Arize is an early-stage company operating at the forefront of the Generative AI ecosystem. As the business began scaling its commercial presence across EMEA and the US, Arize needed to build its first on-the-ground enterprise sales and solutions capability in highly competitive markets.

With limited cash budgets typical of an early-stage organisation, Arize relied heavily on equity-led compensation, making senior hiring particularly challenging in a market where experienced GenAI talent was in extremely high demand.

The Challenge

Arize required multiple strategic hires across sales and solutions, spanning both EMEA and the US:

Enterprise Account Executive EMEA – Oliver Pollins

• First on-the-ground enterprise sales hire in EMEA
• Required deep GenAI and enterprise sales experience
• Needed to build pipeline and presence from scratch

Enterprise Account Executive – West Coast USA (San Francisco) – Sarah Ezzart

• Senior enterprise AE to drive growth in a competitive West Coast market
• Required credibility with sophisticated GenAI buyers

Sales Engineer EMEA – Jitendra Yadav

• First technical sales hire in EMEA
• Required strong GenAI, technical pre-sales, and customer-facing expertise

Solutions Manager – East Coast USA – Kevin Adams

• Required to support enterprise customers and complex implementations
• Needed a blend of technical depth and commercial acumen

Across all roles, budgets were tightly constrained, with compensation weighted heavily toward equity rather than cash. The challenge was to attract top-tier GenAI talent willing to join an early-stage business while competing against well-funded AI and Big Tech organisations.

Space Executive’s Solution

Space Executive partnered closely with Arize to:

• Design a highly targeted headhunting strategy focused on elite GenAI talent
• Clearly position Arize’s equity upside, mission, and growth potential to senior candidates
• Identify individuals motivated by early-stage impact rather than short-term cash compensation
• Execute parallel searches across EMEA and the US despite a constrained budget environment
• Leverage deep GenAI market knowledge to access passive candidates not active on the market
• Support offer structuring and candidate engagement to maximise acceptance rates

Results

• Successful placement of Oliver Pollins as Enterprise Account Executive EMEA (first on the ground)
• Successful placement of Sarah Ezzart as Enterprise Account Executive, West Coast USA
• Successful placement of Jitendra Yadav as Sales Engineer EMEA (first on the ground)
• Successful placement of Kevin Adams as Solutions Manager, East Coast USA
• Built Arize’s foundational GTM and solutions capability across EMEA and the US
• Enabled Arize to compete effectively for top GenAI talent despite tight cash budgets
• Positioned the company for scalable growth with early commercial and technical leaders in place