Head of Commercial

TESS Search Partners is proud to be partnering with Transient Detect to appoint their founding commercial leader, a rare opportunity to build the revenue engine of a venture-backed Australian water-technology company from the ground up, working directly alongside the Founder & CEO. Every day, invisible pressure transients fatigue and fracture the buried pipes our cities depend on. Transient Detect (TD) makes those hidden destructive forces visible, combining ruggedised high-frequency sensors (TD.Edge) with an AI analytics platform (TD.Cloud) that turns pressure data into pipe fatigue, leak detection, and asset risk intelligence for water utilities.

Reporting to the Founder & CEO, you will build a qualified pipeline across ANZ water utilities and long-contract O&M providers and convert it into $3M ARR within 18 months against staged milestones. This is a hunter role with a genuine leadership trajectory. You will hold delegated pricing authority from day one within an agreed envelope, and design the commercial playbook, qualification criteria, pilot-to-programme structure, pricing, and channel strategy, that you will scale as you grow into leading TD’s commercial function alongside the CEO.

Key responsibilities:

• Build and own a qualified pipeline at 3× rolling quota coverage across ANZ utilities and O&M providers

• Run consultative, technically credible sales cycles — discovery, network problem framing, pilot scoping, business case development (capex deferral, risk reduction, NRW), proposal, and close

• Convert pilots into scaled, multi-year programmes — every pilot qualified as the first stage of network-wide deployment

• Engage asset planning, network operations, and digital/innovation buyers, and represent TD at OzWater, AWA, and industry forums

• Feed competitive and voice-of-customer intelligence into product planning, in close partnership with TD’s Product Manager

About you:

• Technical solution-selling pedigree, complex, multi-stakeholder B2B sales with 6–24 month cycles, ideally pilots converting to programmes

• Experience selling IoT hardware / connected devices and/or enterprise SaaS — both strongly preferred

• A proven record of building pipeline independently from a cold or near-cold territory

• Technical credibility, comfortable with engineers, asset planners, and operations staff on instrumentation, data, and network performance

• Hunger, self-starting, resilient, and energised by the pace and ambiguity of an early-stage company

• Willingness to travel regularly across the east coast, periodically to SA/WA/NZ, and occasionally to Asia

A STEM background, experience selling into water utilities or adjacent regulated sectors (energy, gas, rail, mining services), familiarity with utility procurement, or existing networks within ANZ utilities and major O&M contractors will set you apart.

What’s on offer:

• $200,000–$220,000 base + superannuation, depending on experience and sector networks

• Uncapped commission, milestone- and ARR-linked, with on-target earnings of circa $300,000 at full milestone attainment

• Commission guarantee through the ramp period, reflecting the realistic length of utility sales cycles

• Delegated pricing authority from day one, expanding at each quarterly review as track record is established

• A genuine leadership runway to build the commercial function you will go on to lead

• Remote/home-based on the east coast, quarterly all-hands in Adelaide, travel and expenses covered.

For a confidential discussion about this appointment, please contact Donna Ferris or Mina Jafari at TESS Search Partners.

All applications and enquiries will be treated in strict confidence.