Commercial Lead

About the Role

A pre-seed robotics startup building rugged, mission-critical ground robots for emergency response, industrial, and defense environments is hiring its first Commercial Lead. This is a foundational commercial hire — you'll work directly alongside the CEO to accelerate go-to-market, own strategic accounts, and shape how the company scales across private industry, municipal agencies, and defense programs. Expect high autonomy, broad ownership, and the opportunity to build the commercial function from the ground up.

What You'll Do

• Co-own top- and mid-funnel sales motions with the CEO across industrial, municipal, and defense segments.
• Lead discovery, outreach, and field demonstrations with prospective customers.
• Manage early accounts and support pilots, deployments, and contract renewals.
• Convert early wins into multi-site, multi-year agreements and long-term partnerships.
• Track touchpoints, follow-ups, and stakeholder progress in CRM (HubSpot/Notion).
• Use tools like Clay, Hunter, and Apollo to build, enrich, and source leads.
• Build and manage relationships with municipal fire & police departments, distribution partners, and defense integrators.
• Write proposals for RFPs, RFIs, and government grants; engage program managers and end-users to understand needs.
• Conduct market research and develop tailored value propositions based on buyer priorities and technical fit.
• Improve GTM workflows: CRM structure, playbooks, partner documentation, and pricing models.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, product, and ops to translate customer needs into product priorities.
• Coordinate logistics for trade shows, pilots, and demo events.
• Partner with the CEO on long-term GTM strategy and segment prioritization.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of B2B enterprise sales experience driving go-to-market for complex solutions in robotics, industrial technology, or adjacent sectors.
• Proven track record selling to private industry, municipal agencies, and/or defense programs, including managing long, multi-pilot sales cycles.
• Experience leading pilots, field trials, and deployments; comfortable navigating procurement and contracting processes to close multi-stakeholder deals.
• Ability to build, manage, and scale partnerships and channel programs (alliances, integrators, strategic partners).
• Proficiency with CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar); ability to design and optimize pipelines, workflows, and sales collateral.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills; comfortable translating customer needs into product priorities alongside engineering and product teams.

Location & Work Arrangement

This role is on-site in Austin, TX. Visa sponsorship is available.

Compensation

Base salary range: $90,000 – $140,000 USD annually, depending on experience. Equity participation expected as a foundational hire.