Strategic Sales Director at Cresta - Remote UK/EMEA — Columbus
Traveler-Friendly Insight
This role is not suited for a fully nomadic lifestyle. The job description explicitly requires the ability to be in London at short notice and expects roughly 25% domestic and international travel across EMEA. You need a reliable London base.
That said, outside of client-facing commitments, the role appears to offer meaningful flexibility — a remote work setup budget and a monthly communication stipend suggest that day-to-day work can be done from home or a coworking space rather than a fixed office.
Timezone & schedule considerations:
- Working hours will be anchored to GMT/BST, and EMEA deal cycles will require availability during European business hours (roughly 8am–6pm CET range).
- Async culture is not explicitly mentioned — enterprise sales at this level typically demands synchronous responsiveness.
Compensation context: The OTE of £215,000–£230,000 is substantial. For comparison, this comfortably covers years of living in Lisbon (avg. ~€2,500/month), Bangkok (~$1,800/month), or Medellín (~$1,500/month). However, the London proximity requirement makes long-term nomadism impractical without a UK base. A UK Global Talent Visa or existing right to work in the UK would be required. EU citizens with settled status may also qualify.
Cresta unlocks the true potential of the customer experience, turning every conversation into a competitive advantage. Cresta's unified AI platform combines conversational AI agents, real-time human agent augmentation, and comprehensive conversation intelligence to drive revenue and efficiency gains across every channel. The world's leading companies, including United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott, use Cresta to power world-class customer experiences every day.
Born from the Stanford AI Lab, Cresta has raised more than $270 million from the world's leading investors, including a16z, Greylock, and Sequoia. Cresta's leadership includes some of the leading minds in AI today. Our CEO, Ping Wu, founded and led Google's Contact Center AI and Vertex AI platforms before joining Cresta to build the future of AI-driven customer experiences.
Over the next few years, AI is going to redefine how people all over the world interact with businesses every day. Come build that future at Cresta.
About the Role:
As a founding Strategic Sales Director you will focus on some of the largest companies in EMEA, working on big strategic deals that will change the trajectory of the company. You'll identify and articulate how Cresta can unlock significant value for our customers, build relationships with key executives, and evangelize cutting-edge AI technology.
As an early member of the team at a growing startup, you'll have the opportunity to help define our sales process, participate in regional expansion strategy, and help build the EMEA region — starting with success in the UK.
This is a high-impact, high-visibility role for someone who thrives in a fast-paced startup environment and is passionate about using cutting-edge AI to solve real-world business challenges. You'll help shape our sales strategy, influence cross-functional priorities, and contribute to building a high-performing, customer-obsessed sales culture.
Responsibilities:
- Own the sales experience while building and managing relationships with key decision-makers and executives
- Run complex sales cycles from initial contact to close
- Prospect for new clients, design product presentations and business cases, develop and deliver proposals, negotiate and close contracts
- Develop a command of the Cresta product, the Contact Center market, our unique competitive differentiators, and our customers' needs
- Partner closely with Product, Marketing, Customer Success, and Engineering to deliver an exceptional customer experience
- Own and hit your number
Qualifications We Value:
- 7+ years of SaaS software sales experience at an enterprise level, with referenceability of consistently delivering to sales quotas
- Experience negotiating, structuring, and executing complex enterprise-level agreements
- Prior experience leading cross-functional teams through large deal close processes
- Ability to articulate contractual, technical, and financial value points to customers, including C-level executives
- Excellent communication and presentation skills with experience presenting to C-level executives
- Ability to be in London easily, often at short notice; also the ability to travel domestically and internationally up to approximately 25% of the time
Perks & Benefits:
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with plans to fit you and your family
- Paid parental leave for all new parents welcoming a new child
- Remote work setup budget to help you create a productive home office
- Monthly wellness and communication stipend to keep you connected and balanced
- 20 days of vacation time to promote a healthy work-life blend
Compensation at Cresta
Cresta's approach to compensation is simple: recognize impact, reward excellence, and invest in our people. We offer competitive, location-based pay that reflects the market and what each individual brings to the table.
The posted base salary range represents what we expect to pay for this role in a given location. Final offers are shaped by factors like experience, skills, education, and geography. In addition to base pay, total compensation includes equity and a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family.
This role is variable target compensation eligible. There is potential to exceed target earnings when goals are surpassed.
OTE Range: £215,000 – £230,000 GBP + Equity
Our use of AI in recruiting: We may use AI tools in our recruiting process, which require human review and oversight. If you have questions about our use of AI or wish to opt out, please contact [email protected] (if you are opting out, please use the subject 'Opt-Out' in your email).
Recording & AI transcription: We do not authorize candidates to record or use AI transcription of any interview by phone, notetaker app, AI glasses, or other device. Candidates may request an exception or accommodation for review during the interview process as needed.
Recruiting impersonation scams: We have noticed a rise in recruiting impersonations across the industry, where scammers attempt to access candidates' personal and financial information through fake interviews and offers. All Cresta recruiting email communications will always come from the @cresta.ai domain. Any outreach claiming to be from Cresta via other sources should be ignored.