Account Executive

Overview

You sell Verkada's physical security solutions—cameras, access control, alarms, intercoms, and sensors—all managed through a cloud platform. You're targeting mid-market businesses and enterprise accounts in Sydney across retail, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and commercial real estate. This is consultative selling with a hardware component, so you're coordinating demos, site surveys, and installations while navigating procurement and multiple stakeholders.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Series D+ (well-funded, mature growth stage)

Size: 2,600+ employees globally

Growth: Expanding aggressively in APAC, hiring across multiple markets. They've been around since 2016, have 30,000+ customers, and are a recognized brand in physical security.

Market Position: Category challenger—competing against traditional players like Axis, Avigilon, and Honeywell, plus newer cloud players like Rhombus. They differentiate on ease of use, cloud integration, and no NVR/server requirements.

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 30% Inbound - Marketing generates leads through events, webinars, and organic search. Quality varies—some are tire-kickers downloading spec sheets, others are active RFP processes.
• 50% Outbound - You're expected to prospect actively. Cold calling facilities managers, security directors, IT managers. LinkedIn outreach to people posting about office expansions or security concerns.
• 20% Referrals/Existing customers - Multi-site companies expanding, happy customers referring peers.

SDR/AE Structure: No dedicated SDR for every AE in APAC yet. You get some inbound leads routed to you, but you're doing most of your own prospecting.

SE Support: You have access to Solutions Engineers for technical demos and complex deployments, but you need to run initial product demos yourself. SE gets pulled in for multi-building campuses or custom integrations.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors:

• Traditional: Axis Communications, Avigilon, Honeywell (on-prem DVR/NVR systems)
• Cloud-based: Rhombus, Eagle Eye Networks
• Access control: Brivo, Openpath, Kisi

How They Differentiate:
Plug-and-play simplicity (no servers/NVRs), 10-year warranty on hardware, unlimited cloud storage for 30-90 days, integrated platform (cameras + access control + alarms in one interface), AI-powered search features.

Common Objections:

• "We already have cameras" (incumbency bias)
• "Upfront cost is high" (hardware + licensing vs. cheap on-prem systems)
• "We need local storage" (compliance/security concerns about cloud)
• "What happens if internet goes down?" (hybrid cloud concerns)

Win Themes:
Total cost of ownership (no server maintenance), ease of use for non-technical teams, fast deployment, remote access, scalability across multiple sites.

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Prospecting (30%) | Active Deals (40%) | Demos/Site Visits (20%) | Internal (10%)

Key Activities

• Prospecting: You're calling facilities managers at office buildings, schools, hospitals, retail chains. You're looking for signals: recent break-ins, office expansions, outdated camera systems, compliance requirements. Expect 20-30 calls per day when building pipeline. Most don't pick up or aren't in buying mode.

• Discovery and Demos: You run initial web demos showing the Command platform (cloud dashboard). You're explaining how they'd search footage by person, vehicle, or object. You're screen-sharing and walking through access control setup. These are 30-45 min calls. You book 6-10 demos per month.

• Site Surveys: For serious opportunities, you visit the site (or coordinate a local partner). You're counting camera placements, checking network infrastructure, identifying where card readers go. This is a couple hours on-site plus travel time. You do 2-4 site visits per month.

• Multi-threading: Deals involve facilities, IT, security, and finance. You're booking separate calls with IT to address network security concerns, with finance to discuss payment terms, with security to validate coverage requirements. Deals stall when you can't get all stakeholders aligned.

• Proposals and Procurement: You're building quotes in Salesforce (or their internal tool), pricing out hardware bundles, software licenses, installation services. Then you wait. Procurement teams push back on terms. Finance wants to split it into CapEx/OpEx. Legal reviews cloud data agreements. This is where deals slip quarters.

• Partner Coordination: For larger installs, you work with certified installation partners. You're qualifying partners, coordinating logistics, making sure the install doesn't blow up (cameras in wrong places, poor cable runs, etc.).

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Long cycles with lots of waiting: After a great demo, you might wait 3-4 weeks for the next meeting while they "discuss internally." Deals sit in procurement for a month. You're constantly chasing people for the next step.

• Hardware means complicated logistics: This isn't SaaS where they swipe a card and start using it. You're dealing with shipping delays, installation coordination, network requirements. IT teams push back on firewall rules. Installs get rescheduled. Problems become your problems.

• Competing against "good enough": Many prospects have old camera systems that work. Convincing them to rip and replace is tough. You're selling better UX and cloud benefits to people who don't see the current pain clearly.

• Multi-site complexity: When you land a customer with 10 locations, it sounds great. But now you're coordinating 10 separate installs, dealing with 10 local IT contacts, and any issue at one site jeopardizes the whole relationship.

What Success Looks Like

• You close 1-2 deals per month, averaging $60-100K per deal
• You build a pipeline of 20+ active opportunities at various stages
• You get into multi-location accounts early, expand across sites after proving value in the pilot location
• You develop relationships with local integrators who can install quickly and correctly, becoming a pipeline source

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• Facilities Managers (day-to-day security, managing contractors)
• Security Directors/Managers (physical security strategy, compliance)
• IT Directors/Managers (network integration, data security, vendor evaluation)
• Finance/Procurement (in enterprise deals, control the budget and terms)

What They Care About:

• Facilities: Easy to manage, reliable hardware, responsive support when something breaks
• Security: Coverage quality, forensic search capabilities, integration with existing systems (VMS, access control)
• IT: Network bandwidth impact, data security/privacy, no servers to maintain, SSO/user management
• Finance: Total cost of ownership vs. CapEx for traditional systems, payment flexibility, warranty/support costs

Requirements

• 2-4 years of B2B sales experience, ideally selling hardware, security, or enterprise software
• Comfortable with consultative selling—you're not taking orders, you're diagnosing needs and configuring solutions
• Able to run product demos confidently—you need to understand the platform well enough to show value in 30 minutes
• Willingness to travel locally for site visits and customer meetings (Sydney metro area, occasional regional travel)
• Experience navigating multiple stakeholders and long sales cycles without losing momentum
• Self-sufficient prospecting—you're building your own pipeline, not just working warm leads