Founders' Associate / Chief of Staff

Clera; United States; On-site; USD 63,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Early-stage equity

Direct exposure to founders

High autonomy and ownership

Job summary

Clera, an AI-powered energy intelligence startup, seeks a Founders' Associate/Chief of Staff to work closely with the founding team. This high-ownership role spans outbound sales, strategy, and operations in an early-stage environment with significant impact.

You will own DACH-wide enterprise sales, refine messaging, and coordinate cross-functional initiatives with the founders. The role includes investor updates, strategic projects, and hands-on execution.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in enterprise sales or outbound demand generation in the DACH region.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and acting as a founder's right hand.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage an enterprise sales pipeline across DACH with founders.
• Lead outbound outreach via calls, emails, and LinkedIn with tailored messaging.
• Refine ICP and value propositions using market feedback.
• Create sales enablement materials to boost conversions.
• Join discovery calls to extract customer insights for positioning.
• Support investor updates and strategic reporting for founders.
• Lead high-priority projects end-to-end (research, partnerships, internal initiatives).
• Support marketing content and event prep.

Skills

Enterprise sales

Outbound demand gen

Cross-functional leadership

Startup experience

Tools

Notion

Google Workspace

HubSpot

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Job description

About the Role

A fast-growing AI-powered energy intelligence startup in the DACH market is looking for a Founders' Associate / Chief of Staff to work directly alongside the founding team. This is a high-ownership, hybrid GTM and operations role — ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of outbound sales, strategic projects, and operational execution in an early-stage environment.

The company provides an AI-driven platform for holistic energy cost optimisation for industrial enterprises, helping them make smarter procurement decisions and manage energy consumption more efficiently. The business is well-funded at the pre-seed stage and is actively scaling its commercial and engineering teams across the DACH region.

No visa sponsorship is available for this role.

What You'll Do

• Build and maintain a strong enterprise sales pipeline across DACH in close partnership with the founders.

• Run outbound execution including cold calls, emails, and LinkedIn outreach with tailored, persona-specific messaging.

• Refine ICP, targeting strategy, and value propositions using real market and prospect feedback.

• Produce high-quality sales materials — decks, one-pagers, follow-ups, and business cases — to improve conversion rates.

• Join discovery calls to surface customer insights and translate them into sharper positioning and product messaging.

• Act as an extension of the founders on strategic and operational topics, including investor updates and reporting.

• Own and lead high-priority special projects end-to‑end: market research, partnership development, and internal initiatives.

• Support marketing content and event preparation (newsletters, social posts, event messaging).

• Rapidly develop deep knowledge of energy markets and the product to drive improvements across sales and product roadmap.

• Operate autonomously in ambiguous, fast-changing environments and continuously iterate on team processes.

What We're Looking For

Must-haves (dealbreakers):

• 3+ years of experience in enterprise sales or outbound demand generation, building and delivering top‑of‑funnel pipeline in the DACH region.

• Demonstrated experience leading cross‑functional initiatives and acting as an operational right hand to founders in a startup environment, owning projects end‑to‑end.

Required skills and experience:

• Experience preparing investor updates and collaborating with founding teams on investor relations and strategic communications.

• Proven track record building and managing enterprise sales pipelines and outbound prospecting across DACH.

• Ability to create and deliver compelling sales enablement materials; proficiency with Notion, Google Workspace, HubSpot, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

• Knowledge of energy markets, or a demonstrated ability to rapidly learn and translate insights into sales and product improvements.

• Experience conducting or participating in discovery calls and extracting insights to refine positioning and messaging.

• Comfort driving cross‑functional initiatives (market research, partnerships, internal projects) with limited structure.

• Strong startup mindset — gritty, resourceful, and ownership‑driven.

Nice to have:

• Experience in energy sector partnerships or procurement contexts.

• Familiarity with MEDDICC or similar enterprise sales methodologies.

• Background at or adjacent to industrial corporates (e.g. manufacturing, energy, engineering sectors).

Location

This is a primarily on‑site role based in Nuremberg or Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Candidates should be able to work on‑site approximately 4 days per week. Remote‑only candidates will not be considered.

Fluency in German is strongly preferred given the DACH-focused commercial scope.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary range: $60,000 – $90,000 annually (or equivalent in EUR)

• Early‑stage equity opportunity in a well‑backed, fast‑scaling startup

• Direct exposure to founders and meaningful impact on company direction from day one

• High degree of autonomy and ownership across commercial and strategic workstreams