Who these people are
- Full-cycle sellers owning pipeline generation through to close.
- Enterprise AEs managing long cycles, multiple stakeholders and formal procurement.
- Account managers and client directors owning existing revenue and expansion.
Roles we recruit
Account Executive recruitment
The Account Executive is where most revenue plans succeed or fail. Hiring well here means looking past a tidy CV and a confident interview, and getting into how the person actually runs a deal.
When to hire
- Qualified pipeline is being created faster than it is being closed.
- The founder or a leader is still closing every deal personally.
- You are moving up-market and need someone who has sold at that deal size.
What strong candidates look like
- Give specific numbers: quota, attainment, average deal size, cycle length.
- Explain a deal they lost and what they would do differently.
- Have a repeatable qualification and multi-threading approach.
- Can build a business case, not just a proposal.
Modern GTM capability
- CRM and forecast discipline.
- Conversation intelligence and call review habits.
- AI-assisted preparation, research and follow-up.
- Proposal, mutual action plan and deal desk tooling.
Human selling ability
- Discovery depth and genuine listening.
- Executive presence with senior buyers.
- Negotiation without discounting reflexively.
- Honesty in forecasting.
How we recruit this role
- We agree what evidence of performance you will accept before we shortlist.
- We interrogate quota claims properly and consistently.
- We assess selling ability through structured conversation, not gut feel.
Assessment
How we screen for account executive recruitment
The same five stages apply to every role we recruit. What changes is the weighting: the evidence that matters, and how much of the decision rests on mindset and fit.
Stage 1: Experience and evidence
What has this person actually done?
We get specific about the numbers and the environment behind them, in the same format for every candidate, so you can compare people rather than compare CVs.
Past performance is evidence, not a forecast. A strong number in a business with exceptional inbound tells you very little about a cold market, and we say so.
Includes
Quota, attainment and how it moved across the last three periods · Average deal value and sales cycle length · Market, customer type and the ICP they actually sold into · New business versus account growth, outbound versus inbound
Stage 2: How they sell
What happens when this person has to actually sell?
We take them through real situations rather than competency questions, because selling is a behaviour and you can hear it.
Includes
Discovery: the questions they ask and the order they ask them in · Listening ratio, and whether they follow the thread or return to a script · Prospecting method and how they choose who to approach · Building rapport without performing
Stage 3: Modern GTM capability
Can this person operate inside a modern revenue team?
Technology should give a seller more time in front of buyers. We check they understand that, and that they use it with judgement rather than for volume.
Nobody needs experience of every platform, and we do not screen on a tool list. The principle is simpler: a strong modern seller can explain how technology makes them more effective, and where it makes them worse.
Includes
CRM discipline in Salesforce or HubSpot: clean pipeline, honest stages, useful notes · Conversation intelligence such as Gong, and what they changed after listening back · Sequencing and engagement platforms such as Outreach or Salesloft · Data and intelligence tools: Apollo, Lusha, Cognism, Clay, LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Stage 4: Mindset and motivation
Why does this person sell, and what happens when it gets hard?
This is the stage most processes skip and the one that most often explains a failed hire. It is a proper conversation, not a personality questionnaire.
The goal is meaningful human understanding, not a psychometric score. We report what we heard and where we are unsure.
Includes
Why they chose sales, and whether they actually enjoy selling · What motivates them beyond the commission plan · Ambition: what they want to be doing in three years, and how realistic it is · Resilience and how they describe a bad quarter
Stage 5: Human and cultural fit
Where is this person most likely to thrive?
We are not looking for people who all sound the same. We are working out which environment brings the best out of this particular person, and whether that is yours.
Cultural fit is not a code word for people who resemble the existing team. Used properly it is the difference between a good hire and a good hire in the wrong place.
Includes
Communication style, and how it lands with your buyer · Personality and values, described honestly rather than flatteringly · The working environment they perform best in · The management style that gets the most out of them
Common questions
Frequently asked
- How do you verify quota attainment?
- We ask for specifics in a consistent way: territory, quota, attainment, deal size, cycle and what changed year to year. Vague answers are reported to you as vague answers.
- Can you find AEs with a specific industry background?
- Usually yes, though we will tell you honestly when insisting on a narrow background will slow the search more than it improves the hire.
Related roles
Other roles we recruit
Most hires sit alongside another role. These are the ones we are asked about most often in the same conversation.
Which service fits this hire
One hire like this is usually permanent recruitment. Several connected hires — a pod, a new region, a rebuild — is a team build.
Hiring for account executive?
Tell us where this role sits in your team and what it has to deliver. We will tell you who is realistically available for it.