Activations Manager, Startups
Vercel
$280,000 - $330,000 / year
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Description
About Vercel:
Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company, freeing people and agents to ship what's next. For more than a decade we've helped builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience.
Now we're scaling our products for both agents and people to ship and run software, built in the open and trusted by OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide.
About the Role:
We're looking for a leader to build and grow the Startups Activations team. This team is the voice of Vercel to the earliest-stage startups, helping founders make great infrastructure decisions from day one and land on Vercel before they ever need to migrate.
You'll hire and develop up-and-coming talent from a wide range of backgrounds, including former founders, developers, and early-career sellers, and turn them into trusted advisors for technical founders. You'll build the machine: a high-velocity, repeatable motion that uses AI, automation, and product signals to reach thousands of early startups at the right moment. You'll set the operating rhythm, coach relentlessly, and turn what works into playbooks the rest of the Startups org can scale.
If you’re based within a pre-determined commuting distance of one of our offices (SF, NY, London, or Berlin), the role includes in-office anchor days on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. If you're located beyond that distance, the role is fully remote. For location-specific details, please connect with our recruiting team.
What You Will Do:
- Hire & Grow Talent: Recruit, onboard, and ramp a diverse team of former founders, developers, and early-career sellers. Build a bench that grows into future AEs and leaders across Vercel.
- Coach & Develop: Run 1:1s, call reviews, and skill-building sessions that turn new sellers into credible, technical advisors for founders.
- Build the Activation Machine: Design a high-velocity motion that combines outbound, product-led signals, community, and ecosystem partners (accelerators, VCs, AI tooling) to get early startups deployed on Vercel.
- Be the Voice of Vercel to Startups: Make sure every early founder understands how Vercel's platform and Agent Stack help them build, ship, and scale, and why starting here is the right infra decision.
- AI, Automation & Playbooks: Use AI and automation to multiply team impact, spot patterns in usage and signups, and turn winning plays into repeatable motions.
- Pipeline & Execution: Own activation, conversion, and bookings targets. Define the leading indicators that predict long-term customer growth and hold the team to them.
- Forecasting & Performance Management: Inspect pipeline health, own forecast accuracy, and manage performance against activity, conversion, and quota.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Marketing, Product, Growth, RevOps, Solutions Engineering, and the Greenfield and Install Base teams to make handoffs seamless as startups scale.
About You:
- 5+ years of experience in SaaS sales or startup go-to-market, including 2+ years managing quota-carrying sellers.
- A track record of hiring and developing early-career talent and people from non-traditional backgrounds into top performers.
- Experience building or running a high-velocity sales motion with volume, speed, and discipline.
- Comfort talking with technical founders about architecture and tradeoffs. You don't need to be an engineer, but you need credibility with engineers.
- Real curiosity about AI-native development and the tools shaping how startups build and ship.
- A builder's mindset: you like creating systems, not just running them, and you balance strategy with hands-on execution.
- A growth mindset, resilience, and strong shared ownership.
Bonus If You:
- Have been a founder, early-stage operator, or developer.
- Have built a team or motion from zero inside a high-growth company.
- Have experience with startup ecosystems: accelerators, VCs, founder communities, or developer communities.
- Have sold developer tools, infrastructure, or AI products to startups.
Compensation & Benefits:
- Competitive compensation package, including equity.
- Inclusive Healthcare Package.
- Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills.
- Flexible Time Off.
- We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed.
The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $280,000 - $330,000. Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.
Disclosures:
- Privacy: Please review our Job Applicant Privacy Policy for more information on how we handle your data.
- Equal Opportunity: Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Vercel encourages everyone to apply for our available positions, even if they don't necessarily check every box on the job description.
Benefits
- stock options
About this role
Vercel is hiring a leader to build and scale its Startups Activations team—the group responsible for reaching early-stage founders and helping them choose Vercel as their infrastructure from day one. You'll hire and develop a diverse team of former founders, developers, and early-career sellers, then coach them into trusted technical advisors. The role combines hands-on management with systems building: you'll design a high-velocity activation motion that leverages AI, automation, and product signals to connect with thousands of startups at the right moment, while owning pipeline health, conversion targets, and forecast accuracy.
This is fundamentally a people and motion-building role. You need at least five years in SaaS sales or startup go-to-market with two-plus years managing quota-carrying sellers, plus a proven track record of developing early-career talent. You should be comfortable discussing technical architecture with founders and have genuine interest in how AI is reshaping startup development—you don't need to code, but you need credibility with engineers. The work involves close collaboration across Marketing, Product, Growth, and Solutions Engineering, so cross-functional partnership is essential.
The role is based in New York with hybrid flexibility (three anchor days in-office if you're within commuting distance; fully remote otherwise). Compensation ranges from $280,000 to $330,000, plus equity, healthcare, learning opportunities, and flexible time off.
How this employer is doing
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Pay for this role
$280,000 to $330,000 per year
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