Grace Molyneux Learns the Secrets to Sales Success at Confluent

When Grace Molyneux joined Confluent as a sales development representative (SDR), she was new to sales and eager to learn the tricks of the trade.

Now, four years later, she’s been able to grow into her role as an account executive.

Tell us about your path to Confluent and what got you here? Tell us about your team and what role do you play? 

My path to Confluent was quite an interesting one. My housemate at the time worked at Snowflake. One day, she mentioned that the company in the Sydney WeWork office next to hers was hiring. That company was Confluent.

She’d met the team and could not speak more highly of the culture and the very same people that I now work with every day. 

That was nearly four years ago now. Back then, I started out as an SDR. Now, as an account executive, I work with the commercial team to bring on new business and support existing customers across Australia, New Zealand, and Greater China.

Tell us about an interesting project that you are currently working on.

I’m currently involved in Confluent’s Executive Sponsorship Program. The program is focused on establishing dedicated executive engagement in our most strategic partnerships. And it’s just one of the many ways we demonstrate our commitment to earning customer love.

The legendary Kai Wahner, our Global Field CTO, has been assigned to one of my customers to collaborate with account teams, engage directly with the customer, and help our customer accelerate their data-in-motion journey.

I have already received amazing feedback and our account team is very excited to see where running this program takes us.

What does a typical day look like as a Confluent Account Executive? And how do you stay engaged with your team as a remote employee?

Being a morning person, my day starts with an early walk with my German Shepherd puppy along the beach or water, then home to make a very strong coffee to start my work day. 

Then, depending on the day, I might start the day catching up with the team over Zoom. I work from home so it’s a great chance to check in, so having that time is crucial and always a highlight of my day or week.

I spend a fair amount of time investing in my customers who are a large part of my business. My solutions engineer Arpita and I enjoy working closely with champions at each company and finding new use cases within those customers for Confluent. 

I’ve recently changed territories, so recently I’ve spent the remainder of my time working through all the tools we use to find new business in the New South Wales region. I also take time to speak with prospects so I can learn about their challenges and business needs and identify ways that Confluent can help unlock data value for their teams and business.

What was the deciding factor when you first joined? And how would you describe Confluent’s company culture today?

I joined pre-IPO, and it was a super exciting time! The team here in Australia was also really small, so I joined knowing I’d get to work closely with all parts of the business in the region. 

I’ve found that building relationships across the organization is so important to success in your individual role as well as the success of the business. That opportunity, combined with the promise of education and career progression is what motivated me to join.

Being new to sales, I was really eager to learn how to become a better salesperson. At that time, both the SDR team and Account Executive teams had the same manager so I was able to work alongside some very seasoned reps and a very skilled sales manager. 

The final factor was really the people and the culture. I actually enjoyed the interview process and speaking with my potential team members. Everyone was so lovely and it made me want to work with them. 

Overall, I’d describe the culture as welcoming, inclusive, and supportive. 

Everyone on my team is genuinely encouraged to be ourselves at work. We work with some of the most amazing people in the industry who are simultaneously incredibly talented, but also down-to-earth.

What’s one thing you would want to see Confluent do differently?

Finding more opportunities to give back to our local communities—this is something we have done in the past and I still see a lot of other companies doing. 

Whether it’s every quarter or every month, I think setting aside more time for employees to volunteer with charitable organizations would be a great way for Confluent to make a positive impact on the world around us.