Head of APAC Sales
- Role
- Sales
- Experience
- C-Level
- Employment
- Full-time
- Company size
- Startup
Open to KR, JP, TW only. Set where you work from to check your eligibility.
No BS summary
Speak is seeking an Head of APAC Sales to drive exponential growth in our most dynamic & major region. This role will lead all APAC sales efforts - from new-logo acquisition among top-tier enterprises to expansion within our existing customer base - while also managing and mentoring local sales teams in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. You will partner closely with Marketing, Product, and CSM teams to ensure our offerings resonate across diverse APAC markets.
Required languages
Optional languages
ABOUT US
Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language.
Learning a language can change a life by opening doors to new cultures, careers, and communities. Two billion people around the world are actively trying to learn a language, but the best way to learn (one-on-one tutoring) is hard to access at scale and hasn’t been meaningfully improved in decades. Speak is building a human-level, AI-powered tutor in your pocket: a conversation-first experience that lets learners actually speak, get instant feedback, and progress through carefully designed lessons. The result is a complete path from beginner to confident speaker across multiple languages.
Speak first launched in South Korea in 2019, where Speak has now become the number one language learning app, and we now serve learners across many markets and 15+ languages. Speak is one of the world’s leading AI companies, with over $150m raised in venture investment from OpenAI, Accel, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and more, with a distributed team across San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana.
ABOUT THIS ROLE
Speak is on a mission to transform language learning for enterprises and individuals around the globe. With a rapidly expanding B2B segment, we are seeking an Head of APAC Sales to drive exponential growth in our most dynamic & major region. This role will lead all APAC sales efforts - from new-logo acquisition among top-tier enterprises to expansion within our existing customer base - while also managing and mentoring local sales teams in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. You will partner closely with Marketing, Product, and CSM teams to ensure our offerings resonate across diverse APAC markets.
WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING
- Set & Execute Regional Sales Strategy:
- Own the overall APAC go-to-market plan, aligning with global leadership to define regional priorities, revenue targets, and resource needs.
- Lead High-Performing Sales Teams:
- Manage and mentor local Sales team members (mainly Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, with room to grow into SEA, etc.)
- Build upon a culture of accountability, clear communication, and high-velocity execution.
- Drive New Logo Wins & Account Expansion:
- Engage top enterprise prospects in key verticals, forging relationships with C-level stakeholders and decision-makers.
- Partner with the CSM & Partner Operations teams to identify and pursue upsell/cross-sell opportunities, ensuring high renewal rates and long-term customer success.
- Own Outbound & Inbound Sales Processes:
- Build robust outbound motion to penetrate target accounts, fostering a “fearless” approach to lead generation.
- Refine inbound qualification and closing strategies to achieve near 100% conversion on inbound leads.
- Develop & Document Sales Playbooks:
- Drive pitch decks, battle cards, and scripts; establish best practices for multi-market outreach, negotiation, and closing.
- Continuously refine these playbooks based on data and feedback loops.
- Collaborate Cross-Functionally:
- Work hand-in-hand with Marketing to design local campaigns, webinars, and events that generate high-quality leads.
- Provide market-specific feedback to Product, influencing roadmap priorities.
- Partner with Finance/Operations for accurate forecasting and quota-setting.
- Track & Communicate Progress:
- Regularly report on pipeline, forecast accuracy, and key initiatives to senior leadership.
- Document lessons learned and best practices to build a scalable regional sales engine.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
- 10+ years of B2B Sales Experience, with 5+ years in leadership roles overseeing APAC or multi-country teams.
- Proven Track Record in meeting/exceeding ARR targets in enterprise software, SaaS, L&D, or related tech sectors.
- Strategic Thinker & Doer: You can craft high-level regional strategies but are equally comfortable rolling up your sleeves to close deals.
- Team Builder & Coach: You’re skilled at hiring, developing, and motivating diverse, geographically distributed teams.
- Operational & Data-Driven: Familiar with CRM best practices, pipeline management, forecasting, and sales enablement tools.
- Customer-Focused Communicator: Adept at building senior-level relationships and navigating complex enterprise buying cycles.
- Cross-Cultural Competence: Fluent in English; additional APAC languages (especially Korean or Japanese) highly valued.
- High Adaptability: Thrive in a fast-paced startup environment, comfortable with ambiguity, and eager to create solutions where they don’t yet exist.
WHY WORK AT SPEAK
- Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we're growing very quickly, we've most recently raised our Series C from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single per
What you'll do
- Set & Execute Regional Sales Strategy
- Own the overall APAC go-to-market plan, aligning with global leadership to define regional priorities, revenue targets, and resource needs.
- Lead High-Performing Sales Teams
- Manage and mentor local Sales team members (mainly Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, with room to grow into SEA, etc.)
- Build upon a culture of accountability, clear communication, and high-velocity execution.
- Drive New Logo Wins & Account Expansion
- Engage top enterprise prospects in key verticals, forging relationships with C-level stakeholders and decision-makers.
- Partner with the CSM & Partner Operations teams to identify and pursue upsell/cross-sell opportunities, ensuring high renewal rates and long-term customer success.
- Own Outbound & Inbound Sales Processes
- Build robust outbound motion to penetrate target accounts, fostering a “fearless” approach to lead generation.
- Refine inbound qualification and closing strategies to achieve near 100% conversion on inbound leads.
- Develop & Document Sales Playbooks
- Drive pitch decks, battle cards, and scripts; establish best practices for multi-market outreach, negotiation, and closing.
- Continuously refine these playbooks based on data and feedback loops.
- Collaborate Cross-Functionally
- Work hand-in-hand with Marketing to design local campaigns, webinars, and events that generate high-quality leads.
- Provide market-specific feedback to Product, influencing roadmap priorities.
- Partner with Finance/Operations for accurate forecasting and quota-setting.
- Track & Communicate Progress
- Regularly report on pipeline, forecast accuracy, and key initiatives to senior leadership.
- Document lessons learned and best practices to build a scalable regional sales engine.
What they require
- 10+ years of B2B Sales Experience, with 5+ years in leadership roles overseeing APAC or multi-country teams.
- Proven Track Record in meeting/exceeding ARR targets in enterprise software, SaaS, L&D, or related tech sectors.
- Strategic Thinker & Doer: You can craft high-level regional strategies but are equally comfortable rolling up your sleeves to close deals.
- Team Builder & Coach: You’re skilled at hiring, developing, and motivating diverse, geographically distributed teams.
- Operational & Data-Driven: Familiar with CRM best practices, pipeline management, forecasting, and sales enablement tools.
- Customer-Focused Communicator: Adept at building senior-level relationships and navigating complex enterprise buying cycles.
- Cross-Cultural Competence
- High Adaptability: Thrive in a fast-paced startup environment, comfortable with ambiguity, and eager to create solutions where they don’t yet exist.
Benefits
- Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we're growing very quickly, we've most recently raised our Series C from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single per
Speak is building a human-level, AI-powered language tutor and operates Speak for Business, its enterprise arm for employee language learning.