products, or engaging with clients navigating the adoption of AI technologies.
• An established network within the modern martech ecosystem that can be activated.

What We Offer

• A competitive base salary coupled with significant equity in a venture-backed AI startup.
• Direct collaboration with founders who have successfully built and exited companies.
• The unique opportunity to architect Kana's sales strategy from its inception within a small, senior team.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits, flexible paid time off, and opportunities for in-person collaboration in San Francisco with remote work flexibility.

Why Join Kana?

We are at the forefront of developing the future of 'Agentic Marketing' and require a go-to-market strategy that mirrors this innovation. At Kana, you will have the autonomy to help craft a forward-thinking GTM playbook. You will find no legacy processes, only a clear path, a compelling mission, and the resources to build the industry's most effective demand-generation engine.

This role offers substantial equity, a base salary ranging from $150,000 to $175,000, full benefits, and the guidance of an experienced team with deep expertise in company building.

Are you ready to build the engine? Apply now and share your experience with the most complex AI-driven automation you have developed.