Activations Manager, Startups

About Vercel: Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company, freeing people and agents to ship what's next. For more than a decade we've helped builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience. Now we're scaling our products for both agents and people to ship and run software, built in the open and trusted by OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. About the Role: We're looking for a leader to build and grow the Startups Activations team. This team is the voice of Vercel to the earliest-stage startups, helping founders make great infrastructure decisions from day one and land on Vercel before they ever need to migrate. You'll hire and develop up-and-coming talent from a wide range of backgrounds, including former founders, developers, and early-career sellers, and turn them into trusted advisors for technical founders. You'll build the machine: a high-velocity, repeatable motion that uses AI, automation, and product signals to reach thousands of early startups at the right moment. You'll set the operating rhythm, coach relentlessly, and turn what works into playbooks the rest of the Startups org can scale. If you’re based within a pre-determined commuting distance of one of our offices (SF, NY, London, or Berlin), the role includes in-office anchor days on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. If you're located beyond that distance, the role is fully remote. For location-specific details, please connect with our recruiting team. What You Will Do: • Hire & Grow Talent : Recruit, onboard, and ramp a diverse team of former founders, developers, and early-career sellers. Build a bench that grows into future AEs and leaders across Vercel. • Coach & Develop : Run 1:1s, call reviews, and skill-building sessions that turn new sellers into credible, technical advisors for founders. • Build the Activation Machine : Design a high-velocity motion that combines outbound, product-led signals, community, and ecosystem partners (accelerators, VCs, AI tooling) to get early startups deployed on Vercel. • Be the Voice of Vercel to Startups : Make sure every early founder understands how Vercel's platform and Agent Stack help them build, ship, and scale, and why starting here is the right infra decision. • AI, Automation & Playbooks : Use AI and automation to multiply team impact, spot patterns in usage and signups, and turn winning plays into repeatable motions. • Pipeline & Execution : Own activation, conversion, and bookings targets. Define the leading indicators that predict long-term customer growth and hold the team to them. • Forecasting & Performance Management : Inspect pipeline health, own forecast accuracy, and manage performance against activity, conversion, and quota. • Cross-Functional Collaboration : Partner with Marketing, Product, Growth, RevOps, Solutions Engineering, and the Greenfield and Install Base teams to make handoffs seamless as startups scale. About You: • 5+ years of experience in SaaS sales or startup go-to-market, including 2+ years managing quota-carrying sellers. • A track record of hiring and developing early-career talent and people from non-traditional backgrounds into top performers. • Experience building or running a high-velocity sales motion with volume, speed, and discipline. • Comfort talking with technical founders about architecture and tradeoffs. You don't need to be an engineer, but you need credibility with engineers. • Real curiosity about AI-native development and the tools shaping how startups build and ship. • A builder's mindset: you like creating systems, not just running them, and you balance strategy with hands-on execution. • A growth mindset, resilience, and strong shared ownership. Bonus If You: • Have