Senior Account Executive, South Africa - Startups

About Us At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers millions of websites and other Internet properties for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. At Cloudflare, we’re not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we’re looking for the builders who see the cracks in the Internet that everyone else has simply learned to live with. We value candidates who have the instinct to spot a "normalized" problem and the AI-native curiosity to create a solution using the latest tools. Our culture is built on iteration, leveraging AI to ship faster today to make it better tomorrow, while ensuring that every improvement, no matter how small, is shared across the team to lift everyone up. If you’re the type of person who values curiosity over bureaucracy, and that AI is a partner in solving tough problems to keep the Internet moving forward, you’ll fit right in. Available Locations • Dubai, UAE About the Role We are seeking a highly accomplished and strategic Account Executive to join our Digital Natives team in Dubai. In this advanced role, you will be pivotal in driving significant growth by leading comprehensive sales cycles within a portfolio of assigned enterprise-level clients, and strategically acquiring new logos. The ideal candidate possesses a deep blend of advanced sales acumen and sophisticated technical understanding, enabling them to lead engagements at all levels, from the C-suite to technical leaders (e.g., Head of/VP of Networking or Security). As an Account Executive, you will consistently demonstrate advanced proficiency in all sales activities, ensuring highly accurate forecasting, proactive and strategic pipeline management, and consistently exceeding attainment targets. You will be a subject matter expert, speaking fluently about Cloudflare's products, features, benefits, and use cases across diverse customer segments. This role demands the ability to deeply understand complex customer IT Architectures, match them with relevant Cloudflare Reference Architectures, and orchestrate successful, large-scale platform sales. You will be a key driver of digital transformation for our customers, understanding their broader market trends and how Cloudflare uniquely enables their strategic initiatives. Regional Focus: South Africa Responsibilities • Strategic Revenue Generation: Architect and execute advanced territory and account plans to consistently exceed multi-million dollar sales targets and annual quotas, with a strong focus on new business acquisition and expansion within complex enterprise environments. • Expert Pipeline & Forecasting: Lead proactive and strategic pipeline management efforts, demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of sales cycles and customer buying processes. Deliver highly accurate forecasts, providing clear insights and strategic guidance to sales leadership. • Deep Customer & IT Architecture Understanding: Develop a profound understanding of customers' IT architectures, including applications and third-party technologies. Architect and align Cloudflare Reference Architectures to customer environments, driving comprehensive platform solutions. • Multi-Engagement Leadership: Orchestrate and manage multiple complex customer engagements simultaneously across various business units within an organization. Strategically connect disparate needs to strengthen Cloudflare's platform sale, actively involving and influencing technical C-level minus one executives. • Virtual Team Leadership: Set clear direction and lead a virtual team of in-GEO specialists, Product Managers, Deal Desk, and Legal to collaboratively manage and close complex customer opportunities. Proactively identify and navigate through situations to address colleague and customer needs, escalating as appropriate to drive urgency and efficient delivery. • Digital Transformation Authority: Act as an authority on digital transformation, understanding key drivers (e.g., new offering development, enhanced customer capabilities) and the broader market trends influencing these decisions. Position Cloudflare as a critical enabler of these transformations. • Compelling Value Creation: Articulate highly compelling, strategic value propositions for Cloudflare's services, directly linking them to customer business outcomes and strategic objectives. Lead with a strong focus on the "why," communicating the whole picture to both internal and external stakeholders. • Advanced Negotiation & Closure: Expertly lead and navigate complex contract negotiations, driving win-win scenarios for all parties. Demonstrate advanced closing skills across new business and expansion opportunities. • Trusted Advisor & Coach: Build long-term, executive-level strategic relationships, ensuring deep customer adoption, retention, and expansion. Consistently provide clear, direct, and constructive feedback to team members, coaching them to improve communication, learn from mistakes, and enhance the quality of work. Share learnings proactively to build trust across the organization. • Organizational Impact & Leadership: Consistently focus on the long-term needs of the team and the business, understanding how decisions impact other teams and openly sharing these insights. Leverage company-wide learnings to improve department and team execution. Serve as a leader within Cloudflare, making significant contributions while elevating the work of others by bringing diverse perspectives and strategic long-term thinking. Desirable Skills, Knowledge, and Experience • Fluency in both English (written and spoken). • 8+ years of advanced experience selling complex technology solutions in a B2B enterprise model, with a significant track record of consistently exceeding multi-million dollar quota targets. • Deep expertise and fluency in Cloud Networking, Security, and Edge Computing technologies, with an exceptional ability to articulate features, benefits, and use cases across diverse customer segments (e.g., SMBs, enterprise, vertical markets). • Proven ability to deeply understand complex customer IT architectures and effectively map them to Cloudflare Reference Architectures for successful platform sales. • Demonstrated success leading and influencing virtual cross-functional teams (e.g., Solution Engineers, Product Managers, Legal) to drive complex deals to closure. • Exceptional strategic communication and presentation skills, with a focus on articulating the "why" and conveying the whole picture to executive leadership and technical decision-makers (C-level minus one). • Advanced negotiation skills with a track record of closing large, complex, six-figure and multi-million dollar deals. • Expert-level sales acumen: unparalleled proficiency in discovery, positioning, competitive selling, negotiation, closing, and expansion strategies within enterprise accounts. • Authority on digital transformation trends and their impact on enterprise customers, with the ability to position Cloudflare as a key enabler of strategic business outcomes. • Strong coaching and mentorship abilities, with a passion for helping colleagues grow and improve. • Highly self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and resilient, thriving in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with a consistent focus on long-term goals. • Proficiency in advanced sales and business intelligence platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Tableau, G-suite, MSFT suite, MEDDPICC framework application). • Bachelor's degree required, with a technical background (e.g., engineering, computer science, MIS) highly preferred. • Ability to travel up to 50% to engage with key customers and internal teams. What Makes Cloudflare Special? We’re not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We’re a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet. Project Galileo: Since 2014, we've equipped more than 2,400 journalism and civil society organizations in 111 countries with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, technology already used by Cloudflare’s enterprise customers--at no cost. Athenian Project: In 2017, we created the Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration. Since the project, we've provided services to more than 425 local government election websites in 33 states. 1.1.1.1: We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster, more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Here’s the deal - we don’t store client IP addresses never, ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers. Sound like something you’d like to be a part of? We’d love to hear from you! Please note that applicants who progress to the offer stage of the interview process may be asked to attend an in-person interview within one of the Cloudflare Offices or Cloudflare Hubs. More details about this will be available at that stage of the interview process. This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license. Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer. Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at hr@cloudflare.com or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.