Braun Board

Director, Neo Cloud Sales

Backblaze · Remote · US

Base
$195K–$240K
OTE
$325K–$400K
Posted
3d ago

Still open · checked 1h agoon Backblaze's careers page

What Backblaze sells

Affordable cloud storage for huge AI data piles

AI companies collect huge piles of data, and storing it gets slow and costly as the piles grow. Backblaze sells cloud storage that works with the same tools as Amazon's S3, so a neocloud can keep its AI data close at hand for less money. With Backblaze, the powerful computers doing the AI work spend less time waiting on storage.

In plain English, from their own job posts. Something wrong? Tell us

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The Braun Read

Worth a look

Solid on the basics. Use the first call to fill in the gaps.

Pay
Base and OTE both listed. Roughly a 60/40 base-to-variable split.
Transparency
Says nothing about quota, attainment, deal size, territory or sales cycle.
Pipeline
Mostly self-sourced. Great if you like outbound, rough if you don't.
Time on market
Open 2 days.
Company hiring
3 sales roles open, hiring at a steady pace.

Red flags

None spotted.

Green flags

  • Publishes OTE. It tells you the on-target earnings up front. Most postings don't.

Based only on what the posting says. Flags are a starting point for your first call, not a final judgment.

Questions to ask on the first call

Built from what this posting leaves out. How they answer tells you as much as what they say.

  1. 1.

    What percentage of fully ramped reps hit quota last year?

    OTE is what you could earn. This is how likely you are to earn it.

  2. 2.

    What's the annual quota, and how was it set?

    A quota built from real data is a target. Otherwise it's a hope.

  3. 3.

    What share of last year's closed deals did reps source themselves?

    Shows how much pipeline you'll have to build on your own.

  4. 4.

    How long is ramp, and what's the quota during it?

    Full quota on day one means you start behind.

  5. 5.

    Is the territory new or existing? Who had it before?

    An existing book is a head start. Greenfield means building from zero.

  6. 6.

    Why is this role open? Did someone leave, or is it new?

    New headcount is growth. A replacement means someone left. Ask why.

When the offer comes

Save these for later. They land better once they've said yes to you.

  1. 1.

    Can I see the full comp plan in writing, including clawbacks and accelerators?

    What's in writing is what gets paid. Read it before you sign.

  2. 2.

    Can I see the actual comp distribution for the team last year, not just the OTE?

    The spread shows what most reps really take home. OTE is just the target.

  3. 3.

    I'd be walking away from earned commission to join. Is there room for a sign-on bonus to help cover that?

    Leaving money behind is a fair reason to ask. The worst answer is no.

Josh's top five questions for any sales interview →

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The role

Sell Backblaze S3-compatible AI storage to NeoClouds and frontier AI labs. Long, CXO-led cycles, 3-5 year contracts, and you build the pursuit plans and pipeline yourself, with partner plays.

Enterprise · Mixed · Outbound

Selling motion

Mixed

Who you're selling to

Buyer:
NeoClouds and Frontier AI labsIn their words: “We have mapped the top 80 NeoClouds and Frontier Labs worldwide”
Industry:
AI infrastructureIn their words: “NeoClouds are GPU-rich, AI-native infrastructure providers”
Company size:
Enterprise

Pipeline expectations

Mostly self-sourced. Expect a lot of outbound.

Compensation

$195K–$240K base · $325K–$400K OTE

What is not disclosed

This posting doesn't tell you:

  • Quota size
  • Quota attainment
  • Average deal size
  • Territory
  • Sales cycle length

The questions above cover the big ones.

Full posting
Director, NeoCloud Sales (Sell-To) Backblaze (Nasdaq: BLZE) | Reports to the Chief Revenue Officer | Remote, US-based Salary range: $195,000 - $240,000 plus variable pay and RSUs. Target OTE $325,000 - $400,000 60:40 base to variable. How We Got Here We started by building storage servers from scratch in a Palo Alto apartment to save 90% on hardware. Turns out hard constraints make for pretty good engineering. That discipline forged a platform that performs as well or better than competitors, scales to multi-exabyte workloads, and costs a fraction of what AWS or Google charge. AI infrastructure runs on data. Storage gets hard at scale. We've been breaking, rebuilding, and improving that storage layer for 20 years. Today, the world's leading AI infrastructure providers, neoclouds, and data-intensive businesses run on Backblaze. Our platform includes: - B2 Overdrive - high-throughput object storage engineered for AI infrastructure, GPU workloads, and massive-scale data pipelines - B2 Neo - white-label enterprise cloud storage powering neocloud platforms for AI, HPC, and media - B2 Cloud Storage - S3-compatible object storage with predictable pricing, free egress, and no lock-in - Computer Backup - automatic, continuous endpoint backup for Macs and PCs 500,000+ customers. 175 countries. Nasdaq: BLZE. backblaze.com The Role NeoClouds are GPU-rich, AI-native infrastructure providers, and they need fast, affordable, S3-compatible storage at scale. Backblaze is the high-performance capacity storage layer for AI. We have mapped the top 80 NeoClouds and Frontier Labs worldwide, about 70% in the US and 30% in EMEA, and we already have traction in the US, UK, and France. You will build and run this segment as its own business inside the CRO organization: your own quota, your own team, and the mandate to decide how Backblaze wins each account. These deals look more like telecom or federal sales than SaaS. Cycles are long, buyers sit at the CXO level, and contracts run three to five years. Often Backblaze sits behind the NeoCloud's own storage service, so the work continues after signature, in SLAs, support, and integration. This is not a territory to inherit. If your instinct is to wait for a playbook, or to hand the CXO calls to someone more senior, this isn't the right fit. If your instinct is to pick the first five accounts, write the pursuit plan, and take the call yourself, keep reading. What You Will Own & Build Own - Logos. Land and grow five of the Top 25 NeoClouds as meaningful customers, and land 25 more from the rest of the list. - TCV. Deliver $20M in total contract value across the base. We measure on TCV because these customers sign multi-year commitments. - Expansion. Grow the existing NeoCloud base outside committed contracts such as CoreWeave. - Pipeline and forecast. Own both for the whole segment, and carry a named-account number yourself. - Your team. Hire, onboard, and coach a growing team of BD Pursuit Specialists / AEs. Set the KPIs and ARR-conversion targets they are paid against. Build You build this with the Field CTO, Strategic Partnerships, an SE and Cloud Operations beside you, and with your AEs as they join. - Route to market. Own the Sell-To motion for the segment, with its own plays for each type of NeoCloud. No two NeoClouds behave alike, so you choose the play for each account. Write the pursuit plan for the Top 25 NeoClouds: the order we go after them, the buying group in each, and the play for each. - Sell-With. This is Strategic Partnerships' motion, and you work it in tandem with them, not underneath them, on OEM and ISV flywheels with partners such as NVIDIA, Super Micro, Weka, VAST, and AMD. When a NeoCloud wants help selling Backblaze storage to its own customers, you and Strategic Partnerships decide together how to staff it. - Deal structure. Negotiate SLAs, IP, revenue share, and infrastructure-as-a-service terms when Backblaze runs behind a NeoCloud's service. - Internal selling. Bring our Executives (including the CEO), Cloud Operations and Engineering into each integration, and keep them engaged after signature. This is as much internal selling as external. - Executive sponsorship. Secure a Backblaze executive sponsor and a customer executive sponsor for every priority account, then run CXO conversations without senior leadership in the room. - Transition. Take over open NeoCloud opportunities and existing coverage from the current BD owners by the end of Q1. Exceptions are handled case by case. What We Are Looking For - Infrastructure fluency. You know or can get fluent in the NeoCloud infrastructure stack: GPU compute, networking, storage, and orchestration. You can spar with our Field CTO on architecture without needing drive-level detail. Storage experience is a plus. - Executive presence. You have built SVP, CTO, and CXO relationships and can run those meetings alone. You have landed and expanded multi-year committed contracts. - Product depth. You can work with senior product and development teams at a NeoCloud and hold a strategic conversation, not only a commercial one. - OEM and ISV deal experience. You have negotiated service integration, SLAs, IP, revenue share, and infrastructure-as-a-service structures. You have done these deals, not watched them. - Seller of record. You have carried a quota and closed deals with your name on them. - Leadership. You have led a small, senior, quota-carrying team and still carry a number yourself. A Specialist team in a large organization, esp in early days a plus. - Executive sponsorship. You win sponsors on both sides of the table. A Plus (though not essential) - Experience selling to NeoClouds, GPU clouds, hyperscalers, cloud providers, or AI infrastructure companies - Experience building a new segment or coverage model from scratch - Familiarity with S3-compatible object storage, data egress economics, and AI/ML data pipelines This Is Not the Role for You If - You want to run an established territory rather than build a new segment - You no longer carry a number yourself - You need senior leadership in the room to open or close CXO conversations - You see SLA, IP, and revenue-share terms as legal's problem, not yours - You treat partners and Cloud Operations as a handoff rather than as part of the deal How We Will Interview We will ask you to bring a plan on how you'd build the market for NeoCloud, and tell us what you would do differently. We will ask about how you worked on building executive relationships . We will ask for your own view of how you would approach this role. You will hold cross-functional conversations with the Field CTO/ VP of our SE Team and Strategic Partnerships, because you will work beside them every day. And you may go through a panel, so we can see how you work. What We Offer - Competitive compensation and equity package - Full benefits including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) with matching - RSU grants for full-time employees - ESPP program - Flexible vacation policy - Maternity & paternity leave - MacBook to use for work, plus a generous stipend to personalize your workstation - Childcare bonus (human children only) - Fertility treatment and support - Learning & development program - Commuter benefits - A collaborative and transparent culture that supports a healthy work-life balance Pay Transparency and Equal Opportunity To provide greater transparency to candidates, we share base pay ranges for all US-based job postings regardless of state. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, skills, depth of work experience, and relevant licenses/credentials. Compensation for this role will be $195,000 - $240,000 plus variable pay and RSUs. Target OTE $325,000 - $400,000 60:40 base to variable. At Backblaze, we value being fair and good to our customers, partners, and employees. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our values. We are committed to fostering a workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, socio-economic status, ability, veteran status, and education. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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