Founding Sales Lead New York City

autumn; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Uncapped earning potential

Meaningful equity

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Lunch stipend

Fitness stipend

Waterfront office in Williamsburg

Job summary

Autumn, based in New York, is hiring a Founding Sales Lead to build the commercial org from the ground up. You will close hotels weekly, write the playbook, and shape the sales machine—segmentation, tooling, and metrics—while hiring and coaching a team.

You will work directly with the founders to align product and market strategies. You will lead with a data-driven approach, automate repetitive tasks with AI, and own the number as a function.

Qualifications

• 3–10 years in sales with quota attainment in high-velocity, short-cycle deals.
• Built or rebuilt a sales motion; first sales hire, team lead, or playbook author.
• Managed or coached reps; demonstrated impact on performance.
• Think in systems: segments, conversion, cycle length, capacity.
• Willingness to automate repetitive work with AI and empower the team.

Responsibilities

• Close hotels personally each week and define the sales playbook and process.
• Write the playbook, establish pipeline reviews, forecasting, and market segmentation.
• Own pipeline hygiene, forecasting, and weekly operating rhythm.
• Set strategy: prioritize hotel segments, positioning, and market opportunities.
• Lead funnel enhancements: outbound messaging, lead quality feedback, and sequencing.
• Build and onboard the sales team; coach hires and set targets.
• Provide market feedback to founders: objections, segment differences, pricing signals, competitive moves.
• Leverage AI to automate prep, follow-up, and admin so reps focus on selling.

Skills

Sales experience

Team leadership

Playbook creation

Forecasting & metrics

Automation mindset

Tools

CRM familiarity

Job description

Autumn is building the AI operating system for independent hotels.

Hotels are still run on an extraordinarily fragmented stack of legacy software, agencies, spreadsheets, and manual workflows. We are building one AI native platform to automate that work, starting with the workflows closest to revenue, specifically digital marketing.

The early sales motion is already working. Most of our growth to date has come from cold outbound, and we convert 85% of calls into customers with a one-call close because we're solving a true hair-on-fire problem.

We recently raised the largest seed round in hotel tech history, led by Bessemer, and are building an exceptional team in person from our waterfront office in Williamsburg.

We are now looking for a Founding Sales Lead to build Autumn's commercial organization from the ground up.

The Role

This is a player-coach role for someone who has been an exceptional closer and is ready to build the system other people sell inside.

You will close hotels yourself every week, and you will use what you learn to define how Autumn sells: the playbook, the process, the metrics, the tooling, and the team. In the first months most of your time is in the motion, running discovery, demos, and closes with independent hotel owners and operators. Alongside that you will write the playbook, stand up pipeline reviews and forecasting, decide what a qualified hotel looks like, and set how we segment and prioritize the market.

As the system proves out, you will hire into it. You will scope, recruit, onboard, and coach the sales team, and own its number.

You will work directly with the founder and be the voice of the market inside the company: which segments are pulling, what is blocking deals, and what the product should do next.

What You'll Do

• Close. Carry a personal number and run the full cycle from first conversation through close, at the volume this motion demands.
• Write the playbook. Turn hundreds of conversations into a repeatable system: messaging by segment, qualification criteria, objection handling, follow up cadence, and handoff to Customer Success.
• Run the pipeline. Own pipeline hygiene, forecasting, and the weekly operating rhythm. Know exactly where the number is coming from and why.
• Set the strategy. Decide which hotel segments to prioritize, how to position and package the product for each, and where the next pockets of demand are.
• Sharpen the top of funnel. Partner with the GTM team on outbound messaging, lead quality feedback loops, and sequence performance. Define what good looks like.
• Build the team. Scope, recruit, onboard, and coach sales hires. Set targets and hold the team to them.
• Bring the market back to the founders. Deliver structured insight to product and leadership: recurring objections, segment differences, pricing signals, competitive moves.
• Use AI as leverage. Build an AI native sales operation where research, preparation, follow up, and administrative work are automated so people spend their time selling.

What We're Looking For

Above all, we are looking for someone who has proven they can sell at high velocity and has already started building the system around it. You are likely a strong fit if:

• You have 3 to 10 years in sales, including several years consistently beating quota in a short sales cycle, high volume motion (SMB or mid market SMB)
• You have built or materially rebuilt a sales motion before: first sales hire at a startup, team lead, player-coach, or the person who wrote the playbook everyone else used
• You have managed or coached reps, formally or informally, and people got better because of you
• You think in systems: segments, conversion rates, cycle length, capacity, and what to change to move each one
• You build trust quickly and sell with warmth and credibility rather than pressure
• You are analytical, unusually organized, and accountable for outcomes
• You naturally look for ways to automate repetitive work with AI, and expect your team to as well
• You want to own a number and a function, not one or the other
• You want to work around ambitious people in person and move very quickly

If you want to lead but no longer want to sell, this is probably a different role. If your recent experience has primarily been six figure enterprise contracts with six month sales cycles, this is probably a different sport.

Preferred (Not Required)

• Have sold hotel or hospitality technology
• Have sold vertical SaaS to owner operated businesses
• Understand performance marketing, paid search, SEO, websites, or other revenue generating products
• Have experience in an early stage startup
• Have worked with independent hotels or short term rental operators
• Speak Spanish fluently

None of these are required if you are an exceptional seller who has built before.

Why This Role Is Unusual

You are joining after the product has demonstrated real commercial pull, but before the sales organization has been built.

That means you get both: something that already sells, and the mandate to decide how it gets sold.

You will have:

• A product solving a clear and measurable customer problem
• A short sales cycle and high volume of opportunities
• Meaningful top of funnel support
• Direct access to the founders
• Ownership of how Autumn sells, from playbook to team
• An AI native sales environment designed to remove administrative work
• Uncapped earning potential
• Meaningful equity
• The opportunity to build Autumn's commercial organization from its foundation
• Highly competitive cash & equity comp
• Top tier medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Lunch and fitness stipend
• Beautiful private waterfront office in Williamsburg
• Four days a week in person, with an optional fifth, alongside a small, highly ambitious team.

Location

Four days a week in person, with an optional fifth, alongside a small, highly ambitious team.