SMB Account Executive

Upside is seeking an SMB Account Executive to be the founding member of our new SMB Channel Sales team. In this role, you'll grow Upside's merchant footprint by acquiring and onboarding small and medium-sized restaurant businesses through strategic channel partners, including franchisors, POS companies, payment processors/acquirers, Value Added Resellers (VARs), and Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs). You will own primary responsibility for acquiring SMB merchants through these new partner channels.

This is a ground-floor opportunity: as the first hire on this team, you'll help define the playbook for how Upside acquires SMB merchants through channel partners.

• Build, manage, and close SMB pipeline through partner channels.
• Acquire and onboard SMB merchants—including franchisees of national restaurant brands—sourced through partner channels, inbound leads, and cold outreach.
• Ensure on-time, in-full delivery of partnership deal terms. Establish and monitor performance metrics as needed to ensure commitments are met.
• Design and execute market-specific campaigns to drive merchant acquisition within targeted geographies or partner networks.
• Manage a high-velocity pipeline of inbound SMB leads, ensuring timely follow-up and strong conversion from lead to live merchant.
• Conduct proactive cold outreach to SMB merchants and franchisees to supplement partner-sourced and inbound pipeline.
• Guide merchants through onboarding to ensure fast time-to-launch and a strong first experience with Upside.
• Track and report on channel performance (lead volume, conversion, time-to-onboard) to identify what's working and where to double down.
• Establish repeatable processes and best practices as the team's first hire—you'll help build the foundation this team scales on.

Competencies You'll Need:

• 2+ years of experience in SMB sales, channel sales, or partner-driven business development—restaurant sales experience is preferred.
• A track record of managing high-volume, high-velocity sales pipelines with strong lead-to-close conversion.
• Comfort with both inbound lead management and proactive outbound/cold outreach.
• Data fluency—you can track performance metrics, spot trends in what's converting, and use that insight to prioritize your time.
• Self-starter energy and comfort with ambiguity, given this is a newly created role and team.
• Ability to travel (~10% for quarterly partner reviews).