Lights.

Camera.

Action!

Like any blockbuster film, Snowflake has a network of people working behind the scenes in various capacities, but there’s one role in particular that’s responsible for driving the bottom line. In Hollywood, it’s a producer: the person cutting deals, forming partnerships, finding solutions, and making sure the final product finds and satisfies its core audience. Behind our A-list platform ensuring the same? Our go-to-market team, who manage relationships with companies ranging from major players to rising stars, navigate complex industry dynamics, and whose work has a far-reaching economic impact that could out-perform any box office hit.

So what’s it like being at the center of the action? Below, Major Account Executive Omri Nevat takes us backstage to learn the ins and outs of managing Snowflake’s biggest customers, what gives our platform its “X factor,” and how he landed his big break in the tech capital of the world.

Let’s start by establishing your backstory: you just made a big move from London to Silicon Valley. Tell us a little about your career progression at Snowflake so far.
My background and career trajectory are a little different than most. Before this, I was an entrepreneur, so ended up on the mid-to-high rung in Snowflake’s London office selling to large enterprises in the financial services space. I worked for and with some incredible people there, but the opportunity for my current role in the Bay Area actually came up when I ran into my now-boss while he was in London visiting a customer. I’d been interested in the position. As we chatted and it became clear that this opportunity was available, I became very, very interested and applied.

That said, the traditional entry point for someone early in their career is in our SDR team. From there, you can move up to being an account executive for smaller businesses and start-ups. After that, you can graduate to mid-market, enterprise, and then finally to major accounts, which is what I do and is like working on a major film franchise. You're dealing with a project that has lots of moving parts, can take years to mature and bear fruit, and can really move the needle on the broader economy.

You compared major accounts to working on a major film franchise. What’s it like working on something of that scale?
It’s a lot of pressure, but a lot of fun too. The impact is huge — nothing can really match it. The account I work on is a Fortune 10 company, and it’s absolutely a pillar of the American economy. If you think about a contract with a company at that scale, that comes with a lot of jobs that you’re indirectly responsible for creating and you’re responsible for a huge amount of critical infrastructure that needs to be maintained or decommissioned depending on the type of project.

On top of that, you also end up having an impact on data security, which obviously affects all of us to a degree, and there’s even a geo-political element — for example, if one of the biggest companies in America spends more of their dollars on buying and maintaining cloud infrastructure in the U.S., that can give the U.S. an advantage.

One thing that makes Snowflake stand out is the consumption-based model. What’s your perspective on it from a sales-lens?
It’s so valuable. It gives us skin in the game. Some software vendors might sell a license and then forget about it: they’re getting paid regardless of whether the customer is successful or not. With Snowflake’s model, the customer’s success is our success. So we’re extra motivated to qualify the conversations we’re having to ensure we can have a real partnership with our customers, and that we support them in the right way to use the technology and get value out of it.

Even when you’ve got a hit platform like Snowflake on your hands, it’s an extremely competitive market. How do you approach that type of sales environment?
You want to sell your unique advantages. A lot of vendors in our space have a lot of good stuff going for them, but I think we’ve got a really special product and there’s a reason why we’ve been so successful. Before I joined Snowflake, people told me how great the platform is and I remember thinking “I hope that’s true,” but seeing what we’re able to help our major customers with and how we can add value, everything I heard was spot on.

My advice to someone considering a similar journey is to always focus on the customer — that’s what will ultimately make you successful. Do the right thing, solve real problems, and act fairly even when it’s not optimal for you.

You mentioned how special the platform is. What are some aspects about it and Snowflake that make you excited and give us that “star-quality?”
Our capabilities in machine learning and AI are growing every day — what we’re able to provide our customers is light years ahead of our offering when I joined in 2022. We’re also investing heavily in sustainability, whether that’s ESG data sets or stuff we’re doing ourselves to become more green, which is encouraging to see.

One thing we can’t leave on the cutting room floor is the Snowflake’s culture. What’s it like behind the curtain?
I’d say it’s a culture that rewards hard work — I’ve been here almost three years and have seen a bunch of people in my cohort get promoted into management or into international opportunities. You definitely learn a ton and get the chance to work for some phenomenal people who can transform your career.

It’s also the type of place where people make themselves available to help everyone be successful. Even our senior leaders. I’ve done customer calls with our former Chief Executive Officer, Frank Slootman, and with our Chief Revenue Officer, Chris Degnan. That’s not trivial for a company our size.

Finally, before we roll the credits, do you have any advice for those looking to join the crew at Snowflake?
Appreciate the scale of what you’ll be doing and the challenges that come at this level. Consider how you’ll be working at the cutting edge of how AI is deployed in the enterprise. And be ready to learn: our CRO believes in being a student of what you sell, which just means continuously enabling yourself. We get incredible enablement resources on a pretty regular basis, and we have very capable technical people that we work arm-in-arm with in our go-to-market motion.

Aside from that, this role really requires you to work super closely with your customer and understand their needs and priorities. It’s like the film producer: knowing your audience and what they care about is key to being a good partner and problem-solver. It’s tough and it takes years to learn. But it’s very rewarding.

Ready to join Snowflake’s A-list sales team? View open roles here.

Omri Nevat is a major account executive at Snowflake in the San Francisco Bay Area, covering a Fortune 10 customer. Prior to joining Snowflake in 2022, he held roles at Salesforce, and co-founded and served as the CEO of Data Leaders.