About Pinecone
Pinecone is the leading vector database for building accurate and performant AI applications at scale in production. Pinecone's mission is to make AI knowledgeable. More than 5000 customers across various industries have shipped AI applications faster and more confidently with Pinecone's developer-friendly technology. Pinecone is based in New York and raised $138M in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, ICONIQ, Menlo Ventures, and Wing Venture Capital.
About the Team and Role:
As a Business Development Representative, you’ll be the primary catalyst for user activation and expansion. You will work at the critical intersection of our Product-Led Growth (PLG) motion and our high-growth revenue engine.
Your core mission is to identify high-potential users within our self-serve funnel and proactively convert them into qualified sales opportunities.
You are part researcher and part automation hacker. You will partner closely with our Revenue Operations team to combine creative outreach with GTM (Go-To-Market) engineering workflows (using tools like Clay, n8n, Zapier, etc.) to deliver personalized, data-backed touchpoints at scale. You'll collaborate closely with Sales, Customer Success, and Solutions Engineering to accelerate our PLG motion, turning a robust sign ups & usage funnel into a predictable revenue engine and setting a new standard for AI-native GTM.
Responsibilities:
Drive Sales Opportunities: Proactively engage users exhibiting high-potential usage signals (e.g., specific API patterns, advanced feature experimentation, new workspace invites) to guide them toward opportunities for the sales team.
Identify & Convert: Execute highly personalized, data-driven outreach sequences to connect with AI practitioners, technical leads, and business decision-makers. Your goal is to understand their platform behaviors and signals in order to generate qualified sales leads.
Surface PQLs: Partner with RevOps and Growth to analyze product telemetry and surface Product-Qualified Leads (PQLs) with clear expansion potential (e.g., users building RAG, Agents, semantic search, or recommender systems).
Work on GTM Automation: Collaborate with RevOps to build and maintain scalable sales automation workflows using tools like Clay, n8n, Zapier, Retool, and our own product's query insights to dramatically reduce manual prospecting.
Innovate on Engagement: Go beyond standard outbound. Use AI-assisted personalization, shareable technical sandbox links, LinkedIn video DMs, and voice notes to provide tangible value in every interaction.
Create Feedback Loops: Work cross-functionally with Product and Marketing to provide direct feedback on inbound quality, user friction points, and emerging persona trends from the front lines.
Requirements:
Has 1–2+ years of BDR/SDR experience in a fast-paced, technical startup—ideally in developer tools, data infrastructure, or the AI/ML space.
Deeply understands modern PLG + Sales hybrid models and is energized by the challenge of bridging product usage to revenue.
Is comfortable and credible when speaking to technical personas (e.g., Founders, ML Engineers, Data Scientists) and can translate complex product value into tangible business outcomes.
Possesses a "guide" or "teacher" mindset, genuinely motivated by helping users solve problems and achieve "aha" moments that lead to deeper product adoption.
Thrives in ambiguous and fast-changing environments; you have high agency, are proactive, and are guided by data.
Is passionate about AI, automation, and GTM innovation. You naturally use tools like ChatGPT, Clay, Gong, and Loom to be more effective.
Loves metrics (PQLs, conversion rates, consumption) but doesn’t wait to be told what to do, constantly iterating on playbooks and documenting what works.
Bonus Points:
Direct experience with vector databases, LLM applications, embeddings, or developer ecosystems.
You've built your own prospecting automations or played with tools like Navattic, Salesroom, Regie.ai, or n8n.
You have worked in a pod-based or "full-cycle lite" GTM setup where BDRs are responsible for driving adoption and consumption metrics, not just booking meetings.
You can show examples of creative, high-value outreach you've designed.
Perks & Benefits:
Comprehensive health coverage including medical, dental, vision, and mental health resources
401(k) Plan
Equity award
Flexible time off
Paid parental leave
Annual Company Retreat
WFH Equipment Stipend
All qualified applicants will receive considerations for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, veteran status, and any other legally protected status under federal, state, or local anti-discrimination laws.
Skills Required
- 1-2+ years of BDR/SDR experience in a fast-paced, technical startup (developer tools, data infrastructure, or AI/ML preferred).
- Deep understanding of PLG + Sales hybrid models and ability to bridge product usage to revenue.
- Comfortable and credible speaking with technical personas (Founders, ML Engineers, Data Scientists) and translating technical value to business outcomes.
- Guide/teacher mindset focused on helping users achieve product "aha" moments and deeper adoption.
- High agency, proactive, data-guided approach; thrives in ambiguous, fast-changing environments.
- Passion for AI, automation, and GTM innovation; practical use of tools like ChatGPT, Clay, Gong, and Loom.
- Metric-oriented: tracks PQLs, conversion rates, consumption; iterates on playbooks and documents results.
- Direct experience with vector databases, LLM applications, embeddings, or developer ecosystems.
- Built prospecting automations or used tools like Navattic, Salesroom, Regie.ai, or n8n.
- Experience in pod-based or full-cycle lite GTM setups where BDRs drive adoption/consumption metrics.
- Examples of creative, high-value outreach designed by the candidate.
What We Do
Pinecone stands as a leader in the AI industry, dedicated to transforming artificial intelligence and tackling its most pressing challenges head-on. Our mission revolves around augmenting the capabilities of AI models, addressing the issue of AI hallucinations, and ensuring the delivery of accurate and dependable results. Pinecone specializes in vector database technology, a groundbreaking innovation that has reshaped data management for AI applications. Our vector database solutions are designed to help eliminate AI hallucinations, making AI outputs reliable and trustworthy. Moreover, Pinecone's technology streamlines data retrieval, minimizes memory overhead, and optimizes AI operations, crucial for the growing demand for Generative AI (GenAI). With strategic partnerships with industry giants like OpenAI, Google Cloud Platform, AWS, and others, Pinecone plays a central role in advancing the AI landscape. Beyond technology, we foster knowledge sharing through events and educational initiatives, empowering AI engineers and leaders with actionable insights. Pinecone is not just transforming AI; we are helping pave the way for a more dependable and scalable AI future.
Why Work With Us
At Pinecone, our culture emphasizes camaraderie, collaboration, and inclusivity. Deeply rooted in our DNA, we prioritize these values. In the dynamic ML/AI realm, we strive for top engineering solutions, while ensuring a shift to AI that aligns with genuine human values.
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