Sales Lead - Los Angeles / SoCal

Stanford Climate Ventures; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fast Company Innovator 2026

Proven, measurable results

Strong investor backing

Founding team with robotics experience

Job summary

Focal is seeking a high-impact sales leader to own the Southern California market, from pipeline to close. You will identify target restaurant groups, hospitality operators, and multi-unit chains, build relationships across the org, and execute a disciplined outreach motion to win new business.

In LA, you will craft a multi-threaded strategy, develop stakeholders, and represent Focal at events. As the market grows, you’ll help shape teams, hiring decisions, and the playbook for expansion into

Qualifications

• 5+ years of B2B sales experience in a fast-growing company.
• Proven ability to build and close complex multi-stakeholder deals.
• Expertise in account-based selling and strategic outreach.
• Strong ability to map organizations and develop multi-threaded relationships.
• Ambition to grow into a leadership role and build a team.

Responsibilities

• Own the Southern California market and land key restaurant groups and hospitality accounts.
• Develop and execute an account-based sales strategy in LA, OC, and SD.
• Represent Focal at industry events and build a local network of operators.
• Contribute to scaling the team, onboarding new reps, and defining sales playbooks.

Skills

B2B sales

Account-based selling

Pipeline development

Relationship building

Multi-stakeholder deals

Leadership potential

Job description

The Opportunity

Focal is the world's first autonomous personal comfort platform: an AI-enabled robotic heating system that delivers individualized warmth to each guest in real time. Rather than conditioning entire spaces, we heat people directly, the way modern lighting illuminates with intention. The result: up to 80% in energy savings, a 25% increase in patio seating capacity, two hours of labor savings per shift, and a 25% jump in five-star reviews for our restaurant partners.

In less than a year since our first commercial installation, we've logged over 30,000 hours of live operation across Michelin-star groups, regional chains, and independent operators throughout the Bay Area, including The Anchovy Bar, Wayfare Tavern, and Pacific Catch. Fast Company named us one of the World's Most Innovative Companies of 2026, alongside Waymo, Boston Dynamics, and Toast.

We're expanding to Southern California, and we're looking for the person who will own it.

This is not a territory you inherit. It's one you build. As Focal's first hire in Los Angeles area, you'll be responsible for landing the accounts that define our brand in the market, building a pipeline from scratch, and eventually hiring and developing the team beneath you. If you've been waiting for the kind of role where what you build is genuinely yours — this is it.

What You'll Do

Own the Southern California market.

You'll build our pipeline from scratch: identifying the right restaurant groups, hospitality operators, and multi-unit chains, and running account-based campaigns to open and close them. You'll know who the right targets are before anyone tells you, build relationships at every level of an organization, and close deals that compound over time.

Drive account-based strategy.

LA is a relationship market with one of the most vibrant outdoor dining scenes in the country. You'll develop a target account list, research key stakeholders, build multi-threaded relationships within priority accounts, and execute a disciplined approach to winning new business, not just working the warmest leads.

Represent Focal on the ground.

You'll be Focal's face in Southern California, attending industry events, building a local network in hospitality and food & beverage, and making sure the right operators know who we are and what we've built.

Lay the foundation for a team.

As the market grows, you'll play an increasingly important role in shaping how Focal scales, contributing to hiring decisions, onboarding future reps, and helping define the playbook for how we sell in new markets. You're not just closing deals; you're building something.

What We're Looking For

• 4–8 years of B2B sales experience, with a track record of owning complex, multi-stakeholder deals from prospecting to close

• Proven experience in account-based selling: you know how to build a target list, map an org, and run a disciplined outreach motion

• Deep familiarity with the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego market; existing relationships in hospitality, food & beverage, or real estate are a strong plus

• Comfort with ambiguity: you've built pipeline in a new territory or for a new product before, and you didn't wait for leads to come to you

• Early management instincts: you care about developing others and want to build something, not just hit a number

• Genuine enthusiasm for what Focal is building: you understand why the product matters and can convey that authentically to operators

Why Focal

• Named to Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies of 2026 alongside Waymo, Boston Dynamics, and Toast

• Proven, measurable results: customers capture up to 80% energy savings, 25% more seating capacity, and a 25% jump in five-star reviews

• Backed by Collaborative Fund, Third Sphere, Brainstorm Ventures, and leading angels across hospitality and energy

• A founding team with deep technical and operational chops: Tesla, Zoox, Stanford, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon robotics

• Restaurants are just the beginning: Focal's platform is built to extend into homes, offices, warehouses, transit shelters, and hospitals

• First-mover advantage in one of the most important hospitality markets in the country, with full support from the founding team

About Focal

Focal is a San Francisco-based robotics company creating a world where comfort is personal, effortless, and sustainable. Through AI-enabled hardware, our personal comfort system delivers targeted, autonomous warmth while eliminating the energy and cost inefficiencies of traditional heating systems. We've raised $5M in funding and logged 30,000+ hours of live operation across Michelin-star restaurant groups, regional chains, and independent operators.

Learn more at focalheat.co or reach out at [e-mail].