Founding Account Executive

HyLight; Paris; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Ownership of book

Executive exposure

Public transport pass

Bike provided

Free lunch

Offsite trips

Nice offices

Job summary

HyLight is seeking a Founding Account Executive in Paris to own the full commercial pipeline for key accounts. You’ll prospect, qualify, negotiate and close with senior operators across energy and infrastructure.

You’ll report to the CBO, shape account strategy, and help build HyLight's commercial playbook as the team scales in a climate tech environment.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in B2B sales or business development with enterprise deals.
• Proven ability to own end-to-end sales cycles with senior stakeholders.
• Experience outbound prospecting and pipeline building.

Responsibilities

• Own and grow a portfolio of target accounts across gas, power, and infrastructure.
• Build and prioritize pipeline through outbound prospecting and research.
• Lead the full sales cycle: outreach, discovery, qualification, proposal, negotiation and close.
• Collaborate with technical/product teams to align value with client needs.
• Represent HyLight at events and client sites and report on forecast.

Skills

Outbound sales

Multi-stakeholder deals

Enterprise sales

CRM reporting

Market research

Strong communication

Tools

HubSpot

Salesforce

Excel/Sheets

Job description

Founding Account Executive — HyLight

About HyLight

Power lines, gas pipelines and railways are still inspected the way they were 50 years ago: by helicopter. Expensive, noisy, and up to a tonne of CO₂ per flight hour.

We built the alternative. The HyLighter is a 12-metre autonomous airship running on hydrogen. It flies for up to 10 hours, almost silently, and spots a 1 mm defect from 25 metres up.

But the airship is only half the story. Every flight brings back massive amounts of LiDAR, imagery and methane data, and that’s where the value is. Our AI turns it into what operators act on: 50+ types of defects detected automatically, and leaks pinpointed across their network.

It’s not a prototype. HyLighters already fly missions for France’s largest energy and rail operators and have flown over the Palace of Versailles. Backed by Y Combinator, we just raised €13M to go from 4 airships to 15.

**Working at HyLight**

We design, build and fly every HyLighter, and turn its data into insight, all under one roof on a former airbase. Which means:

• **You own it all the way.** At a big aerospace company, you’d own a small piece of one subsystem. Here, you design it, test it, stand on the airfield when it flies, and see the client act on the data it brings back.
• **Weeks, not years.** Ideas go from whiteboard to flight test in weeks.
• **Responsibility from day one.** The founders’ average age is 27. Nobody here waits for permission.

We don’t care about titles or ticking every box. We care about what you build and the perspective you bring, so if your profile is different, apply anyway.

Job Summary

As a **Founding Account Executive** , you will play a central role in accelerating HyLight's commercial growth. Working closely with our CBO, you will own the full commercial pipeline for a defined set of accounts and territories — from prospecting through to closing — engaging directly with senior stakeholders at Europe's largest infrastructure operators.

This is not a support role. You'll be given real ownership over revenue targets, account strategy, and go-to-market decisions, while helping build the commercial foundations of a fast-growing climate tech company from the ground up.

The Mission

Reporting to the CBO, you will:

• Own and grow a portfolio of target accounts across our key industries (gas, power, and other infrastructure operators).
• Build, qualify, and prioritize pipeline through outbound prospecting, market research, and commercial intelligence.
• Lead the full sales cycle: outreach, discovery, technical/commercial qualification, proposal, negotiation, and close.
• Manage and deepen relationships with key infrastructure operators, from first contact through to contract renewal.
• Define and execute account and territory strategy, including identifying new markets and expansion opportunities.
• Analyze customer needs, market trends, and competitive dynamics to sharpen HyLight's commercial strategy.
• Partner closely with technical and product teams to translate customer challenges into HyLight's value proposition and roadmap input.
• Build and improve scalable commercial processes (CRM hygiene, playbooks, forecasting) as the team grows.
• Represent HyLight at industry events, conferences, and client sites.

Profile Sought

Experience

• 4+ years of B2B business development, sales, or account management experience, ideally in infrastructure, energy, industrial services, deep tech, or a related B2B technical sales environment.
• Track record of owning and closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals with enterprise or utility-scale customers.
• Experience building outbound pipeline and managing a sales cycle end-to-end, not just account management.

Technical Skills

• Strong analytical and research skills; comfortable building business cases and ROI arguments for technical buyers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including with senior/executive stakeholders.
• Fluent with CRM tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, or similar) and comfortable owning pipeline reporting and forecasting.
• Proficient with Excel/Google Sheets and presentation tools.

Soft Skills

• Founder-level ownership and autonomy; comfortable operating with significant independence.
• Proactive, resourceful, and comfortable taking initiative in ambiguous, fast-changing environments.
• Comfortable taking calculated risks and making fast decisions with incomplete information.
• Rigorous and organized in delivering high-quality work under deadline pressure.
• Curious, eager to learn technical subject matter, and passionate about building and experimenting.
• Strong team player, comfortable working in a fast-paced, multidisciplinary team.

**Languages:** French and English required.

Bonus Qualities

• Experience selling into utilities, energy, or infrastructure operators specifically.
• Experience selling technical/hardware-enabled or data/analytics products to industrial buyers.
• Prior startup or scale-up commercial experience.
• Interest or background in climate tech, energy, infrastructure, or deep tech.

What We Offer

• Real ownership over a book of business and direct impact on HyLight's commercial growth.
• Close collaboration with the CBO and exposure to executive decision-making.
• Opportunity to help build the commercial foundations of a rapidly growing startup.
• Competitive compensation, aligned with experience.
• 100% reimbursement of public transport pass (Navigo).
• Bike provided for commuting.
• Free lunch.
• Bi-annual offsite trips with the whole team.
• Excellent work environment: international team, team events, beautiful offices on a former airbase.

Why You Should Join

• **Founder Mentality:** We value extreme ownership and want people who think like founders — fast decision-makers, natural problem solvers, and builders.
• **Ground Floor Opportunity:** You'll help shape and scale the commercial strategy of a company reinventing infrastructure inspection with world-first technology.
• **Impact & Speed:** Your work will directly influence HyLight's growth by winning customers and expanding into new markets.

Interview Process

1. Introductory call (20–30 min)
2. Business case study, followed by a debrief with a team member
3. On-site meeting with the team (3–4h)

Location

Office: Base 217, Brétigny-sur-Orge, accessible via RER C.

You'll work side-by-side with the commercial, product, and engineering teams in a highly collaborative environment, with a unique vista across every aspect of building a fast-growing climate tech company.