Open source is our beating heart and it’s something that fuels our work and our culture. It’s where we began. It’s where we’ll always be. Our vision is to become the trusted open source data platform for everyone. We are a Cast of over 400 individuals (‘Crabs’) located across the globe. Why Crabs? Because we believe in thinking sideways. And right now, we’re looking for sideways-thinking Technical Account Manager (TAM).

Our Sales team plays a crucial role in our growth and profitability. We want to be the trusted data source data platform for everyone – which, let’s face it, is an ambitious target. But thanks to our dedicated commercial OR GTM teams we are growing fast. Right now, we are looking for a Technical Account Manager.

Our sales team works directly with customers as well as with channel partners. We look for courageous people ready to revolutionize the way businesses operate and are not afraid to challenge our customers' current ways of working. Showcasing the transformative power of Aiven's open-source managed data services is essential.

To join our Cast, you will need to be goal-oriented, with excellent negotiation skills and broader communication abilities. Plus you will need to be adept (like a true Crab) at venturing into all the hidden crevices and corners that could lead to more sales.

Who we are

So, how do we become the trusted open source data platform for everyone? By listening closely to our customers and taking action to ensure they achieve their business goals. You see, the software we create is merely a means of delivering value. Our thinking is customer-first. That’s why our customers are at the front and center of all we do. And in the spirit of sideways thinking, we’re by their side as well. Actively helping them solve their challenges. Collaborating. Sharing. And innovating. In other words, it really isn’t just about who we are. It’s about who our customers are – and where they want to be.

Our values

We want individuals who can embody our values of ownership, courage, and openness.

What does that mean in practice?

We take ownership of the problems we solve. What we do is about improving life for our customers, enabling them to meet their goals. So we own our decisions and mistakes. Sometimes that takes courage. But we don’t falter – we take on challenges with confidence. And right at our heart is openness. We’re always open to new ideas – from wherever and whoever they come.

About the role:

We are looking for a customer-centric Technical Account Manager (TAM) with direct focus on our largest enterprise customers and partners. The TAM is a technical professional who helps optimize Aiven’s customer experience and accelerate time-to-value when using Aiven’s Open Source services. The Aiven TAM acts as a single point of contact, customer advocate and provides direct access into Aiven business functions such as Support, Engineering, Product Management, Marketing, and Executive Staff.

Suitable candidates must have proven experience in the following areas that will be required in their day-to-day job: Apache Kafka, Apache Cassandra, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Elasticsearch, Redis, InfluxDB and Grafana. TAMs will also be involved in every stage of enterprise customer/partner development on Aiven. Thus, this will involve meeting with customers/partners on a consistent basis allowing for positive and meaningful customer interaction.

The position is full-time and permanent and can be located either remotely in the US or Canada or in one of our offices in Toronto or Boston.

Responsibilities:

Help customers/partners succeed, building successful relationships during the entire customer journey.
Develop a deep (and technical) understanding of the customer’s/partner’s business priorities, operational model/objectives, cloud environment, cloud architecture/roadmap, and their technical initiatives.
Maintain awareness of customer/partner operations as the Aiven advisor to assist with operational planning, risk management and act as an advisor for deployments.
Act as an advocate of the customer/partner and conduit into various Aiven cross-functional teams & leadership, including Sales, Support, Engineering and Product Management.
Conduct regular operational reviews with customer/partner on weekly incidents, field advisories, security vulnerabilities, and related root-cause analysis.
Extract and maintain account insights and capture in systems of record.
Participate in sales account planning and support account penetration/pipeline growth strategies.
Actively contribute to customer/partner stability, enablement, and growth.
Travel up to 10% of the time.

Requirements:

Experience working in technology/software sales, pre-sales or consulting.
Fluency in one or more programming languages such as Java, Python, Go or Ruby.
Ability to understand customers’ technical requirements on an architectural level and articulate to the Product team or supporting Solution Architecture team.
Experience implementing proof of concepts as needed, to work with Aiven services in order to address business requirements.
Knowledgeable of public clouds (AWS, Google or Azure) and in the areas of compute, storage - block and object, networking, and security groups.
Linux operating system; demonstrable experience using various Linux utilities and tools (installation, securing system, storage, etc.) and a good grasp of networking basics like DNS and VPC.
A fairly deep conceptual and hands-on understanding of Kafka and at least one of Cassandra or Opensearch (Elasticsearch).
Demonstrable use of a relational databases preferably PostgreSQL and/or MySQL
(migration experience from Oracle to PostgreSQL is an asset).
Excellent communication, project management, presentation, and problem-solving skills required with ability to build trusted relationships with premier enterprise customers and partners.
Attention to detail, good problem solving and project management skills.
Strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to work well with cross-functional teams, including Sales, Support, Engineering, Product Management and Consulting Services.
Ability to manage multiple projects and tasks, determine project urgency and execute detailed action plans in collaboration with customers.

The following are nice to have:

Customer relationship management is highly desired.

Benefits:

A dynamic environment in a rapidly growing, international business
An agile working environment with short decision paths
Compensation for open-source contributions made in your free time
Flexible working hours, including remote work
Paid time off for vacation, personal reasons, illness, parental leaves, and public holidays
Choose the devices and tools that make you work the best including a mobile phone and subscription
Grow-with-the-flow with access to an individual learning budget, our Aiven Library, individual coaching, and popular online learning platforms
Home office furniture and internet stipend for fully-remote Aiveners
Participation in employee stock option plan
Our Employee Assistance Program and other wellness programs
Extensive Occupational Health Care
Dental Care

You will be part of a highly-skilled, tight-knit and growing team, making your contribution essential to what is becoming a truly unique success story. If you’re interested, send us your application and we'll take it from there.