The Modern GTM Executive: The 500K OTE Sales Job

Hello and welcome to The Modern GTM Executive by Lunar Executive Search - read by 2,000+ leading Sales, Marketing, and Executive Leaders within Growth-Stage Technology businesses. We’re here to help people redefine their perspective on modern revenue acquisition models, understand what talent & skills are necessary to do so, and how to find the to 10% of GTM Leaders to execute.

Most Enterprise AEs in Software by 2030 Will Be on $500K OTE Plans 

That’s my professional (and researched) assessment, anchored in hard data, dozens of conversations each month with GTM leaders, and views on the macro pressures shaping software sales teams in 2025. 
 
It's an interesting landscape out there right now on the job and compensation market. Most look & see layoff announcements from big tech every week, sales teams increasingly staying intentionally leaner longer, loads of job seekers & 100s of applicants on all job postings on LinkedIn. And for comp? The going rate for an Enterprise Account Executive has hovered between 300-350K for about the last 5 years now. 

But a lot of signals are making believe that there will be a big shift on all these fronts - very soon. 

Here’s why.  

The Forces Driving This Shift 

If you’ve been close to software GTM over the past 24 months, you’ve felt the undercurrent: comp at the highest end of the market beginning to creep up, commission plans becoming increasingly more lucrative for over performers, cash being valued substantially higher (more than ever) than equity/LTIP by candidates considering early stage businesses. 

 It’s all indicative of the early phase of a structural reshaping of how we pay for the highest levels of sales execution. By 2030, I expect most Enterprise AEs in software to sit on $500K+ OTE plans, with plenty of comp plans engineered to push them well beyond that when big deals close. 

Why? Because a handful of forces are converging to fundamentally change how much great enterprise sales talent is worth. 

• Inflation (but not just macro): 

  • Yes, we’re living through a multi-year inflation cycle. But for software sales orgs, the inflation story is bigger than CPI or interest rates. 

  • The TAM in SaaS, Cyber, and AI continues to swell, forcing companies to place bigger bets on fewer reps as the talent pool is not laterally scaling. When growth expectations stay high but headcount doesn’t, dollars consolidate. 

• Technical globalization: 

  • Buyers today expect sellers to act like domain experts. AEs who can credibly discuss compliance architectures, machine learning frameworks, or containerized deployment pipelines don’t come cheap. 

  • The result? The best sellers increasingly look like half-sales, half-solution-engineer hybrids. That kind of technical + commercial acumen is rare, and rare means expensive. 

• Org size reduction & restructuring: 

  • Smaller teams, bigger quotas, thinner middle management. Fewer internal layers means the sales floor is carrying the weight — and comp reflects that. 

  • When you have fewer people in seat, each seller has to deliver more — and they get compensated accordingly. That means bigger bases, richer accelerators, and more layered backend incentives to keep them locked in. 

• Skill deficits at the top: 

  • There simply aren’t enough reps who can navigate complex, multi-threaded enterprise sales, quantify business value, and win C-level buying groups. The few who can? They’re commanding outsized packages.

Simply put – prices are going up, markets are getting larger, teams are getting smaller, and truly talented net-new sellers that know how to break into enterprise are in very short demand. 

In other words: it’s not just that salaries are keeping pace with broader inflation. It’s that the entire economic center of gravity inside these orgs is shifting toward a smaller cadre of big-ticket sellers, who are expected to drive the lion’s share of net new ARR. 

The Groundwork is Already in Place 

We just published our 2025 GTM Salary Guide, with data from over 2000 GTM leaders across software, cybersecurity, and AI. And even in a capital-conscious market, the direction of travel is clear: top enterprise sellers are commanding premium compensation, and the delta between average and elite is widening. 

Here’s what we’re seeing: 

• $350K+ OTE is becoming a baseline in many Series C+ software companies for top Enterprise AEs. 

• Larger backend accelerators are on the rise, locking in key sellers for 2-3 years rather than just annual renewals. 

• PE & VC firms are budgeting differently: they want “turnkey” enterprise sellers who can handle $5M+ quotas on day one, and they’re willing to pay for it.

Outside of just your direct sellers - even in a cautious market, specialized technical sales talent and revenue-focused marketing leaders are seeing marginal salary increases, pointing to the direction things are headed. 
 
This isn’t just your standard compensation increase — it’s defensive compensation engineering to keep rainmakers in organizations longer. 

 Higher Risk, Higher Reward Environment 

 At the top of the food chain — big-ticket enterprise reps, strategic account executives, and field sellers — comp plans are shifting to more aggressive performance-weighted structures: 

• Aggressive accelerators: 2.5–3x multipliers above 120% attainment are becoming more common, with no cap on total earnings. 

• Multi-year backend payouts: Reps who land strategic, multi-year contracts are being rewarded with vesting or milestone-based comp that stretches beyond a single fiscal year. 

• Deal-based SPIFFs and bonuses: It’s not unusual now to see $50K+ SPIFFs for first logos in new verticals, global expansion deals, or multi-product cross-sells. 

This is where the $500K+ OTE numbers come from — because the plan is built to push total earnings well past that when stars align. 

The bet? You’re paying premium dollars for true revenue catalysts — reps who close multi-million-dollar deals, shape strategic partnerships, and move the valuation needle. At the same time, leaders are assuming the downside risk as well here – putting more weight on a smaller organization with few reps, essentially less diversification of performance. 

Where this is Headed 

By 2030, most top Enterprise AEs in software will see OTE plans at $500K+, with plenty eclipsing that once accelerators kick in. But there will be substantially less of these roles (by ratio to orgs in market). 

It’s a structural evolution tied to: 

• Talent scarcity in technical + enterprise sales 

• Greater deal complexity requiring multi-skilled sellers 

• Investor expectations for leaner orgs driving bigger quotas on fewer shoulders 

Get out there and make sure you're one of the ones making that in a few years time. 

Latest Job Opportunities 

We've got a number of active opportunities across our portfolio of software clients at Lunar Executive Search currently. 

A few select openings: 

• Field CISO / Director of SE - Cyber Vendor - Remote 

• Regional Sales Director - MSSP – North Central 

• Regional Sales Director - MSSP - TOLA 

• Enterprise Account Executive - Manufacturing SaaS – East Coast 

• Sales Engineer (Strategic Partnerships) - Cyber Vendor - Remote 

• Sales Engineer - Cyber Vendor - Remote 

I'm also always look to great candidates for future roles: 

• Chief Revenue Officer - Venture/PE-Backed - SaaS/Cyber/AI 

• Chief Marketing Officer - Venture/PE-Backed - SaaS/Cyber/AI 

• VP of Product Marketing - Venture/PE-Backed - SaaS/Cyber/AI 

• VP of Partnerships - Venture/PE-Backed - SaaS/Cyber/AI  

Highlights from The GTM Kickback! Podcast 

In the last month, we had 1 fantastic interview on The GTM Kickback!, with many more already booked and recorded on the way. 

Check out my interview with the great and powerful Kyle Sutton - Creative Marketing Strategies for Revenue Growth | The GTM Kickback #81 w/ Kyle Sutton

Want to be a guest? Ping me on LinkedIn! 😎 

We're looking for: High-performance GTM Operators, VC/PE Investors in SaaS, and Leading GTM Consultants for early stage technology businesses 

New to "The GTM Kickback!"? Subscribe to the podcast! 

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This newsletter is powered by Lunar Executive Search - Finding Premier GTM Talent for Growth Stage Tech Businesses. 

We help disruptive technology companies grow. For venture-funded start-ups and PE-backed enterprise software firms, we have a track record in finding the Top 10% of Sales and Marketing Leadership Talent, and doing so swiftly. 

Reach out to me here: [email protected] 

Till next time, 

Joey