Account Executive, Chicago (Software Startup)

Account Executive - Chicago - VC Backed Software Startup

Location: In our Chicago office (60661) 3-5 days per week + travel to events within territory

Compensation: $70,000 - $80,000 base + uncapped OTE (Year 1 OTE $30,000)

About Opply

Opply is modernising how scaling food and consumer goods brands buy ingredients, solving a £1 trillion market inefficiency that's been overlooked for decades.

Right now, SMB brands waste 70% of stock and pay 40% above market rate because they lack access to enterprise-level supplier networks and smart automation. We've built an AI-powered platform that changes this entirely: automated ordering, predictive forecasting, supplier matching, and embedded credit that lets brands sell before they pay.

We're a scaling, VC-backed by Index Ventures, Anthemis, and Chalfen Ventures, with unicorn angels from GoCardless, Flow.io, and Trouva. We've won StartUp of the Year and Supply Chain Specialists of the Year, and we're scaling fast across the UK and internationally.

This is category-defining work in a massive, underserved market.

The Role

As an Account Executive at Opply, you’ll own the sales cycle end-to-end: taking qualified opportunities from discovery through to close, building strong commercial relationships with scaling US food and consumer goods brands, and consistently converting pipeline into revenue.

This is a closing role. You’ll be expected to run sharp discovery, quantify value, navigate stakeholders, handle objections, and negotiate commercially, while partnering closely with SDRs/BDRs, Growth, Marketing, and Product to improve conversion and expand what we can sell.

If you’re competitive, commercially sharp, and want to accelerate in a fast-growth environment where you can have real impact, this is the role.

What You'll Be Doing

Own the Full Sales Cycle

• Run discovery calls with founders and operators at scaling food and consumer goods companies

• Diagnose operational pain, cashflow pressure, margin constraints, and supply chain risk

• Build clear business cases and ROI logic (time saved, waste reduced, margin impact, cashflow benefit)

• Lead product demos and map Opply’s value to customer workflows and priorities

• Manage the deal cycle through proposal, negotiation, and close

Close Revenue, Consistently

• Forecast accurately and maintain clean, reliable pipeline in the CRM

• Handle objections confidently (pricing, switching risk, incumbent suppliers, internal bandwidth)

• Negotiate commercial terms and drive urgency through clear next steps

• Partner with internal teams to remove blockers and increase win rates
  

Expand and Improve the Motion

• Share market feedback to sharpen positioning, outreach, and product priorities

• Identify patterns in lost deals and propose improvements to process, messaging, or packaging

• Represent Opply at industry events - building relationships, credibility, and deal flow

Market Intelligence

• Keep the CRM clean, accurate, and actionable (your pipeline is your reputation)

• Share insights from the market with Growth, Marketing, and Product to sharpen targeting and messaging

• Represent Opply professionally at industry events and in the broader market

What We're Looking For

You'll thrive here if you are:

• A closer: You’re at your best when you’re running live deals and driving to signature

• Consultative and structured: You ask smart questions, listen properly, and build strong cases for change

• Commercially sharp: You can speak credibly about value, outcomes, and trade-offs

• Resilient and consistent: You don’t rely on “big wins”you build repeatable performance

• High ownership: You take initiative, solve problems, and keep momentum even with ambiguity

• Analytical - you can draw insights and report to wider business with ease.

Experience we expect:

• 2- 5 years in sales or business development (B2B strongly preferred)

• 1 year minimum in a closing role (B2B strongly preferred)

• Track record of hitting or exceeding targets (consistent performance, not one-off wins)

• Interest or experience in food/consumer goods is a plus, but hunger and aptitude matter more

• Experience in selling software / technology to SMB markets

Why Now

Opply is at an inflection point. We're scaling with strong customer traction, scaling revenue, expanding internationally, and building out the commercial team to match our ambition.

You'll join early enough to have an outsized impact: shaping playbooks, owning territory, and growing into leadership as the business scales. 

Training & Development

You won't be left to figure it out alone. We've built a structured development environment to turn high-potential sellers into confident commercial operators:

• Full onboarding programme with clear ramp expectations and success metrics

• Weekly 1:1 coaching and feedback loops to build consistency and confidence

• Classroom learning and role plays for discovery, objection handling, and deal progression

What You'll Learn Here

This role is a career accelerator. You'll develop skills that compound:

• Modern discovery: Combine qualitative insight with quantitative value logic to uncover real urgency

• Commercial fluency: Speak credibly about cashflow, operational efficiency, and growth readiness

• Market expertise: Deep understanding of the scaling F&B world (supply chain challenges, margin pressure, and what operators actually care about)

• Unshakeable confidence: Built through repetition, feedback, and high standards

What We Offer

• Compensation base salary ($70,000–$80,000) + uncapped OTE (Year 1 OTE $40,000)

• Flexible hybrid working (balance autonomy with collaboration)

• Regular team socials and global offsites to connect, collaborate, and celebrate

• Health Insurance

• Pension scheme