About this role

ABOUT THE ROLE A fast-moving, pre-seed defense and industrial robotics startup is hiring its first dedicated Commercial Lead — a foundational go-to-market hire who will work hand-in-hand with the CEO to accelerate revenue, own strategic accounts, and shape how the company scales across private industry, municipal agencies, and defense sectors. This role is ideal for a commercially minded operator who thrives in early-stage environments, is comfortable with long and complex sales cycles, and wants real ownership and growing autonomy as the business scales.

Visa sponsorship is available. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Co-own top- and mid-funnel sales motions alongside the CEO across industrial, municipal, and defense customer segments. - Lead discovery calls, outbound outreach, and in-field product demonstrations. - Manage early accounts through pilots, deployments, and renewals — converting initial wins into multi-site, multi-year agreements. - Track all touchpoints, follow-ups, and stakeholder progress in CRM tools (HubSpot / Notion).

- Use lead-generation and enrichment tools (e.g., Clay, Hunter, Apollo) to build and source pipeline. - Build and manage relationships with municipal fire & police departments, distribution partners, and defense system integrators. - Conduct market research and customer discovery; develop tailored value propositions aligned to buyer priorities and technical fit. - Identify champions, influencers, and decision-makers across target organizations.

- Write proposals for RFPs, RFIs, and government grants; engage program managers and end-users to surface needs. - Improve GTM workflows: CRM structure, sales playbooks, partner documentation, and pricing models. - Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, product, and operations to translate customer feedback into product priorities. - Coordinate logistics for trade shows, pilots, and field demo events. - Contribute to product-market fit iterations and segment prioritization alongside the CEO.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Required: - 5+ years of B2B enterprise sales experience in robotics, defense, or industrial sectors — with a proven track record selling into private industry, municipal agencies, and/or defense programs. - Experience managing long, multi-pilot sales cycles involving multiple stakeholders and procurement processes. - Hands-on experience with HubSpot and Notion for CRM tracking, pipeline management, and workflow standardization.

- Demonstrated ability to write proposals for RFPs, RFIs, and government grants. - Experience engaging government and defense program managers and end-users to identify needs and inform solutions. - Proven track record building, managing, and renewing multi-site, multi-year customer relationships and channel partnerships. - Ability to design and improve GTM workflows including playbooks, partner docs, and pricing models.

- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills — comfortable translating customer needs into product priorities with engineering and product teams. Nice to Have: - Experience with CRM systems such as Salesforce in addition to HubSpot. - Familiarity with lead-generation tools such as Clay, Hunter, or Apollo. - Background building or scaling channel/alliance programs with integrators and strategic partners. - Prior experience in an early-stage or founder-led sales environment.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS - Salary: $90,000 – $140,000 USD annually - Early-stage equity opportunity - Visa sponsorship available LOCATION This is a full-time, on-site role based in Austin, Texas, United States. Candidates should be based in or willing to relocate to the Austin area.

Source listing: ashby_clera