Founding Account Executive - New York

The way companies innovate is broken. The systems built to create and protect ideas can’t keep up with the pace of change. Today, 90% of S&P 500 company value is intangible (e.g., in intellectual property) - yet R&D and IP teams spend half their time buried in manual work, sifting through patents and paperwork instead of pushing the frontier forward. The tools of creating and protecting are stuck in the past. We’re here to fix that.

Ankar is building the AI operating system for innovation, reinventing how companies generate and protect their inventions. Our platform orchestrates how ideas become defensible IP with a suite of AI modules such as patent drafting, office action response, and infringement detection.

We’re at an inflection point:

• We’ve raised >$24M to date from Tier-1 VCs like Atomico, Index Ventures, Norrsken, Daphni, and angels like the Founder of Hugging Face, CEO from Datadog, and Leaders from DeepMind and OpenAI.

• We’re already working with the world’s most innovative companies including Fortune 500 company L’Oréal and global law firm Vorys

• Expanding our world-class team with alumni from Palantir, Amazon, and BCG to tackle the $1T+ innovation market. We’re just getting started.

We are growing our team and looking for people who take ownership of ambitious projects, solve complex & high-impact problems, and do the best work of their career.

US Expansion

Current US Footprint

The US will be our largest market; we already have revenue, customers, and pipeline - now we’re building the team to scale it.

• Active customers across US corporate IP teams and leading law firms

• Mid-five to mid-six figure ARR already coming from US accounts

• Ongoing enterprise conversations with larger US-based organizations

The US is generating meaningful revenue today without a local team. We’ve validated demand and built pipeline from the UK. Now we’re formalizing our US go-to-market.

Next 12 Months

Over the next year, our ambition is to :

• Build our first US enterprise sales pod (AEs, patent attorneys, GTM support)

• Close multiple six-figure enterprise accounts

• Establish Ankar as a category leader in AI for patent workflows in the US

• Lay the foundations for long-term US infrastructure and leadership

What you’ll be doing

As one of our Founding AEs, you’ll work closely with our Head of Sales and co-founders to drive new business and expand our customer base. You’ll manage the full sales cycle with enterprise and mid-market accounts, helping the world’s most innovative organizations adopt our AI platform to accelerate their IP and R&D work.

You will:

• Drive the end-to-end sales process: prospecting, discovery, demos, solution positioning, negotiation, and closing ($50k–100k+ ACV).

• Execute our GTM strategy by bringing our messaging, ICPs, and sales playbook to life in conversations with prospects.

• Consistently build and manage a strong pipeline via outbound, inbound, and industry events

• Deliver compelling presentations, proposals, and reports tailored to customer needs.

• Partner with the Head of Sales to refine our sales processes, share market insights, and contribute to a culture of learning and improvement.

• Collaborate with marketing, product, and engineering to provide feedback and influence our roadmap and go-to-market initiatives.

• Build trusted, long-term relationships with prospects and customers.

This role is for an energetic, curious, scrappy and hungry operator - with exceptional communication and problem-solving skills - who thrives in a fast-paced startup environment. We see this role as a continuous escalator towards taking more responsibility at Ankar.

What we are looking for

• 5+ years experience in B2B SaaS go-to-market and sales (experience with enterprise or mid-market deals preferred)

• A track record of consistently exceeding revenue targets.

• Ability run the full sales cycle - from prospecting and discovery to demos, negotiations, and closing.

• Resilience and resourcefulness - you’re proactive in generating pipeline, creative in finding new ways to reach customers, and persistent in moving deals forward.

• Agency - you take pride in your work, approach problems critically, and consistently look for ways to improve.

• [Bonus points] Have experience working in early-stage startups, commercialising AI or IP-related products, or selling to law firms, patent attorneys or in-house IP professionals.

• [Bonus points] A strong existing network in enterprise innovation, R&D, or IP teams.