Commercial Lead

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.