Sales Director (H/F)

Merlain; Valbonne; Hybrid; EUR 100,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding role

Direct pairing with FX and Aymen

Fast demos and ROI tools

Large market: retailers/e-commerce

Autonomy and impact

Tech Forward environment

Job summary

Merlain is seeking a founder-level sales leader to build and scale the commercial engine. You will shape outbound motion, target enterprise accounts, and own forecasting, with direct collaboration to FX and the product team. Expect equity and high autonomy in a fast-moving startup.

You will engage CIO-level stakeholders, drive multi-channel strategies, and establish the first sales hires as the motion proves itself.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in B2B SaaS sales.
• Built or scaled a sales engine at an early-stage company.
• Master outbound and generate your own pipeline.
• Sell measurable business value to executives.
• Comfort discussing data, AI and security topics with CIOs.

Responsibilities

• Build Merlain's sales motion: ICP, segmentation, messaging, sales cycle, qualification and closing.
• Launch and run outbound: multichannel sequences targeting retailers and e-commerce brands (10–200 employees).
• Open and close key accounts: enterprise cycles, multiple stakeholders, RFPs and security reviews.
• Own the pipeline end to end: forecasting, CRM hygiene, weekly reviews, conversion metrics at every stage.
• Lead commercial negotiations, including VPC and on-premise offers, with the tech team.
• Build the sales toolkit: pitch, demos, case studies, ROI calculators, playbooks.
• Bring feedback from customers to product: objections, recurring needs, pricing signals.
• Prepare next steps: define profiles, recruit first sales hires (SDR, AE).

Skills

Closing track record

B2B SaaS sales

Outbound sales

Pipeline forecasting

Executive engagement

Job description

Merlain catches problems before they get expensive. Now it needs a sales machine to match. You build it, you run it, you close the key accounts.

The Mission

You are the first person to build and scale Merlain's commercial engine. With FX, you turn founder-led sales into a repeatable motion: structured outbound, strategic accounts, a reliable pipeline and enterprise closing. You own the number, the method and, tomorrow, the team.

Responsibilities

• Build Merlain's sales motion with FX: ICP, segmentation, messaging, sales cycle, qualification and closing process.
• Launch and run outbound: multichannel sequences targeting retailers and e-commerce brands of 10 to 200 people, with a measurable activity rhythm.
• Open and close key accounts: enterprise cycles, multiple stakeholders (CEO, CFO, e-commerce, ops and IT leads), RFPs and security reviews.
• Own the pipeline end to end: forecasting, CRM hygiene, weekly reviews, conversion metrics at every stage.
• Lead commercial and contractual negotiations, including VPC and on-premise offers, alongside the tech team.
• Build the sales toolkit: pitch, use-case-driven demos (stock, margin, conversion, cash collection), case studies, ROI calculators, playbooks.
• Bring the field back to the product: objections, recurring needs, priority connectors, pricing signals.
• Prepare what comes next: define profiles, recruit and grow the first sales hires (SDR, AE) once the motion is proven.

Profile

• 5+ years in B2B SaaS sales, with a proven closing track record on mid-market and enterprise accounts.
• You have already built or structured a sales machine at an early-stage company — not just operated an existing one.
• You master modern outbound and know how to generate your own pipeline.
• You sell measurable business value (margin, cash, time saved) to executives, not features.
• You are comfortable discussing data, AI and security topics with a CIO, without needing to be an engineer.
• Rigorous with pipeline and forecasting: your numbers are reliable.
• Self-driven, results-oriented, comfortable with the ambiguity of a startup.
• Fluent French, professional English.

Nice to Have

• Experience selling to retail, e-commerce or DTC brands.
• A network in the French or European retail and e-commerce ecosystem.
• Experience selling data, BI or AI solutions.
• You have already recruited and managed a first sales team.
• Familiarity with security-review cycles and VPC or on-premise deployments.

What We Offer

• A founding role on the commercial side: you lay the foundations of Merlain's sales motion.
• A direct pairing with FX and Aymen, with no management layers.
• A product that demos fast: value is visible from the first alerts.
• A large, concrete market: every retailer and e-commerce brand still running on spreadsheet exports.
• Real autonomy and visible impact on the company's trajectory.
• The Tech Forward (EDHEC) environment, with a presence planned at Station F.
• An equity package that matches a founding role.