# Bobby Nobakht

Team Lead, Enterprise Sales at Cognition (Devin, Windsurf); joined via Cognition's 2025 Windsurf acquisition  
Cognition  
Austin, Texas, United States

## At Cognition

- Role: Account Director, Enterprise (Sales/GTM)
- Joined: Feb 2025
- How they joined: With Windsurf (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/acquisitions/windsurf)
- Before Windsurf: Account Executive - Mid Market, Smartsheet
- Overlapped before Cognition with other Cognition people at: Codeium (Windsurf); Oracle (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/worked-together)

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht
- Domain: cognition.com

## Notes
- Posted on 2026-08-19 that he first heard of Cognition through a podcast about Devin while he "was still serving only the Windsurf IDE to my customers", and now: "I use Devin every single day"; the post also teased Cognition billboards in NYC, SF, London, DC and Tokyo. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_cognition-has-been-a-global-company-for-awhile-activity-7495983352974430209-1yU5)
- Promoted in May 2026 to Team Lead, Enterprise Sales at Cognition, covering top Enterprise customers in the central region and coaching the central team of Account Directors, about ten months after joining Cognition via the Windsurf deal. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Account Director, Enterprise at Cognition from Jul 2025 to May 2026, described as "Helping enterprises build more with Devin (the world's first AI software engineer) and our platform of local/cloud agents". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Joined Windsurf (formerly Codeium) as Mid Market Account Executive in Feb 2025 in Austin; his profile notes "Windsurf was acquired by Cognition in July of 2025", which is how he arrived at Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Cognition signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf (the IDE, IP, brand and remaining team) in July 2025, after Google hired Windsurf's CEO and some R&D staff; Nobakht was part of the go-to-market team that carried over. (https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf)
- Posted on 2025-04-28, about two months into Windsurf: "My first two months at Windsurf (formerly Codeium) have been fantastic. High-performing team that I'm honored to be apart of. Excited to share our rebrand is complete with a new logo". (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_my-first-two-months-at-windsurf-formerly-activity-7322737614262865924-Or5K)
- Posted that Cognition (the team behind Devin & Windsurf) would be at AWS re:Invent Booth #779 and that he would be there in person, pitching "pairing engineers with local and asynchronous agents". (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_cognition-the-team-behind-devin-windsurf-activity-7398843884350631936-T6mz)
- He writes that he does not have "a traditional sales background" but rather expertise as an end user, implementer, designer and project manager of the technology. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- As Smartsheet New Business AE he lists "Top Performer, Presidents Club, Promoted in 6 months". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Spent about 3.5 years at Smartsheet (Aug 2021 to Feb 2025): Solutions Consultant, then Account Executive - New Business, then Account Executive - Mid Market. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- At Smartsheet as Solutions Consultant he "Architected, designed and built Smartsheet solutions for complex enterprises", helping them scale portfolio management operations; this presales and build background is the hands-on side of his work history. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Public headline says "GTM @ Cognition". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- PwC, Jun 2019 to Aug 2021 as Senior Associate, Apr 2018 to Jun 2019 as Experienced Associate: helped clients transform HR and operational processes with cloud technology. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Began his career at Oracle as Associate HCM Consultant (Jun 2016) and then Staff Consultant (to Mar 2018); his skills list includes Oracle HCM and Oracle HR. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- I guide organizations on how to maximize the potential of their people with the right tools, processes, and partnerships.

Go-to-Market @ Cognition bringing both the Windsurf IDE and Devin, the AI Software Engineer to our customers; this comes from the profile summary and preserves the person's own positioning. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- In Feb 2022 he publicly backed his close friend Raghav Bansal's launch of Cardo, a nonprofit connecting mentors and mentees from underserved communities to careers in competitive industries. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_cardo-i-seek-and-offer-mentorship-activity-6899122537951825920-fVuG)
- Bachelor's degree in Finance from Virginia Commonwealth University (2012 to 2016), with Dean's List noted. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Previous roles include Account Director, Enterprise at Cognition; Mid Market Account Executive at Windsurf; Account Executive - Mid Market at Smartsheet; Account Executive - New Business at Smartsheet; Solutions Consultant at Smartsheet; Senior Associate at PwC; Experienced Associate at PwC; Staff Consultant at Oracle. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Education history includes Bachelor's Degree, Finance, General, Virginia Commonwealth University. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Promoted a Smartsheet colleague's Resource Management product session in June 2023. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_rm-q2-activity-7072004341938745345-BT0Y)
- Based in Austin, Texas; has about 2.2K LinkedIn followers and lists Farsi as a language. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)
- Location is Austin, Texas, United States. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht)

## Experience
- Team Lead, Enterprise Sales at Cognition - Austin, Texas, United States (May 2026 - Present): Partnering with our top Enterprise customers in the central region to drive value with our platform of SDLC agents and coaching our central team of Account Directors to do the same.
- Account Director, Enterprise at Cognition - Austin, Texas, United States (Jul 2025 - May 2026): Helping enterprises build more with Devin (the world's first AI software engineer) and our platform of local/cloud agents
- Mid Market Account Executive at Windsurf - Austin, Texas, United States (Feb 2025 - Jul 2025): Windsurf was acquired by Cognition in July of 2025.
- Account Executive - Mid Market at Smartsheet - Austin, Texas, United States (Feb 2024 - Feb 2025): I don't have a traditional sales background, but what I do have is a deep expertise of what life looks like as an end user, implementer, designer, and project manager of our technology. I thought, what better person to help organizations solve their mission critical challenges using our solution.
- Account Executive - New Business at Smartsheet - Austin, Texas, United States (Jun 2023 - Jan 2024): Top Performer, Presidents Club, Promoted in 6 months
- Solutions Consultant at Smartsheet - Austin, Texas, United States (Aug 2021 - Jun 2023): Architected, designed and built Smartsheet solutions for complex enterprises. Helping them scale their portfolio management operations.
- Senior Associate at PwC - Austin, Texas Area (Jun 2019 - Aug 2021): I helped clients transform their HR & Operational processes by bringing a perspective on how and what cloud technology could accomplish their goals.
- Experienced Associate at PwC - Washington D.C. Metro Area (Apr 2018 - Jun 2019)
- Staff Consultant at Oracle - Reston, Virginia (Jul 2017 - Mar 2018)
- Associate HCM Consultant at Oracle - Reston, Virginia (Jun 2016 - Jul 2017)

## Education
- Virginia Commonwealth University - Bachelor's Degree, Finance, General - (Jan 2012 - Jan 2016): Deans List

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobnobakht
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_cognition-has-been-a-global-company-for-awhile-activity-7495983352974430209-1yU5
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_my-first-two-months-at-windsurf-formerly-activity-7322737614262865924-Or5K
- https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_cognition-the-team-behind-devin-windsurf-activity-7398843884350631936-T6mz
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_rm-q2-activity-7072004341938745345-BT0Y
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_cardo-i-seek-and-offer-mentorship-activity-6899122537951825920-fVuG
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/cognition-ai-labs/posts
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bobnobakht_smartsheet-named-a-leader-in-gartner-magic-activity-7141123179510427648-xI0i
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7466187246010945536-WU2M


Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/bobby-nobakht · Everyone at Cognition: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people