Founding Sales Executive

ABOUT THE ROLE Join an early-stage industrial energy management software team as its first sales hire. You will build on a live AI-powered product and validated customer demand to grow sales across the DACH region, while shaping the company's sales approach alongside the founders. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Own the full sales cycle for industrial customers, from outbound prospecting and discovery through demos, business cases, procurement, negotiation, and close. - Build and manage your own pipeline through targeted outreach, events, partner channels, and customer referrals. - Navigate complex buying groups across energy procurement, plant operations, finance, IT, and executive teams. - Scope pilots and proofs of value, then grow successful deals into additional use cases and sites. - Develop repeatable sales practices, including account planning, qualification standards, CRM hygiene, forecasting, and playbooks. - Share customer and market feedback with company leadership to inform pricing, product direction, and target segments. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - At least 3 years of B2B sales experience, including 2 or more years independently owning full-cycle deals. - Experience closing enterprise or upper-mid-market deals involving multiple stakeholders and significant commercial complexity. - A track record of generating outbound pipeline without relying primarily on inbound leads or dedicated sales development support. - Experience selling technical AI or SaaS products to industrial, manufacturing, or enterprise buyers, ideally in energy or climate technology. - Experience with long sales cycles, pilots or proofs of value, and land-and-expand sales motions. - Fluency in spoken and written German and English, plus the ability to work effectively in an early-stage environment. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Annual salary range of €100,000 to €140,000, plus equity. Visa sponsorship is not available. LOCATION On-site in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany.