Director of Sales — West Coast

About Operant AI

Operant AI is the only complete agent defense platform — offering four of the most important products at the forefront of securing AI in the world today: Agent Protector, Endpoint Protector, AI Gatekeeper™, and MCP Gateway. Together, they form the most comprehensive runtime defense suite available for enterprises deploying AI at scale, protecting every layer from infrastructure to LLMs to agentic workflows.

Operant is the only vendor recognized across all five of Gartner's most critical AI security reports — a distinction that reflects both the breadth and depth of what we've built. Backed by leading Silicon Valley VCs including Felicis and SineWave Ventures, we are on a mission to make AI deployment fast, frictionless, and secure.

Our sales team is expanding, and we are now hiring a Director of Sales for the West Coast to drive new business and expand Operant's presence across one of the most AI-dense enterprise markets in the world — someone who has sold deeply into the AI ecosystem, commands the room with senior buyers, and thrives at the sharp end of a fast-moving, category-defining company.

The Role

This is a senior, quota-carrying sales leadership role focused on net new logo acquisition and strategic account expansion across the West Coast. You will own the full sales cycle for enterprise prospects and key accounts in the region — from first contact through close — while also building and managing a pipeline that reflects the depth and quality of Operant's market opportunity.

You will work directly alongside Operant's founders — the CEO, CTO, and COO — who are active in the field and deeply engaged in strategic deals. You are their trusted commercial extension: bringing the relationships, the hustle, and the sales discipline to turn market interest into signed business.

This is not a role for someone looking to manage from a distance. It is a consultative, high-engagement sales partnership with the most senior AI and security leaders at the region's most important enterprises — demanding technical fluency, executive presence, and a genuine passion for the problem Operant is solving. You understand the AI landscape because you've sold into it, and you can speak credibly about infrastructure, deployment architectures, and security risk without needing a SE in the room to carry the technical conversation.

This is a high-visibility role at a fast-moving, industry-leading AI startup. You will be working at the absolute forefront of AI security alongside a lean, high-caliber team that moves fast and expects the same from everyone on it. The learning curve is steep by design — and for the right person, that's the point.

What You'll Do

New Business & Pipeline Development

• Own and drive net new logo acquisition across the West Coast enterprise market, with a focus on companies actively deploying AI at scale
• Build and manage a high-quality pipeline across key verticals including technology, FSI, healthcare, and AI-native companies
• Lead the full sales cycle end-to-end — prospecting, discovery, technical qualification, executive alignment, negotiation, and close
• Develop and execute a West Coast territory plan in collaboration with Operant's leadership team, identifying the highest-value segments, accounts, and routes to market
• Work closely with channel partners, AI infrastructure partners, and ecosystem allies to generate and accelerate pipeline

Strategic Account & Relationship Management

• Own senior relationships at target and existing accounts across the West Coast — you are the person customers call, not just the person who opens the deal
• Partner with the Customer Success team to ensure smooth handoffs, strong onboarding, and a clear path to expansion within closed accounts
• Engage and influence C-suite buyers — CISOs, CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and AI/ML leadership — with the credibility of someone who deeply understands their world
• Represent Operant at West Coast industry events, AI and security conferences, executive roundtables, and partner briefings
• Build a durable network across the West Coast AI and cybersecurity ecosystem that compounds over time

Sales Discipline & Forecasting

• Maintain rigorous pipeline hygiene and accurate forecasting in CRM
• Provide regular reporting and deal insight to Operant's leadership team
• Contribute to the development of sales playbooks, messaging, competitive positioning, and go-to-market strategy for the West Coast market

What You'll Bring

Required:

• 10+ years in enterprise software sales, with at least 3–5 years in a senior or director-level, quota-carrying role
• Demonstrated AI sales experience — you have sold AI platforms, AI infrastructure, AI security, or adjacent technologies to enterprise buyers, and you understand the AI stack from model to deployment to runtime
• A track record of consistently exceeding quota in complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales cycles
• Deep familiarity with the West Coast enterprise and AI ecosystem — you know the accounts, the buyers, and the landscape
• Strong technical fluency in AI/ML deployment architectures, cloud-native infrastructure, and cybersecurity — enough to lead a credible discovery and qualification conversation without leaning entirely on a SE
• Experience selling into or alongside AI infrastructure companies and platforms (hyperscalers, AI hardware vendors, LLM orchestration platforms, or equivalent)
• Exceptional executive presence and communication skills — you command the room with a CISO and build instant credibility with a VP of Engineering
• You know what it takes to personally drive and close large enterprise deals — and your real-world track record speaks louder than any methodology. You understand how to oil the machine in the ways that actually matter, move at the speed a world-class AI startup demands, and operate without waiting for a giant organization around you to give you permission or credit. You have zero patience for wheel-spinning, and even less for the junior playbook of cold-emailing a random engineer and calling it pipeline.
• Based in California (Bay Area strongly preferred); hybrid with willingness to travel for accounts, events, and company engagements

Preferred:

• Experience selling AI security, runtime security, CNAPP, or cloud workload protection specifically
• Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks and platforms — LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, AWS Bedrock Agents, or similar — and the security challenges they introduce
• Existing senior relationships within the West Coast AI infrastructure and enterprise security ecosystem
• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or other emerging AI connectivity standards
• Background at a high-growth, Series A/B security or AI startup — you know how to build a territory from early traction, not just inherit a mature book of business
• Experience co-selling with or through AI infrastructure partners such as Nutanix, Cerebras, or LangChain

Why Operant AI

• Work at the forefront of the industry — AI security is the defining enterprise challenge of this decade, and you'll be at the tip of the spear selling the category's most complete solution
• Direct founder access — you'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with Operant's CEO, CTO, and COO on the company's most strategic deals
• Lean team, outsized impact — this is not a large org with layers of process; it's a tight, high-caliber team where your contributions are visible and your growth is real
• Mission that matters — securing the AI revolution so enterprises can innovate without compromise
• Competitive senior compensation — base salary, uncapped commission, equity, and benefits commensurate with a senior director role in the Bay Area technology market

Operant AI is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diverse backgrounds and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can do their best work.