Vice President of Sales, New Verticals

About the Role

As VP of Sales, New Verticals, you will own the strategy, execution, team, and revenue results for Flex's expansion into utilities, insurance, and broadband — three large, underserved markets where consumers deserve the same payment flexibility Flex pioneered in rent.

Reporting to the Head of Strategic Partnerships (New Verticals), you will build and lead a high-performing sales team from the ground up, define go-to-market strategy for each vertical, and personally drive the enterprise partnerships that will define Flex's next chapter. This is a zero-to-one opportunity: you'll be shaping market entry, not inheriting a playbook.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on sales leader who has sold payment or fintech solutions into these verticals — not someone who has worked within them. You know the buyers, the conferences, the ecosystem, and you have a track record of closing first-of-kind deals.

What You’ll Do

Strategy & Market Ownership

• Develop and own the go-to-market strategy for utilities, insurance, and broadband — defining ICP, target accounts, partnership models, and vertical-specific positioning.
• Shape Flex's market entry approach in each vertical, translating market insight into executable sales plans with clear milestones and revenue targets.
• Identify emerging trends, competitive dynamics, and new partnership opportunities to keep Flex ahead of the market.
• Serve as the internal voice of each vertical — bringing customer and market feedback to Product, Marketing, and Leadership to influence roadmap and GTM strategy.

Team Building & Leadership

• Build and lead a high-performing vertical sales team — recruiting, onboarding, coaching, and retaining top talent across all three verticals.
• Define team structure, roles, and coverage models as the business scales; grow headcount in line with pipeline opportunity and revenue performance.
• Foster a culture of accountability, urgency, and collaboration; create an environment where reps are developed and top performers are retained.
• Partner with HR and recruiting to identify and close exceptional sales talent with deep vertical expertise.

Pipeline & Revenue Execution

• Own and drive the full sales cycle for enterprise partnerships — from prospecting and qualification through negotiation, close, and launch.
• Build and maintain a rigorous, data-driven pipeline; use CRM tools (Salesforce) to improve forecast accuracy, pipeline visibility, and deal velocity.
• Lead complex, multi-stakeholder deal negotiations involving legal, economic, and technical terms within partnership agreements.
• Personally carry and close strategic accounts while coaching the team to do the same at scale.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Collaborate with Product and Engineering to ensure Flex's embedded payment offering is properly positioned and technically deployable within each vertical.
• Partner with Marketing to develop vertical-specific content, campaigns, and event presence that supports pipeline generation.
• Work with Partner Success to ensure seamless onboarding and long-term health of closed partnerships.
• Represent Flex at key industry conferences (e.g., EUCI, Xchange, NAIC) to build brand visibility, source pipeline, and establish thought leadership.

Key Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in enterprise sales, strategic partnerships, or business development within FinTech or payments — with a demonstrated focus on new market entry.
• Proven track record selling payment solutions into utilities, insurance, and/or broadband — not working within these industries, but selling to them.
• Experience building and managing high-performing sales teams in a growth-stage or early-stage environment; you know how to hire, ramp, and develop sellers.
• Deep understanding of the buyer landscape across target verticals: who the decision-makers are, how they evaluate vendors, and what drives urgency.
• Demonstrated ability to close first-of-kind, complex enterprise deals involving novel product offerings and multi-party negotiations.
• Strong financial and legal acumen — comfortable building deal models, structuring partnership economics, and negotiating contract terms.
• Exceptional communication and executive presence; able to build trust with C-level stakeholders at prospective partner organizations.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration — you build structure, don't wait for it.
• High proficiency with Salesforce and data-driven sales methodologies; strong forecasting and pipeline management discipline.
• Active presence at relevant industry conferences and associations is a strong signal of the right industry orientation.

Compensation

Flex takes a market-based approach to pay, ensuring compensation is commensurate with a candidate's experience and our internal leveling guidelines. For candidates located in our Tier 1 markets (NYC/ SF), the OTE (on-target earning) pay range for this role is $400,000 - $500,000 USD. For all other U.S. locations, Flex utilizes a geographic pay differential based on a cost of labor index. If you are located outside of the Tier 1 states listed above, your starting pay will be adjusted to align with the market conditions of your specific geographic zone. Please speak with your recruiter for additional information regarding the specific range for your location.