Account Executive - Retail

About the role

• Outset invented a better way to do research: AI-powered user interviews.
• Global brands like Hubspot, Microsoft, Uber and Nestle use Outset to achieve deeper, qualitative insights about their users at unprecedented speed and scale.
• The research industry is massive (>$140B and growing) and ripe for disruption. Incumbents are outdated, slow, and burdened by high-cost services. That's our opportunity.
• Outset is backed by top Silicon Valley investors and raised a $30M Series B in December 2025-less than six months after our Series A-led by Radical Ventures with participation from M12 (Microsoft’s venture arm), 8VC, Y Combinator, and Adverb Ventures.
• The raise follows a breakout year, with our business growing 8x as enterprise customers across industries adopt our category, AI-moderated research, as the new standard for understanding people.
• We’re a tight-knit team serving some of the world’s largest enterprises.
• We’re looking for an Account Executive, Retail to lead Outset’s growth with retailers and omnichannel commerce companies.

This is a quota-carrying individual contributor role reporting to the VP of Sales, responsible for selling Outset into retail organizations and growing those accounts over time. You’ll own the full sales cycle-from prospecting and pipeline development through closing and expansion-across a named set of accounts, working with both net new logos and existing customers.

Your primary buyers are Market Research, Brand and Shopper Insights teams. Retailers need to understand shoppers across every touchpoint-brand perception, merchandising and assortment, private label, loyalty and membership, and retail media-and Outset lets them hear directly from hundreds of shoppers in hours. Your job is to make Outset the standard for how these teams understand customers, landing with one team and expanding across the enterprise. There’s also a significant opportunity to expand into UX Research, Product, and CX teams that own e-commerce, app, and in-store experiences.

You’ll partner closely with Marketing, Product, and Customer teams, and you’ll bring a deep understanding of how retailers operate and buy. Depending on your expertise, there’s also an opportunity to focus on multiple verticals-for example, pairing Retail with CPG.

Responsibilities

• Own the full sales cycle for a named set of Retail accounts, from prospecting to close.
• Land new logos and grow existing customers across banners, channels, and business units-e-commerce, stores, merchandising, private label, loyalty, and retail media.
• Build trusted relationships with Market Research, Brand and Shopper Insights leaders as your primary buyers, and expand into UX Research, Product, and CX teams within each account.
• Lead discovery and demos that connect Outset to retail research workflows: shopper journeys and segmentation, brand and campaign research, assortment and private label testing, loyalty and membership, and-for UX, Product, and CX teams-digital and in-store experience research.
• Build account plans that map business units, buying centers, research budgets, and whitespace across each account.
• Navigate complex enterprise sales processes, including procurement, security review, and seasonal planning cycles.
• Maintain accurate forecasting and pipeline visibility in Salesforce.
• Partner with Marketing and outbound teams to build targeted retail plays-events, content, and references that resonate with the vertical.
• Collaborate with Customer Success and Research teams to drive adoption and identify expansion opportunities post-sale.
• Bring retail market feedback back to Product and GTM, and become Outset’s go-to expert on the vertical.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of quota-carrying B2B SaaS sales experience, with a strong track record of exceeding quota.
• Demonstrated experience and expertise selling into and growing Retail accounts-you’ve owned commercial relationships with retailers and know how they buy. This includes selling full service research and analysis deliverables.
• An established network across Market Research, Brand and Shopper Insights leadership in retail; relationships with UX Research, Product, or CX leaders are a plus.
• Proven ability to run full-cycle enterprise sales, including prospecting, managing complex multi-stakeholder deals, and closing new business.
• A track record of growing existing accounts through expansion and cross-sell across business units.
• Understanding of how retailers research shoppers today, including the agencies, panels, and data providers they rely on.
• Exceptional communication, executive presence, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Willingness to travel up to 40% for customer meetings and industry events.
• Bonus: experience selling research, shopper insights, analytics, or AI solutions.