Founding AE, Job Placements
About Pursuit
Pursuit is a social impact organization building the future of economic mobility in the age of AI.
For over a decade, we've transformed lives through immersive training programs that propel adults from low-income backgrounds—often without college degrees—into high-growth tech careers. Our graduates have already generated nearly $1 billion in lifetime wage gains. We've also pioneered the Pursuit Bond, an innovative outcomes-based financing model that aligns investor returns with long-term economic mobility, allowing us to scale impact in a financially sustainable way.
Now, as AI reshapes every industry, Pursuit is evolving into an AI-native organization. We're training AI-native talent, embedding AI into our operations, and building scalable software to extend our impact. From grassroots partnerships to national policy, we're not just filling jobs—we're rethinking how economic opportunity works at scale.
About the Role
Pursuit is seeking an entrepreneurial, hands-on Founding Account Executive to drive job placements by building new employer demand for Pursuit AI-Native Builders.
This is not a traditional SaaS Account Executive role with a defined sales playbook. What we bring to market is talent, not a software product. Success requires understanding an employer's business and hiring needs, identifying where Pursuit talent adds concrete value, and creating opportunities even when the need is not obvious at the start.
This is a highly execution-oriented role. You'll personally prospect, run discovery, build relationships, position Pursuit talent, and move opportunities from first conversation through successful hire. The placement motion is still evolving, so you'll also be expected to learn quickly from the market and rapidly iterate to test and improve the approach over time.Reporting to the Head of Job Outcomes, you'll work closely with Pursuit leadership and the broader jobs team to build employer relationships, match Pursuit talent to hiring needs you find or help shape, and drive placement outcomes.
If you're energized by building something new, comfortable doing the hands-on work, and motivated by supporting economic transformation through job outcomes , we'd love to meet you.
What You'll Do
- Personally own high-volume outbound prospecting across email, phone, LinkedIn, events, referrals, and other creative channels to generate new employer conversations and hiring opportunities.
- Build relationships with founders, executives, and other senior decision-makers across engineering, product, operations, and talent.
- Lead consultative discovery conversations to understand business priorities, hiring challenges, and opportunities.
- Translate Pursuit talent capabilities into concrete roles, use cases, and business outcomes tailored to each employer- especially when the opportunity is not immediately obvious.
- Create net-new placement opportunities rather than relying only on existing job openings or inbound demand.
- Match Pursuit talent to relevant opportunities and actively drive the employer-side interview process toward successful placement.
- Follow up consistently and creatively to keep opportunities moving, navigate objections, and maintain momentum through long or ambiguous sales cycles.
- Maintain disciplined pipeline tracking, outreach activity, next steps, and employer records across internal systems.
- Share patterns and feedback from employer conversations with the team to continuously improve messaging, targeting, and the placement motion.
- Use AI tools to improve prospecting, account research, personalization, follow-up, workflow automation, and relationship management.
About You
- 4+ years of experience in B2B sales, business development, strategic partnerships, or another client-facing growth role.
- Proven track record of hitting quotas, placement targets, revenue goals, or other measurable business outcomes.
- A hands-on prospector who is comfortable personally generating pipeline through a variety of outbound approaches.
- Strong discovery skills with the ability to uncover and shape real business and hiring needs rather than defaulting to a standard pitch.
- Experience owning a full sales cycle or leading complex partnership conversations from initial outreach through successful close.
- Able to translate talent, services, or complex solutions into concrete value for different buyer types; experience selling talent, recruiting, staffing, services, marketplaces, or other non-software offerings is a plus.
- Comfortable operating without a fully defined playbook and willing to test, learn, and adjust.
- Entrepreneurial and resourceful and comfortable doing the day-to-day work required to create and advance opportunities.
- Experience influencing executive stakeholders across multiple functions.
- Organized and self-directed with strong ownership, follow-through, urgency, and pipeline discipline.
- Excited to use AI as a force multiplier across your work
- Deeply committed to expanding economic opportunity and advancing Pursuit's mission
You Might Be a Great Fit If...
- You've opened a new territory, launched a new motion, or helped build a market - and personally did the outreach, discovery, and follow-through required to make it work.
- You'd rather pick up the phone, test a message, and learn from the market than wait for a perfect strategy or playbook.
- You can turn a vague employer need into a concrete hiring use case and explain why a specific skill set could create value.
- You're comfortable hearing 'no’ or ‘not now’ and staying curious enough to understand what the business actually needs.
- You've worked in a startup, high-growth company, or entrepreneurial environment where wearing multiple hats was the norm.
Where You'll Work
Hybrid: 3 days a week in our HQ in Long Island City and 2 days wherever you work best.
Compensation
$140,000–$150,000 base salary + performance-based incentive structure tied to placement outcomes with an OTE package between $250,000 - $300,000.
The range above reflects the expectations for this role as outlined. We recognize exceptional candidates may bring different levels of experience, and compensation will be adjusted accordingly.
Pursuit Offers
- An opportunity to work at the intersection of tech and social impact while helping create life-changing career opportunities
- Competitive compensation including base salary, bonus, and comprehensive benefits
- 401(k) match
- Unlimited PTO plus company-wide summer and winter breaks
- Hybrid work environment (Tuesday–Thursday in Long Island City)
- Catered lunches and stocked office
- Dedicated time to experiment with AI and continuously develop AI fluency
Pursuit Values Diversity
Our team has a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and we value the richness that diversity brings to our organization. We welcome new perspectives and affirm that all employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, age, familial or marital status, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law.
Pursuit is an equal opportunity employer.
