Founding GTM Lead - UAE
UniversalAGI · United Arab Emirates
📍 UAE-Based
Location: UAE-based (Dubai or Abu Dhabi preferred), with frequent regional travel
Compensation: Competitive Salary + Commission + Equity
Founding GTM Territory Lead, UAE
Who We Are
Engineering simulation is one of the last major categories of software that AI hasn't rebuilt. The tools used to design aircraft, ships, reservoirs, and medical devices still run on numerical methods that are decades old, and an engineer can wait a full day for a single answer. UniversalAGI is building foundation models that learn physics directly from data, and they are already running in early deployments on real computational fluid dynamics and reservoir engineering problems for some of the largest industrial and defense organizations in the world.
We are a team of 25 researchers and engineers in San Francisco backed by Elad Gil (#1 Solo VC), Eric Schmidt (former Google CEO), Prith Banerjee (ANSYS CTO), Ion Stoica (Databricks Founder), Jared Kushner (former Senior Advisor to the President), David Patterson (Turing Award Winner), and Luis Videgaray (former Foreign and Finance Minister of Mexico).
About the Role
As our Founding GTM Territory Lead for UAE, you'll be in the arena from day one, building UniversalAGI's commercial presence across one of the most consequential energy and defense regions in the world. This is your chance to take everything you've learned selling into national oil companies, defense primes, and state-linked enterprises, and use it to open an entirely new territory for a company already winning deals with some of the most demanding customers on Earth.
You'll work directly with the CEO and founding GTM team to build our go-to-market motion for this territory from scratch, across both Oil & Gas and Aerospace & Defense: mapping the market, building the playbook, and closing deals yourself long before there's a team to hand them to.
What You'll Do
Own and build UniversalAGI's go-to-market motion across the UAE spanning both Oil & Gas and Aerospace & Defense.
Run the full sales lifecycle for major accounts in the region: prospecting, technical proof points, commercial negotiation, close, and account expansion.
Defend and expand our position with the anchor accounts already in motion in the region, while identifying and closing new-logo opportunities across both verticals.
Map the region's buying landscape: government-influenced procurement, national-champion mandates, and localization and offset requirements (e.g., the UAE's In-Country Value program, Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 localization requirements administered via GAMI).
Translate our physics AI value proposition, reduced simulation cycle time, lower compute costs, faster R&D, and reduced program and mission risk, into a defensible, quantified business case for both technical and economic buyers.
Partner directly with the CEO, our other founding GTM leads, and our engineering team to shape product and GTM strategy around real regional buyer needs.
Build this region's sales playbook from scratch: qualification criteria, deal stages, messaging, and repeatable processes that future hires in the region can run without you.
Represent UniversalAGI at industry events, conferences, and customer sites across the region.
Qualifications
Domain sales experience: 10+ years of enterprise sales experience selling into Oil & Gas and/or Aerospace & Defense organizations.
Relationship based selling: Existing relationships with territory oil companies and defense primes, with ability to navigate government-influenced procurement, security and localization requirements, and multi-stakeholder buying committees.
Regional experience: Proven experience selling into customers in the UAE.
Technical fluency: Engineering background or hands-on technical experience (CFD, mechanical/aerospace engineering, or reservoir/production engineering) sufficient to go deep on the technical value proposition with engineering buyers.
Network: Active, callable relationships with VP-level and above contacts at national oil companies, operators, defense primes, or state-linked defense entities in the region.
Track record: History of personally sourcing and closing large, net-new deals, not inherited pipeline.
Startup mindset: Comfortable operating as a founding, largely solo function: building a market map, GTM strategy, and sales playbook from scratch under real ambiguity.
Location: Based in the UAE (or willing to relocate) with frequent travel across the region
Bonus Qualifications
Arabic language fluency.
Existing relationships with territory oil companies and defense primes.
Experience selling simulation, CFD, or other applied engineering software specifically.
Prior experience at an early-stage startup building a GTM function from scratch.
Experience navigating both Oil & Gas and Aerospace & Defense buying processes.
Advanced technical degree (MS or PhD in a related engineering or science field).
Cultural Fit
Technical Respect: Ability to earn respect through hands-on technical contribution
Intensity: Thrives in our unusually intense culture - willing to grind when needed
Customer Obsession: Passionate about solving real customer problems, not just cool tech
Deep Work: Values long, uninterrupted periods of focused work over meetings
High Availability: Ready to be deeply involved whenever critical issues arise
Communication: Can translate complex technical concepts to customers and team
Growth Mindset: Embraces the compounding returns of intelligence and continuous learning
Startup Mindset: Comfortable with ambiguity, rapid change, and wearing multiple hats
Work Ethic: Willing to put in the extra hours when needed to hit critical milestones
Team Player: Collaborative approach with low ego and high accountability
What We Offer
Opportunity to shape the technical foundation of a rapidly growing foundational AI company.
Work on cutting-edge industrial AI problems with immediate real-world impact.
Direct collaboration with the founder & CEO and ability to influence company strategy
Competitive compensation with significant equity upside.
In-person culture with the founding team, paired with the autonomy to run your own territory from the field, extensive travel across the regions, and some in person collaboration with the San Francisco team.
Access to world-class investors and advisors in the AI space.
How We’re Different
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again... who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly." - Teddy Roosevelt
At our core, we believe in being “in the arena.” We are builders, problem solvers, and risk-takers who show up every day ready to put in the work: to sweat, to struggle, and to push past our limits. We know that real progress comes with missteps, iteration, and resilience. We embrace that journey fully knowing that daring greatly is the only way to create something truly meaningful.
If you're ready to join the future of physics simulation, push creative boundaries, and deliver impact, UniversalAGI is the place for you.