Instrumental, Inc.

Account Manager, Enterprise Accounts at Instrumental, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA)

Instrumental, Inc.· Palo Alto, CA·

Role details

Work type
Hybrid
Employment
Full-Time

Job description

Instrumental builds the manufacturing acceleration platform behind the world’s most complex electronics. We capture digital exhaust and engineering context from assembly lines—images, test logs, BOM data, performance, repair cycles—and our AI engines identify insights that are difficult or impossible for human engineers to find. We accelerate the companies building the AI era by improving manufacturing yield, throughput, and ramp. NVIDIA, Meta, L3Harris, and their manufacturing partners rely on Instrumental to accelerate new product introduction and production.

We are looking for an Account Manager who loves hardware engineering and electronics manufacturing, and gets genuine satisfaction from going deeper with a customer over time — becoming the person their engineering and ops leaders call first, and using that trust to open doors to new plants, new business units, and new budget.

A Note on this Role: This is not a "wind down from AE" job. If you're looking for a quieter seat after carrying a new-business quota, this isn't it. Our Account Managers prospect, hunt, and build pipeline inside their book with the same intensity as our AEs — the difference is where you're hunting, not how hard. You're not managing a renewal; you're expanding a footprint. Some of our fastest-growing accounts are also home to some of the most important AI compute buildouts on the planet, and there's a lot of white space left to win.

We're Looking For Someone Who:

  • Has 8+ years of quota-carrying B2B sales or account expansion experience, with a track record of consistently exceeding $1M+ in expansion or new-business bookings within an existing book of business.
  • Is a self-starter with startup experience who treats their account list the way an AE treats a territory: you map the org, find the unaddressed problems, and go create the next deal rather than waiting for the customer to ask.
  • Has experience selling or working with manufacturing data, digital transformation, analytics, and/or verticalized AI to technical buyers — ideally in high-tech electronics, industrial electronics, automotive Tier 2/3s, or aerospace & defense.
  • Has an engineering background and is genuinely technical — able to go deep on manufacturing processes and data with customers' engineering teams, not just their business stakeholders.
  • Can build credibility with C-suite executives and founders — not just access, trust. You're comfortable in the room with technical VPs and CEOs alike, and people want you back in the room.
  • Takes critical feedback and internal pushback without getting defensive. Our best partners with customers are enjoyable to work with because they stay curious under pressure instead of protecting their own position.
  • Has experience navigating complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles involving procurement, security, and legal — expansion deals inside a large account can be just as political as a new logo.
  • Is familiar with MEDDPIC, Jolt, or similar enterprise sales methodologies.
  • Prefers to get in front of customers face-to-face and is willing to travel to do so.

What You'll Be Doing:

  • Owning and growing a portfolio of our largest enterprise accounts — you are accountable for the expansion pipeline in your book the same way an AE is accountable for their new-logo pipeline.
  • Prospecting inside the account: identifying new plants, business units, use cases, and stakeholders who don't yet know what Instrumental can do for them.
  • Becoming the trusted advisor to technical leaders and executives — including founders and C-suite at some of the most sophisticated manufacturers in the world — so that when they have a new problem, they think of you first.
  • Leading discovery on net-new problems inside a known account, and building the business case and ROI story that justifies expansion spend.
  • Navigating renewal, expansion, and multi-year deal structures alongside procurement, finance, and legal on both sides.
  • Selling as a team: partnering closely with Solutions Architects, Customer Success, TPMs, and Product to make sure the customer sees continuous value — and that value shows up in your pipeline.
  • Representing the voice of the customer internally, especially where growth is being blocked by product gaps, delivery issues, or unresolved friction — and doing so constructively.
  • Helping win our AI compute business — one of the most exciting and fastest-moving corners of this industry — inside accounts that are already building the infrastructure of the AI era.

We're a growing team that works collaboratively, supports each other, and is energized by having impact. We value passion and the ability to learn — you're encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't match the job description precisely.

The following is a representative annual OTE per year within the Bay Area: $334k – $396k. Job level and salary opportunities are evaluated through our interview process — we review the experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of each applicant.

Instrumental is proud to offer a highly-rated variety of benefits, including health, vision, dental, commuter plans, and parental leave.

At Instrumental, protecting company and customer information is a shared responsibility. All employees are expected to comply with company security and privacy policies and promptly report suspected security incidents or policy violations.

Why work at Instrumental, Inc.

  • Mission-Driven: The company is tackling a massive, tangible problem ($8T in waste) with a clear goal to cut it in half. Employees can see the direct impact of their work on global manufacturing efficiency.
  • Culture: Described as "collaborative, passionate, transparent, and impact-driven." Core values include "Play to Win" and "Default to Action," with a focus on forming authentic connections and celebrating wins instrumental.com.
  • Global & Distributed Team: Offices in Palo Alto, CA and Shenzhen, China. The team works closely across locations, with a strong Slack culture and weekly All-Hands lunches instrumental.com.
  • Strong Talent Pool: Team members come from top-tier companies like Apple, Tesla, Google, Foxconn, and Fictiv, indicating a high-caliber peer group linkedin.com.
  • Technical Challenges: Engineers work on a unique blend of hardware, software, and AI problems at the intersection of physical product design and digital data platforms.

Application questions