The salesperson who takes qualified leads and closes them. The closer.
The AE owns the deal from qualification to close. They run demos, do discovery, write proposals, handle objections, negotiate terms, get the contract signed. Their quota is revenue (not meetings). They usually work a handful of deals at a time, each in some stage of the pipeline.
AEs are the revenue engine. Strong AE → close rate above ~25% on qualified pipeline. Weak AE → pipeline gets stuck. Most early-stage companies put their founder in this role until they hit enough volume to hire a real AE.