Avolution International VP Sales

Avolution exclusively partnered with Oakstone International to appoint an International VP of Sales in the USA. Working alongside the interim and newly appointed CEO, Oakstone introduced 15 candidates, 4 of whom progressed to the final rounds.

Through an in-depth search and qualification process, Oakstone identified and engaged a VP of Sales with proven experience in building and scaling a high-performing commercial engine in just 12 weeks.

---

About Oakstone

Search Background

Requirements

Approach and Solutions

Challenges

Search Results

---

About Avolution

Avolution is an Australian HQ’d Software provider, specialising in tools for enterprise architecture, business strategy planning, and digital transformation. Its core mission is to help organisations understand, visualise, and improve the complex interconnections between business processes, technology systems, and organisational strategy.

Avolution’s flagship product ABACUS provides organisations with a centralised environment to model, analyse, visualise and plan their business, Data, IT and increasingly AI landscapes.

The software enables teams to build detailed diagrams, create strategic roadmaps, conduct scenario simulations, and generate analytics — all designed to make the often “invisible” relationships between capabilities, applications, data, and infrastructure highly visible and understandable.

Search Background

Oakstone International was approached by Avolution’s Australia-based interim CEO and their Investor Committee, who were looking for a North American VP of Sales. During the search process, Avolution hired their permanent CEO, and after reevaluation, they decided they needed a centralised commercial leader to cover North America, LATAM and APAC.

This was partially a replacement role for an internal customer success person who was temporarily managing sales after the company's acquisition in December 2024 by an Australian private equity firm.

Requirements

Avolution’s CEO was looking to hire a senior sales leader with international experience   who had experience selling to technical buyers.

Key requirements included:

• US East Coast based

• International sales experience in the US, LATAM and APAC.

• Experience owning the entire sales funnel

• Leadership experience, as this hire was going to inherit an existing sales team.

• Working for a small PE backed company

• No vertical experience was required, but candidates needed experience selling to a technical buyer.

Approach and Solutions

• The search involved targeting candidates with private equity backgrounds and those affordable within the limited budget.

• The role required educating the market about Avolution, a $15 million business, and its growth ambitions, as it was not widely known commercially despite strong Gartner Quadrant performance.

• Numerous calls were made to candidates, many of whom desired significantly higher compensation.

• Despite challenges, Oakstone introduced 15 candidates who matched all criteria (scale-up experience, technical stakeholder, PE experience, East Coast)

Challenges

• A major challenge was the low compensation package (low OTE, no equity).

• Low brand visibility: As a smaller organisation, Avolution required strong candidate engagement and narrative-building to attract high-calibre talent

• Candidate motivation: Securing individuals willing to join a scaling, less prominent business required a clear articulation of the growth journey and opportunity

Search Results

Oakstone delivered a shortlist of fifteen candidates, all aligned to the defined metrics and behavioural profile.

The process was multi-stage:

• Initial meetings with the HR Director. All 15 candidates introduced were interviewed.

• 10 candidates were invited to second stage interviews with the CEO and Interim CEO.

• 4 candidates attended panel stage interviews

• Briefing to signing took approximately 12 weeks.

The successful candidate, Josh Parsons, was selected for his clear alignment with the required brief, scale-up experience, technical stakeholder, PE experience, and East Coast location.

Josh was attracted to the job remit and span of control, as his previous company had just been acquired. 

---

I’m Hiring