Enterprise AE at Chainguard – $325K OTE Cybersecurity in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
Compensation & Market Positioning: At $325K OTE (50/50 split = ~$162.5K base + ~$162.5K variable), this is at or above market for an enterprise AE in the cybersecurity/developer tools space. Comparable roles at Series C–D security startups typically range from $280K–$360K OTE, so Chainguard is competitive. The 10-year stock option exercise window is a standout perk rarely seen in the industry — it dramatically reduces financial risk of leaving.
Career Development Signals: This role builds high-value, transferable skills:
- MEDDPICC mastery — the gold standard enterprise sales methodology, valued across SaaS, security, and infrastructure companies
- Supply chain security domain expertise — a rapidly growing market post-SolarWinds and SBOM mandates
- Multi-stakeholder executive selling — skills that open doors to VP of Sales or RVP roles
Company Stage & Culture Signals: Chainguard is well-funded (Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, IVP) and serves marquee customers (OpenAI, Snowflake, Fortinet). This signals a late-seed to Series B/C growth stage with real revenue momentum. "Evolving processes" language is a mild flag — expect some organizational ambiguity — but typical for high-growth startups.
Green Flags: Strong investor backing, category-defining product in software supply chain security, 100% employer-covered health insurance, and genuine remote-first culture.
Watch For: 50/50 OTE splits are aggressive; confirm quota attainment rates and ramp expectations before signing.
Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk.
Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake.
Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital.
Enterprise Account Executive
Chainguard is looking for an Enterprise Account Executive to help expand our presence within large organizations. In this role, you'll own the full sales cycle with enterprise customers—from building pipeline through closing complex deals.
Successful candidates are disciplined in their sales process, strong at developing pipeline, and comfortable navigating complex enterprise buying environments. You'll work closely with sales leadership, sales engineering, marketing, and customer success to help organizations adopt Chainguard's solutions and improve how they build and secure software.
What You'll Do
- Own the full enterprise sales cycle from prospecting through close
- Build and manage pipeline within a defined set of enterprise accounts
- Lead discovery, qualification, and deal strategy using frameworks such as MEDDPICC
- Communicate Chainguard's value to technical stakeholders, security leaders, and executive buyers
- Partner with Sales Engineering and Customer Engineering to support evaluations and technical validation
- Manage complex enterprise sales cycles including procurement, security reviews, and negotiations
- Maintain accurate pipeline visibility and forecasting
- Consistently meet or exceed revenue and pipeline targets
What We're Looking For
- 3–5+ years of experience selling complex technical products into enterprise organizations
- A track record of building pipeline and consistently closing revenue
- Comfortable running disciplined enterprise sales processes (MEDDPICC or similar)
- Ability to identify customer pain and sell based on measurable business value
- Experience navigating multi-stakeholder enterprise buying cycles from technical teams to executives
- Strong deal management and forecast discipline across complex opportunities
- Excellent communication, relationship-building, and negotiation skills
- Comfortable operating in fast-growing environments with evolving processes
$325K OTE (50/50)
About Us
We live and breathe our company values:
- We are customer obsessed — We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.
- We have a bias for intentional action — We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.
- We don't take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) — We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.
- We trust each other and assume good intentions — We're transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.
A few of the benefits we offer:
- Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
- Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
- 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
- Unlimited Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
- 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.
If your experience is close but doesn't fulfill all requirements, please apply. We're building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring "Chainguardians" with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.
By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Chainguard will process your personal data in accordance with Chainguard's Global Candidate Privacy Notice.
Frequently Asked Questions
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