Who we are
Lightning AI is the company reimagining the way AI is built. After creating and releasing PyTorch Lightning in 2019, Lightning AI was launched to reshape the development of artificial intelligence products for commercial and academic use.
Focusing on simplicity, sustainability, modularity, and extensibility, Lightning AI streamlines the lifecycle of machine learning development to expand widespread AI adoption. Its aim is to enable individual and enterprise users to build deployment-ready AI tools without having to hire experts or sink resources into in-house infrastructure.
Lightning AI is a company with offices in New York City, Palo Alto, and London backed by $58.6 million in funding from Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute.
What's important to us
We are building a company of people that care deeply about the impact of AI on our society. We value:

• Integrity: AI is bound to change how we interact with computers, with each other, and the world-for the better. We are committed to building an inclusive company and developing ethical AI that improves humanity.
• Perseverance: Be bold, take the initiative, and make decisions with confidence. We empower our community, clients, and colleagues to tackle the impossible.
• Curiosity: We are genuinely interested in finding solutions to advance the state of AI research and foster its application in novel products. It's not about whether we can solve the problem, but how.

We also feel that it's essential to point out the self-evident here - there's a genuine lack of diversity in our industry, which has to change. One of our goals is to help drive that change. Lightning AI is fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion, and we embrace how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.
What we're looking for
We are looking for our very first Sales Development Representative to build the top of the sales funnel. You will help grow our business by reaching the right people at the right companies at the right time to open opportunities for our sales team to close. You will report to Priya, our VP of Product and Sales, and work closely with our AEs, John and Nick.
This is a chance for you to help bring groundbreaking technology that will transform the machine-learning ecosystem to market!
What you'll do

• Become an expert on our sales process with an in-depth understanding of our target markets, value proposition, and pricing models to not only meet but exceed both quarterly and annual goals.
• Focus on high-quality, consistent outbound prospecting across all market segments to build the sales pipeline and optimize the customer funnel.
• Qualify and develop both inbound and outbound sales leads.
• Collaborate with the sales and marketing teams to build and optimize email campaigns with targeted messaging for specific user personas and improve the lead qualification process.
• Analyze industry trends and customer segmentation to identify and capitalize on new sources of qualified leads.
• Utilize CRM system to track activity and manage sales opportunities.

How we evaluate your candidacy
Our interviews will not only give us insight into your skillset but give you insight into our company.

• Recruiter Interview - 15 minutes: You will chat about your background and what you are looking for in your next role. This interview will be a very general conversation about your interest in Lightning AI and Machine Learning in general. We encourage you to share specific examples of SaaS products and technology platforms that you've sold. The interview will dive deeper into your sales background, and you will explain what makes your approach to sales unique and effective.
• Hiring Manager Interview - 45 minutes: You will speak about two of the key parts of any SDR's role: sales acumen and strategic prospecting. This is an interactive interview that also covers the MLOps market and user personas, so be ready to think on your feet, discuss your thought process, and talk about what tools you would use to prospect and manage leads.
• Virtual Onsite - 3.5 hours:
  • Day Management - 45 minutes: This interview is focused on how you will engage with leads. As an SDR, you are often a prospect's first introduction to lightning.ai, and as you work your way through the prospecting lifecycle, building that relationship will be key to closing the deal.
  • Technology - 45 minutes: Since we are building an AI platform, we need to assess your ability to understand technical products. You will speak about the domain of artificial intelligence, its applications, and the infrastructure that powers it.
  • Campaign Effectiveness - 45 minutes: Content and email marketing are critical parts of both inbound and outbound sales campaigns. During this interview, you'll roll up your sleeves and work together to create a mock multi-step email campaign for one of the user personas from the previous interview.
  • Culture - 45 minutes: We take time to speak with every candidate about our values, Ethics in AI, and how our technology can be used to create a positive social impact.
  • Sales Pitch - 45 minutes: William Falcon, our CEO, likes to connect with every person joining our company. With your experience, you've certainly honed your sales pitch. This will be your chance to show what you can do!

• Offer: We try our best to give you a decision within 72 hours of each interview. At this point, we will present our offer and provide additional context about our stock options and growth trajectory.
  • If we hire you in New York City or San Francisco, your total On Target Earnings would fall within the band below. Please remember that the equity portion of your offer is not included in these numbers and represents a significant part of your total compensation.
    • Sales Development Rep IC2: $80-110K OTE

When you'll hear from us
We aim to review every application within 72 hours of submission and provide feedback on each of your interviews within 48 hours of completion. If you don't hear from us, please reach out to your recruiter or careers@lightning.ai directly to get an update on your candidacy.
How you'll be rewarded
We champion equal pay for work of equal or comparable value based on the level of skill, effort, responsibility, and impact of any given role. We use Carta's Total Compensation tool to enable data-driven decision-making around benchmarks, levels, and planning. We are confident that our compensation practices are equitable, explainable, fair, and competitive, and in the spirit of transparency, we provide a compensation bands for each open role.
We pride ourselves on making sure our employees enjoy a good quality of life, no matter where they live. We offer competitive base salaries and stock options with a 25% one year cliff and monthly vesting thereafter. For our international employees, we work with Velocity Global to pay you in your local currency and provide equitable benefits across the globe.
In the US, we offer:

• 90% monthly premium contributions towards medical, dental, and vision plans for you, you and your spouse, you and your children, or you and your family, along with HSA and FSA options. Our health plans are offered through Aetna, a health insurance company with a care network encompassing 1.3 million doctors and 5,700 hospitals across America.
• Life and AD&D insurance equal to 1x salary, as well as optional supplemental life insurance for extra peace of mind
• Flexible paid time off plus 3 weeks of company-wide mandatory vacation in May, August, and December. Most of our employees take a total of 25-30 days off per year.
• 12 weeks of paid family leave for employees who have worked with the company for 6-12 months and 16 weeks of paid family leave for employees who have worked with the company for 12 months
• $500 monthly meal reimbursement, including groceries & food delivery services
• $1,000 1-time home office build out for a desk, chair, keyboard, pair of headphones, and/or other home office supplies
• $1,000 annual learning & development stipend for classes, conferences, certifications, and continuing education
• 100% covered bike membership
• $45/month to ClassPass, a platform providing access to over 30,000 gyms and studios, as well as 5,000 beauty and spa partners, in 28 countries
• Access to monthly equity education sessions hosted by Carta and 1:1 meetings with Certified Public Accountants so that you can take proactive measures to minimize taxes due and maximize the value of your equity
• Ability to early exercise your stock options after 1 year of continuous employment
• Opportunities to obtain an employment-based immigrant VISA for relocation every 3 years
• Membership to a local co-working space upon request
• 24/7 access to:
  • Teladoc, the leader in whole-person virtual care with access to doctors, therapists, and medical experts anywhere you are by phone or video
  • One Medical, a patient-focused on-demand primary care practice
  • Kindbody, a fertility, gynecology, and wellness service provider
  • HealthAdvocate, an employee assistance program (EAP)
  • Talkspace, a comprehensive, personalized mental healthcare platform providing access to licensed therapists for therapy, medication, assessment, healthy living support, and self-help tools
  • Headspace, a guided meditation application focused on improving mindfulness, sleep, and stress-relief