Business Development Manager (Key Accounts)

Key Responsibilities

Alibaba Cloud Global Strategic Account team is looking for Business Development Managers based in Sunnyvale.

In this capacity, you will play a key role within the Alibaba Cloud International GKA business development team to cultivate existing pipelines, develop new business opportunities, and carry out annual GAAP revenue in the global market. Your role should present a demonstrated ability and track record to drive increased cloud and AI growth in one or many verticals: Technology, Hospitality, Manufacture, Financial Services, etc.

You advocate for the innovative power of our products to make organizations more productive, collaborative, and mobile. Your guiding light is doing what’s right for the customer, you will meet customers exactly where they are and provide them the best solutions for innovation in this AI Era.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Customer Relationship Management & Business Development

• Build Trust and Identify Opportunities: Engage customers in their preferred communication style to uncover business needs, establish credibility, and generate high-impact sales pipelines.

• Navigate Decision-Making Processes: Map and maintain relationships with key stakeholders (C-suite, IT leaders, technical teams) to secure long-term partnerships and strategic alignment.

• Stay Informed on Customer Dynamics: Proactively monitor client business plans, budgets, organizational changes, and technical environments to anticipate needs and tailor solutions.

2. Product & AI-Driven Value Proposition

• Convey Alibaba Cloud’s Competitive Edge: Translate industry-specific insights into compelling narratives that highlight the technical value and ROI of Alibaba Cloud’s products and services, including Tongyi Model suite (Qwen, Wan, Fun) and AI-native solutions.

• Expertise in AI Ecosystem: Stay ahead of AI trends, rapidly adapt to evolving technologies, and convert knowledge into revenue by addressing client pain points and enabling innovation.

• Solution Design & Communication: Independently explain the standard Alibaba Cloud product solutions to customers; or with the support of Solution Architect, craft customized cloud strategies and independently demonstrate how Alibaba Cloud’s offerings optimize IT efficiency, scalability, and business outcomes.

3. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Account Execution

• End-to-End Support: Partner with internal teams (sales, technical, product) to deliver seamless project execution, resolve challenges, and ensure customer success post-implementation.

• Drive Internal Innovation: Provide actionable feedback to enhance product and solution competitiveness based on customer requirements and market trends.

• Account Intelligence & Stakeholder Mapping: Conduct in-depth research to identify critical decision-makers, workload owners, and emerging opportunities within target accounts.

Qualifications:

● Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent practical experience).

● 3 years in a customer-facing technical sales, solutions engineering, or developer relations role—preferably in cloud, AI/ML, or infrastructure.

● Deep understanding of modern AI stacks: familiarity with transformers, fine-tuning, quantization, vector databases, LangChain/LlamaIndex, inference optimization, and MLOps tools.

● Proven ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly to both engineers and non-technical business audiences.

● Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills—you build trust quickly and thrive in ambiguous, founder-led environments.

● Willingness to travel extensively (~50% of time) across the U.S. to meet customers in person.

Preferred

● Experience working with or at an AI-native companies (as employee, advisor, or investor).

● Hands-on experience deploying models on cloud platforms (Alibaba Cloud, AWS, GCP, Azure).

● Familiarity with open-weight models, model serving frameworks (vLLM, TGI), and cost/performance tradeoffs in inference.

● Genuine enthusiasm for AI innovation—you follow arXiv papers, experiment with open models (e.g., Llama, Mistral, Qwen), or build side projects with AI agents.

● Existing network in the U.S. AI/VC/startup ecosystem.

The base pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $156,000/year and $255,600/year. However, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.