Key Account Director

Business Area:

Sales

Seniority Level:

Mid-Senior level

Job Description:

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world's largest enterprises.

Cloudera empowers the world's largest enterprises across every industry to use data to solve some of the most complex challenges impact businesses, communities and lives. Our hybrid data and AI platform manages over 25 Exabytes of data while delivering remarkable analytics and AI capabilities across On-Premise, Public Cloud, and Hybrid environments. We are currently executing a massive Go-To-Market evolution, transitioning from a product-focused vendor to a solution-centric partner delivering high-margin, hybrid cloud and Private AI 2.0 solutions directly mapped to client ROI.

As a Key Account Director at Cloudera, you are an elite enterprise sales professional experienced in leading strategic GTM campaigns within Fortune 500 accounts in the Media & Entertainment space. You know how to sell innovation and value through customer vision expansion, and you thrive on guiding complex deals forward to compress decision cycles. Reporting to the Regional Vice President, you will map directly to marquee enterprise clients, focusing on top tier relationships across media, broadcast, entertainment, and streaming verticals. You will be familiar with the partner ecosystem. You will come with an informed point of view on Big Data, Open Data Lakehouses, Hybrid Cloud, and Private AI, positioning Cloudera as the trusted partner that eliminates cloud bill shock, SaaS lock-in, and data sovereignty roadblocks.

As a Key Account Director, the Impact You Will Have:

• Own Strategic Account Relationships: Drive end-to-end commercial strategy and own overall executive relationships across marquee Media & Entertainment enterprise accounts.
• C-Level Vision & Influence: Build deep, trusted partnerships with CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, LOB executives, and program managers across decentralized business units and digital properties to accelerate transformation.
• Expand Enterprise Footprint: Execute a solution-based land-and-expand motion to discover white space, scale new AI/analytics use cases, and increase customer lifetime value.
• Execute Competitive Displacement Playbooks: Lead high-stakes competitive wins against cloud-only vendors (Snowflake, Databricks, Confluent) by delivering Cloudera's lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), true hybrid freedom, and zero vendor lock-in.
• Promote Cloudera's Hybrid Data & AI Platform: Position Cloudera's open data lakehouse (Apache Iceberg), Anywhere Cloud, and Private AI 2.0 capabilities (including native Mistral AI partnerships and NVIDIA integrations).
• Forecast & Pipeline Discipline: Maintain pipeline management, accurate weekly forecasting, and account details within Salesforce using structured qualification frameworks (MEDDPICC).

We're excited about you when you have:

• Enterprise Sales Track Record: 7+ years of quota-carrying enterprise software sales experience closing deals and consistently hitting/exceeding annual targets.
• Media & Entertainment Industry Expertise: Proven experience selling into and navigating complex, decentralized buying centers within major Media & Entertainment enterprise accounts.
• Hybrid Cloud, Data & AI Depth: Field experience positioning big data, hybrid cloud, SaaS, open data lakehouses, or enterprise AI solutions to C-level technical and business leaders.
• Operating Autonomy & Ecosystem Execution: Highly self-sufficient core AE who thrives in a dedicated pod model and successfully leverages partner ecosystems (AWS, NVIDIA, Dell, NetApp, WWT).
• Education & Work Authorization: Bachelor's Degree required. Must have valid US work authorization and ability to travel as needed.

What you can expect from us:

• Generous PTO Policy

• Support work life balance with Unplugged Days

• Flexible WFH Policy

• Mental & Physical Wellness programs

• Phone and Internet Reimbursement program

• Access to Continued Career Development

• Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages

• Paid Volunteer Time

• Employee Resource Groups

EEO/VEVRAA

#LI-BV1

#LI-Remote