Founding Sales

Datashift; Oost-Vlaanderen; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity options

Competitive salary with commission

Autonomy from day one

Job summary

Datashift, within enada.ai, seeks a Founding Sales professional to drive propositions from first conversation to signed deals. You’ll generate opportunities across Data, AI, and related services and close them, in a startup setting where the AI-first engine handles much of the volume.

You will work with a full‑time AI engineer to automate and power your daily work. You’ll own outbound, build a pipeline, test value propositions, and collaborate with marketing and leadership to scale growth.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years in outbound sales, business development, AE, SDE or BDE roles.
• Experience in startup, scale-up or rapidly evolving environments.
• Experience generating meetings and opportunities through proactive outreach.
• Experience collaborating with marketing toward a close.
• Proven track record of closing deals from qualified leads.
• Proven cold outreach results in B2B Data/AI/Tech.
• Excellent Dutch and English; French is a strong plus.
• Ability to explain new propositions to senior stakeholders.
• Entrepreneurial, proactive, hands-on mindset; you do the work yourself.

Responsibilities

• Build pipeline via outbound activities: cold calls, LinkedIn outreach, emails, events.
• Collaborate with marketing, AI engineers, consultants and business leaders to bring propositions to market.
• Work with the Go-to-Market AI engineer to automate and AI‑power daily work.
• Test new value propositions and outreach approaches quickly.
• Analyze results with the team and iterate based on data and feedback.
• Conduct discovery conversations with prospective customers.
• Qualify opportunities and identify customer needs.
• Own opportunities from SQL to signed deals; follow up and close.
• Collaborate with the experts team around marketing, AI, and domain experts.

Skills

Outbound sales

Startup experience

Lead generation

Close deals

B2BData/AI/Tech

Dutch & English fluency

Proactive mindset

Explain propositions to CIOs

AI tooling usage

Job description

Take new propositions from first conversation to signed deal. AI-first where possible, with people where it matters.

Enada.ai is a startup within the Datashift group. We believe ideas are cheap and building is fast, but traction is everything. We take new propositions from intake to closed deal: AI-first where possible, with people where it matters. We're in private beta, running on Datashift's new propositions, which means the playbook is still being written and you'll help write it. Our growth is driven by entrepreneurial people who take ownership, move fast and are not afraid to challenge the status quo.

As a startup, we're looking for a Founding Sales to join us early and take new propositions from first conversation to signed deal. You'll generate opportunities across Data, AI and related services, and you'll be the one who closes them.

This is not a traditional sales role. You won't inherit a mature sales playbook, a well-established proposition, or a predictable stream of inbound leads. Instead, you'll work in a real startup setting where propositions are tested, pivoted or killed fast, and you adapt with them. Our AI-first engine handles much of the volume, such as research, outreach and qualification, and you won't be doing it alone: a full-time go-to-market AI engineer works alongside you to automate and AI-power everything that helps you achieve results. You get state-of-the-art technology and, where the right tool doesn't exist yet, you help build it together with our team of experts. You run your own outbound where a personal touch matters and, above all, you take every sales-qualified lead (SQL) from first conversation to signed deal. Whatever the proposition, that job stays the same. We're looking for a hands‑on closer who rolls up their sleeves, in an ever‑changing and fast paced environment.

What you'll do

Build pipeline through outbound activities including cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, email campaigns, networking and events;

Work closely with marketing, AI engineers, consultants and business leaders to bring new propositions to market;

Work hand in hand with our full‑time go‑to‑market AI engineer to automate and AI‑power your daily work, from research and outreach to follow‑up and deal tracking — if a tool would help you win, work together with the team to help create it;

Quickly test new value propositions and outreach approaches;

Analyse results together with the team and continuously optimise your approach based on data and feedback;

Conduct discovery conversations with prospective customers;

Qualify opportunities and identify customer needs;

Own opportunities from SQL to signed deal: follow up persistently, handle objections, negotiate and close;

Work together with the team of experts that surround you: be it marketing, AI or subject matter experts.

Job requirements

What you bring

Minimum 2 to 5 years of experience in outbound sales, business development, AE, SDE or BDE roles

Experience in startup, scale‑up or rapidly evolving environments

Experience generating your own meetings and opportunities through proactive outreach

Experience working closely together with marketing as one team towards a close

A proven track record of closing: you've taken qualified leads through to signed deals and can show the numbers

A proven track record in cold outreach with measurable results

Experience in B2B services within Data, AI, Analytics or Technology

Excellent communication skills in Dutch and English; French is a strong plus

The ability to quickly understand and explain new propositions to senior stakeholders

A highly entrepreneurial, proactive and hands‑on mindset: you do the work yourself

The reality of the role

Some propositions will work, others won't. Sometimes you'll spend weeks building momentum around an idea that ultimately gets replaced by a better one. You need to enjoy that reality rather than be frustrated by it. The challenge is figuring out what works, scaling it fast and creating new opportunities where none existed before. What stays constant, whatever the proposition, is how you'll be judged: by how many qualified leads you turn into signed deals.

What sets you apart

You feel comfortable picking up the phone and speaking with prospects you've never met

You can explain a new proposition to a CIO after only a short onboarding period

You are energized by ambitious growth targets and by getting deals over the line

You have the elbow grease: you do the follow-ups, the extra calls and the admin yourself, and you don't hand a lead off just because the work gets tough

You learn quickly and adapt even faster

You don't become attached to approaches that aren't producing results

You use AI tools daily and understand how they can improve productivity, research and outreach effectiveness

You enjoy operating in an environment where priorities can change quickly

You’ll thrive here if you want to be part of a startup from the early days and what drives you is winning customers. If you need a proven script, a well‑known brand, and a predictable stream of leads, this probably isn't the right environment. If you enjoy creating opportunities from scratch, testing new ideas, doing the hard work to close deals and seeing the direct impact of your work, you'll fit right in.

A key role in a startup backed by Datashift, a fast‑growing Data & AI consultancy

Direct impact on enada.ai's growth and Datashift's commercial growth

Significant autonomy and ownership from day one

State‑of‑the‑art technology, and tools that don't exist yet built for you by a full‑time go‑to‑market AI engineer so you can focus on closing

Close collaboration with directors, marketing, AI engineers and business leaders

The opportunity to help shape and validate new propositions

A true startup environment where propositions are tested, pivoted or killed fast, and where experimentation and initiative are encouraged

Strong learning and development opportunities across Data, AI and commercial growth

A clear growth path towards a senior commercial role or team lead position as the team expands

A competitive salary package with an attractive commission structure that rewards the deals you close, plus additional benefits

Possibility of equity options when certain milestones have been reached