Client Director – Strategic AI Infrastructure

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.

"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC 

“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA 

DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence. 

Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management. 

Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage. 

DDN is seeking a Client Director – Strategic AI Infrastructure to drive revenue growth in the U.S. West Coast region within our Artificial Intelligence business unit. This is a quota-carrying role responsible for developing strategic enterprise opportunities and expanding DDN’s presence within organizations building large-scale AI and high-performance computing environments.

In this role, the Account Executive will operate as a Strategic AI Client Director, partnering with enterprise customers, research institutions, and cloud organizations to deliver high-performance data infrastructure solutions that support advanced AI workloads.

The successful candidate will work closely with internal engineering teams, solutions architects, and channel partners to design and deliver complex AI infrastructure solutions supporting GPU computing, large-scale model training, and data-intensive workloads.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a Strategic AI Client Director within the assigned West Coast territory, driving adoption of DDN’s AI infrastructure solutions across enterprise and research organizations.

• Drive revenue growth and achieve or exceed assigned sales quota across the West Coast region.

• Develop and execute strategic territory and account plans targeting organizations building large-scale AI and high-performance computing environments.

• Identify and qualify new opportunities across industries including financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, technology, research institutions, and large enterprise organizations.

• Build trusted relationships with senior technical leaders, AI infrastructure teams, and executive decision-makers within target accounts.

• Partner with solutions architects and engineering teams to design and present AI infrastructure and high-performance data storage solutions.

• Deliver compelling presentations, product demonstrations, and proposals showcasing the value of DDN’s AI-optimized storage platforms.

• Manage the full enterprise sales cycle including pipeline development, forecasting, contract negotiation, and deal closure.

• Develop strong relationships with channel partners, system integrators, OEM partners, and distributors to expand market reach.

• Stay current on market trends related to AI infrastructure, GPU computing, large-scale model training, and high-performance data environments.

• Represent DDN at industry events, conferences, and customer engagements to generate new opportunities and strengthen market presence.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

• 8+ years of experience in enterprise technology sales, preferably within storage, compute, networking, or infrastructure platforms.

• Demonstrated experience selling AI infrastructure, HPC solutions, cloud platforms, or enterprise data center technologies.

• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding sales quotas in enterprise technology environments.

• Experience managing complex enterprise sales cycles involving technical buyers and executive stakeholders.

• Ability to travel within the East Coast territory as needed.

Preferred Experience

• Experience selling AI infrastructure, GPU clusters, or high-performance computing platforms.

• Familiarity with the AI ecosystem including technologies from NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, Cerebras, Graphcore, or Google TPU.

• Knowledge of enterprise storage technologies including SAN, NAS, object storage, and parallel file systems.

• Experience working with channel partners, system integrators, and distributor ecosystems.

• Familiarity with technologies such as Kubernetes, OpenStack, and large-scale AI data center environments.

Base Salary Range: $175,000 -$200,000
In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for variable compensation (commission).

Why Join DDN

At DDN, you will work at the forefront of AI infrastructure innovation, helping organizations solve some of the most demanding data challenges in the world. Our teams collaborate across engineering, sales, and customer success to deliver cutting-edge technology that powers the next generation of AI breakthroughs.

DDN has a very strong orientation towards these 4 characteristics and any successful employee will demonstrate these capabilities: 

Self-Starter - Takes independent action to identify and solve problems. Seeks out relevant information needed to make decisions. Gets involved with new initiatives. 

Success/Achievement Orientation - Delivers quality results consistently. Targets, achieves (or exceeds) measurable results. Sets challenging goals, focuses on critical priorities, and is accountable. 

Problem Solving - Recognizes problems and responds with a systematic assessment that identifies and addresses cause of issue. Practical, realistic, and resourceful. 

Innovative - Builds and improves key business processes that enhance the effectiveness of DDN. Generates new ideas, challenges the status quo, and solves problems creatively.

DataDirect Networks, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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