Founding Account Executive

Startupvalleys; Zürich; Hybrid; CHF 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity package

Career growth

Job summary

Laelaps AI, based in Zürich, is seeking a Founding Account Executive to own the go-to-market motion as the first dedicated sales hire. You will close enterprise deals, shape pricing and positioning with the CEO, and eventually scale a commercial team as revenue grows.

You will manage pilot engagements, negotiate contracts, and cultivate strategic customer relationships across security operators and decision-makers in critical infrastructure."

Qualifications

• 5+ years of full-cycle enterprise B2B sales with a verifiable record of closing six-figure+ deals.
• Experience self-sourcing pipeline and not relying solely on inbound leads.
• Able to credibly sell a technically sophisticated product to security-focused buyers.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end go-to-market and sales cycles from discovery to close.
• Negotiate, close, and scale enterprise deals with executive stakeholders.
• Build and refine the sales playbook in collaboration with the CEO.

Skills

Full-cycle sales

Enterprise B2B

Govt/defence sales

AI tools usage

CRM hygiene

Tools

AI tools

CRM

Job description

Posted 28 Oct 2026Laelaps AI Zürich, Switzerland · MapApply# Founding Account ExecutiveSales & BDOriginal posting — from Laelaps AIOpen original#### Our MissionAt Laelaps AI, we believe robotics is entering a transformative decade, much like the arrival of the internet. Advances in AI, cloud computing, and hardware are reshaping what autonomous systems can do. Our mission is to build the intelligent software that powers physical security in the real world - enabling robots and sensors to handle dangerous and critical tasks that humans shouldn't have to. By engineering the orchestration layer for intelligent security, we aim to create a world that is safer, more secure, and more resilient.We're a strong founding team based in Zurich, backed by visionary investors and advisors. We are engineering the future of security today!#### The RoleAs our Founding Account Executive, you will own go-to-market execution as the first dedicated sales hire, working directly alongside the CEO. We are moving fast and demand is accelerating. Founder-led sales has taken us this far, and now it is time to expand the commercial engine. That is where you come in. You will own the day-to-day execution of the full sales cycle and build the playbook as you go, working directly with the CEO on strategy, pricing, and positioning. Early on this is a true partnership: the founder is in the room with you on the key deals, and as you build the motion you take more and more of it end to end. You are the player-coach of our sales team, and you play both parts at once: on the field closing deals yourself now, and building and coaching the team that closes the next hundred.This role is strategy and execution in one. You will help set commercial direction, then close deals personally until there is enough revenue to justify a team beneath you. Expect heavy customer time: site visits, pilot scoping, and direct relationships with security operators and decision-makers. If you want a defined playbook handed to you, this is not the role. If you want to write it, this is.#### What You'll Work On* **Full-cycle sales:** source, qualify, run discovery and demos, negotiate, and close customers.* **Enterprise B2B:** win and grow commercial customers across enterprise and industrial critical infrastructure, where cycles move faster and land-and-expand is the play.* **Public sector and defence (B2G):** run the longer government and defence cycles, including procurement, tenders, and framework agreements.* **Pilots to contracts:** scope, sell, and run paid pilots (POCs) that convert into long-term contracts.* **Founder-led sales, transitioned:** co-sell the key early deals with the CEO, then take them fully end to end as the playbook takes shape.* **Pipeline and CRM:** keep every opportunity clean and current, with follow-ups that never slip.* **The playbook:** capture what works, sharpen the ICP, and feed real customer signal back to product.* **Forecasting:** honest and ambitious pipeline.#### Who We're Looking ForWe are looking for a hunter, not a coin-operated salesperson. You have carried a full-cycle B2B number and personally closed, not just generated pipeline. You are comfortable in a room with a head of security, a head of operations, a government procurement lead, and a technical engineer, and you can switch registers between them. You treat customers as relationships to earn, not deals to extract, because in critical infrastructure trust is the whole game. Above all, you want to own and build a commercial function, not run a quota inside someone else's playbook.#### Your Background* 5+ years of full-cycle enterprise B2B sales, with a verifiable record of closing six-figure plus deals.* Proven at self-sourcing pipeline; you do not wait for inbound to save you.* AI-fluent and unmistakably human. You are proficient with AI tools and use them to research, draft, and move faster, but you stay fully plugged in: you use your own judgment, bring high EQ, read the room, and build real relationships.* Technically literate. You do not need to code, but you must credibly sell a genuinely technical product to sophisticated buyers.* Organised and self-directed on the unglamorous parts: follow-ups, CRM hygiene, and clean deal documentation.* High agency, high reliability, high ambition.* Based in or willing to relocate to Zurich.#### Nice to Have* Experience selling into government or defence (procurement, RFPs, framework agreements).* Background selling deeptech, hardware, security, robotics, computer vision, or complex enterprise software.* Experience with a subscription or recurring-revenue product.* An existing network of security operators, integrators, or buyers in DACH and UK.* German language proficiency.* Startup or early-stage experience, ideally as an early or founding sales hire. You are comfortable with ambiguity and no infrastructure.#### What We Offer* **Ownership:** you are able to ship products and deliver project end-to-end.* **Mission:** autonomous security that keeps people and critical sites safe, including in defence.* **Career path:** a ground-floor seat with real runway. Prove your value and you will not have barriers to grow.* **Team:** work directly with PhD-level co-founders in AI, Robotics, and Physics, alongside a strong (and fun) founding team.* **Compensation:** Competitive equity/salary package* **Culture:** International founding team that is serious about building but does not take itself too seriously.