TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Clay’s Kareem Amin on the rise of the GTM engineer

Two years ago, astir companies didn’t person a GTM engineer. Now the relation is showing up crossed tech, with practitioners utilizing AI and automation to physique gross systems that erstwhile required aggregate people, tools, and manual processes.

What changed — and what does it mean for the mode companies find customers and grow?

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Clay co-founder and CEO Kareem Amin volition instrumentality the AI Stage for “The GTM Engineer: How AI Created Tech’s Next Big Job Category.” He’ll hint however AI has changed the accepted go-to-market stack and helped make a caller subject successful its place, giving attendees a look astatine what AI-native GTM looks similar successful signifier and however it’s changing institution growth.

Image Credits:TechCrunch

AI is giving go-to-market teams caller ways to probe prospects, enactment with data, personalize outreach, and automate workflows that erstwhile moved betwixt abstracted tools and teams. As those capabilities converge, companies are rethinking not lone their GTM technology, but who builds and manages the systems down growth.

If you’re gathering a institution oregon rethinking however your squad approaches sales, marketing, and growth, this is simply a caller relation worthy understanding. Secure your Disrupt pass and spot wherever GTM engineering fits into the adjacent procreation of go-to-market. Get a 2nd walk astatine a 50% discount, and much savings for groups of 4 oregon more.

What does a GTM technologist really do?

Traditional go-to-market enactment tin impact hours of researching accounts, cleaning data, qualifying leads, preparing outreach, and moving accusation betwixt systems. GTM engineering uses AI, data, and automation to crook much of that enactment into repeatable systems.

Clay coined the relation successful 2023. Its ain GTM engineering guide describes GTM engineers arsenic practitioners who physique automated gross workflows alternatively than executing idiosyncratic GTM tasks by hand. The institution says astir 100 GTM engineering occupation listings are present appearing each month, including roles astatine companies specified arsenic Cursor, Lovable, and Webflow.

For founders and GTM leaders deciding wherever to enactment their adjacent dollar oregon whether to marque their adjacent hire, this league offers different mode to deliberation astir growth. Do you adhd much radical to execute the existing process, oregon physique systems that fto the radical you already person execute differently?

At Disrupt, Amin volition enactment the displacement into discourse and research what AI-native GTM looks similar successful practice. Get your summons to Disrupt to recognize a relation that hardly existed a fewer years agone but could alteration however your adjacent sales, marketing, oregon maturation squad operates.

Clay puts AI to enactment crossed the GTM stack

Clay started successful Brooklyn successful 2017 with a goal: springiness much radical entree to the powerfulness of programming. Its archetypal spreadsheet fto users link accusation and automate enactment without penning code. When salespeople, maturation teams, and agencies began utilizing it to find and scope customers, Clay followed them into go-to-market.

Today, the institution provides infrastructure for GTM teams to entree data, tally agentic workflows and motorboat campaigns. Its OpenAI-powered agent, Claygent, automates probe and outreach for sales, selling and recruiting teams.

That improvement has been accompanied by accelerated growth. TechCrunch reported successful February that the institution had tripled yearly recurring gross to $100 cardinal successful a twelvemonth and announced an worker tender connection astatine a $5 cardinal valuation. Clay has continued increasing since then, announcing a $115 cardinal Series D successful September astatine a $7.1 cardinal valuation.

Clay is besides investing straight successful the occupation class astatine the halfway of Amin’s Disrupt session, announcing a $1 cardinal assistance fund successful September to bid GTM engineers.

For companies trying to find wherever AI tin marque a meaningful quality successful gross operations, add Amin’s league to your Disrupt agenda and spot however 1 institution is putting that exemplary into practice.

From merchandise person to a caller GTM approach

Kareem Amin co-founded Clay successful 2017 and serves arsenic its co-founder and CEO. Before Clay, helium was VP of merchandise astatine The Wall Street Journal and co-founded collaboration startup Frame, which Sailthru acquired successful 2012.

Amin started Clay astir the thought of putting programming capabilities into much people’s hands. AI yet gave that thought a caller application: enabling GTM teams to physique systems that automate research, information enrichment, and outreach without relying connected accepted engineering resources for each workflow.

Want to recognize what a GTM technologist could mean for your ain maturation strategy? Secure your Disrupt pass and perceive straight from 1 of the founders helping specify the category.

See what AI-native GTM looks similar successful signifier astatine Disrupt

“The GTM Engineer: How AI Created Tech’s Next Big Job Category” is 1 of 200+ sessions crossed six manufacture stages, roundtables, and breakouts astatine Disrupt, October 13–15 astatine Moscone West successful San Francisco. More than 10,000 founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders are expected, on with 250+ speakers and 300+ exhibiting startups.

Beyond the sessions, matchmaking, dealmaking, and networking springiness attendees opportunities to conscionable imaginable customers, investors, partners, and different founders confronting galore of the aforesaid maturation challenges.

GTM engineering whitethorn beryllium a caller occupation category, but the occupation it addresses isn’t: however bash you find and scope the close customers without simply adding much radical and much tools? At Disrupt, you tin spot however AI is changing that equation — and conscionable the radical gathering what comes next.

Secure your walk to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and adhd “The GTM Engineer” to your agenda. Bring a colleague, partner, oregon adjacent with a 50% discount, oregon bask further discounts with groups of 4 oregon more.

Image Credits:Eric Slomonson, The Photo Group