Founding Sales Executive

CLERA; Nürnberg; Hybrid; EUR 107,000 - 143,000; Full time

Job summary

Clera Labs, Inc. seeks its first sales hire to drive new business and expansion across the DACH region for its industrial energy management software platform.

You will own the full sales cycle, build a strong outbound pipeline, and manage multi-stakeholder deals with energy, operations, finance, IT, and executives. Based in Munich or Nuremberg, relocation is supported for ideal candidates.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of B2B sales with full-cycle closing.
• Experience closing €50k–€200k ACV deals.
• Experience building outbound pipeline in early-stage startup.
• Based in Munich or Nuremberg, or willing to relocate.
• Energy/industrial tech or AI SaaS experience valued.
• Pilots/land-and-expand familiarity valued.

Responsibilities

• Own full sales cycle from prospecting to contract close.
• Build and manage a qualified pipeline via direct outreach and events.
• Navigate multi-stakeholder buying groups across departments.
• Grow relationships with additional use cases and cross-sells.
• Maintain a repeatable sales process and accurate forecasting.
• Provide market insights to leadership on pricing and strategy.

Skills

Full-cycle sales

Outbound prospecting

SaaS sales

German C1+

English proficiency

Pipeline management

Education

Top-tier university education

Job description

About the Role

Join an early-stage industrial energy management software company as its first sales hire. You will build on an established product and customer base, leading new business and expansion across industrial markets in the DACH region.

What You'll Do

• Own the full sales cycle for new business, from outbound prospecting and discovery through demonstrations, business cases, pilots, procurement, security review, and contract close.

• Build and manage a qualified pipeline through direct outreach, events, partner channels, and customer referrals.

• Navigate multi-stakeholder buying groups across energy procurement, plant operations, finance, IT, and executive teams.

• Grow customer relationships through additional use cases, sites, and cross-sells, and develop reference customers.

• Maintain a repeatable sales process, including account plans, CRM hygiene, qualification standards, and accurate forecasting.

• Share customer and market insights with company leadership to inform pricing, product direction, and target segments.

What We're Looking For

• At least 3 years of B2B sales experience, including 2 or more years personally owning full-cycle closing responsibility.

• Demonstrated success sourcing and closing complex, technical enterprise or upper-mid-market SaaS deals, typically with €50,000 to €200,000 ACV and multiple stakeholders.

• Experience building outbound pipeline and selling at an early-stage startup without an established sales playbook.

• Native or C1+ German proficiency in spoken and written communication, plus professional English.

• Top-tier university education, high-growth or well-known startup experience, or an equivalent record of achievement.

• Experience in energy, industrial technology, climate tech, manufacturing, or selling AI and SaaS products to industrial buyers is valuable.

• Familiarity with pilots, proofs of value, land-and-expand sales, and founder-led teams is beneficial.

• Based in Munich or Nuremberg, or willing to relocate to one of these cities.

Compensation & Benefits

OTE is €107,000 to €115,000 for Level 2 and €115,000 to €143,000 for Level 3, with a 60/40 base-to-variable split and equity. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

Hybrid, based in Nuremberg or Munich, Bavaria, Germany.