Founding Sales Executive

About the Role

Join an early-stage industrial energy technology company as its first sales hire. You will take a live AI-powered platform to industrial customers, owning new business from prospecting through close and helping shape the company's sales approach.

What You'll Do

• Win new business with mid-market and enterprise industrial companies across the DACH region.

• Own the full sales cycle, including outbound prospecting, discovery, product demonstrations, business cases, pilot scoping, procurement, security reviews, and contracts.

• Build and manage relationships across buying committees, including energy, plant operations, finance, IT, and executive stakeholders.

• Develop pipeline through targeted outreach, events, and partner channels, while making effective use of customer referrals.

• Expand successful accounts across use cases and sites, and develop customer references.

• Share market and deal insights with company leadership and product teams to improve pricing, product direction, and customer targeting.

• Establish repeatable sales practices, including qualification, account planning, CRM hygiene, and forecasting.

What We're Looking For

• At least 3 years of B2B sales experience, including 2 or more years personally closing full-cycle new-business deals.

• Demonstrated success sourcing and closing complex SaaS deals with multiple stakeholders, typically with €50,000 to €200,000 in annual contract value or comparable commercial complexity.

• Experience selling technical products to enterprise or upper-mid-market buyers, including long sales cycles, and working at an early-stage company without established sales playbooks.

• Strong spoken and written German, ideally native or C1+ proficiency, and professional English.

• A track record of building outbound pipeline and repeatable sales processes.

• Top-tier university education, experience at a high-growth or well-known startup, or another strong indicator of exceptional performance.

• Experience in energy, industrial technology, manufacturing, or climate technology is a plus, as are pilot-based sales, land-and-expand, and founder-led environments.

Compensation & Benefits

OTE (on-target earnings, base plus variable) is €107,000 to €143,000, depending on level, with a 60/40 base-to-variable split and equity. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

Hybrid, based in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Candidates based in or willing to relocate to Nuremberg or Munich are considered.