Associate Relationship Manager, Startups & Venture Capital

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Job Category

Sales

Job Details

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.

Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.

Why Join Us

Launchpad is one of Salesforce's most exciting growth programs — and SF is where the next generation of AI-native, generationally significant companies gets built. This role puts you at the center of that energy: but it's not a sales job. It's a builder's job.

You'll work with our sales teams to cover thousands of early-stage companies, tiny technical teams, and founders making consequential platform decisions in real time. The person who succeeds here is someone who can demo, configure, connect APIs, speak credibly about AI agents and developer tooling, and do it all in the same week as hosting a YC batch dinner. You'll bring the full depth of the world's #1 Agentic CRM to founders who need real help — not a deck — and you'll build the programs and infrastructure that let you do it at scale.

If you've been the most technical person in a sales org, the most commercial person on an engineering team, or have built something yourself and want to bring that energy inside a global platform — this is it.

Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 Agentic CRM, helping companies become Agentic Enterprises where humans and AI agents drive customer success together on one trusted, unified platform. Our Global Private Equity & Venture Capital Practice is transforming how VC firms build value for their portfolio companies — and how founders build for scale.

More than 85% of unicorn companies are Salesforce customers, from early-stage to post-IPO. For startups, Salesforce is more than CRM — it's the GTM infrastructure that grows with them: from their first sales hire through to IPO and beyond. That means Agentforce for AI-powered automation, Headless 360 to build on the Salesforce platform without being locked into any single surface, and AgentExchange — the world's largest marketplace for trusted agents, apps, and integrations. Salesforce isn't just a tool startups adopt. It's a platform as big as their ambitions, and one of the most important investments they'll make as they scale.

The Role

Launchpad is Salesforce's startups program — and this role is focused on the earliest-stage companies in the ecosystem: VC-backed startups typically under 50 employees who are building fast, hiring fast, and making GTM infrastructure decisions with very little time and very few resources. They don't have a Salesforce admin. They don't have an IT team. And they won't wait six weeks for a solution.
As an Associate GTM Manager, you will be Launchpad's primary presence in the Bay Area's most active early-stage communities — including top-tier startup accelerators and founder programs (e.g. YC, Speedrun), founder networks, and the VC firms backing the next generation of breakout companies. But unlike a traditional relationship manager, your value to these companies is as much technical as it is relational. You'll help founders actually implement and get value from Salesforce — not just sign up for it.

This is a high-volume, high-build role. You'll own scalable programs, create repeatable on-ramps for accelerator cohorts, and help define how you can build with Salesforce from day 1.

You will work directly with the Head of Startups and the broader Launchpad team to build the tooling, programs, and playbooks that help Salesforce show up authentically for the companies that will define the next decade.

Responsibilities

Building & Scaling Programs

• Design and build scalable technical on-ramps for early-stage startups — including onboarding workflows, accelerator programming, and lightweight implementation guides that founders can actually use

• Own a high-volume territory of VC-backed startups under 50 employees — the coverage model here requires programs and tooling, not just conversations

• Build and maintain relationships with top-tier accelerator programs and founder communities to create consistent, repeatable cohort-level engagement

• Work closely with Salesforce SMB sales leadership to align on startup accounts and ensure the right companies get the right level of support

• Track and manage territory performance, contributing to regular portfolio reviews with Launchpad leadership

Technical Engagement & Value Creation

• Help early-stage founders actually implement and derive value from Salesforce — not just evangelize it. That means getting your hands dirty: configuring use cases, connecting integrations, demonstrating Agentforce capabilities, and making the platform feel real for a 10-person team

• Bring a genuine, technical point of view on the AI-powered GTM stack — you understand how the best early-stage companies are using AI agents, automation, and developer tooling to scale lean

• Help founders understand how Headless 360 lets them build on the Salesforce platform without being locked into any single surface, and how AgentExchange extends their stack with trusted agents and integrations

• Be comfortable with vibe coding and AI-assisted configuration — you don't need to be an engineer, but you need to be able to build quickly and show founders what's possible

• Serve as the bridge between a founder's technical questions and the Salesforce ecosystem — knowing when to go deep yourself and when to bring in the right resource

Sales Enablement

• Serve as the Launchpad expert for Salesforce SMB sales teams — helping AEs and sales leaders understand how to engage early-stage, VC-backed companies and what technical support these companies actually need

• Run enablement sessions that go beyond the value prop — equipping the sales org with the technical context to have credible conversations with founder-led companies

• Collaborate with Launchpad leadership to bring learnings from the SB segment back to the broader team

Community, Events & Ecosystem

• Host and facilitate curated founder events, accelerator programming, and ecosystem activations that build Launchpad's presence in the early-stage community

• Build relationships within founder communities, accelerator networks, and early-stage VC firms that extend beyond individual companies — creating durable touchpoints with the ecosystem at large

• Help founders discover the full Salesforce ecosystem: from Agentforce and AI-powered automation to the agents and integrations available on AgentExchange

• Gather and synthesize founder feedback to continuously improve Launchpad and Salesforce's approach to the earliest-stage companies

• Contribute to broader Launchpad community initiatives and campaigns in collaboration with the central team

Strategic Contribution

• Contribute to internal portfolio performance reviews and provide data-driven insights on the SB startup landscape

• Bring a point of view on how the early-stage ecosystem is evolving and what it means for Launchpad's strategy

• Own ad hoc strategic projects that contribute to the growth and success of the broader Launchpad program

Required Experience

• A builder's mentality — you're someone who creates things, solves problems with whatever tools are available, and doesn't wait to be handed a solution. This could show up as having built a company, owned a sales function end-to-end at an early-stage startup, run a technical program, or developed tooling and processes from scratch

• Technical fluency — you're comfortable with AI-powered tools, platform configuration, and API-level conversations. You don't need to be an engineer, but you need to be able to sit with a technical founder and be taken seriously

• Hands-on experience with or genuine enthusiasm for vibe coding, AI agents, or building with AI-powered development tools — you see these as practical instruments, not buzzwords

• Strong familiarity with the startup ecosystem — you understand how early-stage companies are built, what founders care about, and how they make decisions with limited resources and zero tolerance for friction

• Exceptional communication skills — you can earn a technical founder's trust quickly and translate complexity into clarity

• A scrappy, high-volume approach to relationship building — you get more done with less, and you're energized by it

• Self-starter mentality with strong work ethic, personal drive, and character qualities aligned with Salesforce's core values

• Willingness to travel as needed (~15%)

Desired Experience

• 4–6 years of relevant experience — this could be in venture capital, enterprise software, startup ecosystem roles, sales, or business development, but what matters most is that you've built something, owned something, or operated close to the technical and commercial intersection of an early-stage company

• Direct experience working with or inside accelerator programs, founder communities, or early-stage VC networks

• Familiarity with the Salesforce platform and/or the GTM tech stack for startups — ideally with a point of view on where AI-powered tooling, CRM, and developer platforms fit in a founder's journey

• Experience in a Solutions Engineer, technical sales, or builder-adjacent role is a strong plus

• Experience hosting or managing ecosystem events, founder programs, or partner activations

• Degree in Economics, Finance, Business, Computer Science, or a related field

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.

Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions.

The typical base salary range for this position is $102,830 - $137,620 annually

There is a different range applicable to specific work locations. In California and New York, and select cities in the metropolitan areas of Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and Washington DC, the base pay range for this role in those locations is $113,120 - $151,340 per year. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.

The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.