Vice President: Sales

Lavu Inc.; Tampa (FL); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

Job summary

Lavu, Inc. seeks a visionary Vice President of Sales to own the entire commercial motion for Marty AI, reporting to the CEO. You will source and close multi-unit restaurant deals, guiding CFO/COO buyers through value-based decisions and subscriptions, with direct access to the CEO and leadership team.

Tampa-based, in-office role with equity as a meaningful part of compensation. You will build outbound engines, map triggers, run discovery, anchor value to cash exposure, and convert to recurring

Qualifications

• Must be a proven hunter with a track record of self-generating pipeline.
• Experience selling analytical software or data/fintech/workforce analytics to mid-market buyers.
• Ability to articulate financial impact and close high-value deals with CFO/COO buyers.

Responsibilities

• Own the full sales cycle end-to-end with no handoffs.
• Source pipeline via trigger events and build outbound sequences.
• Close initial contracts and coordinate delivery with the CEO.
• Contribute to product direction by feeding market objections and needs.

Skills

Self-sourced pipeline

Hunter mentality

CFO/COO buyer conversations

Outbound outreach

Tools

Sales Navigator

CRM systems

Job description

About Lavu, Inc.

Lavu is building the autonomous restaurant operating system of the future. We help profitable, high‑growth restaurants run seamlessly and move money effortlessly, maximizing control, eliminating fees, and increasing profitability. We unify restaurant operations and finance into one simple, easy‑to‑use platform so owners can run, pay, get paid, and grow.

Vice President of Sales: Marty AI

Marty AI leads the commercial motion for our data‑driven operational intelligence platform, Marty, that connects to 90+ data sources to surface hidden financial exposure across multi‑unit restaurant portfolios.

Position Details

• Reports to: CEO
• Location: Tampa, FL (in office)
• Employment: Full‑time
• Deal size: $100,000 – $300,000 ACV
• Equity: meaningful
• Stage: zero to one – no playbook, no inbound, we have closed customers
• Operating in 75+ countries, 40% YoY growth, EBITDA doubling every year for 4 years

The Role

This is a zero‑to‑one role. There is no sales team, no playbook, no inbound pipeline, and no SDR. You will build the entire commercial motion while closing deals simultaneously.

You will source your own pipeline from trigger events: CFO, COO and VP hires at multi‑unit groups, PE acquisitions of restaurant portfolios, minimum wage increases, post‑audit‑season budget cycles, and DOL activity. You'll run discovery, anchor value to identifiable cash exposure in the prospect's portfolio, close the audit engagement, and convert to subscription.

The buyer is the person accountable for EBITDA. You are not selling to single‑unit restaurant owners, ops coordinators or IT leaders. You are having a financial and operating conversation with a senior operator who needs to see the numbers before they move.

What You’ll Own

• Full sales cycle, end to end – no handoffs, no support structure. You work directly with the CEO and sit on the leadership team.
• Build the outbound engine: list‑building, trigger‑event sourcing, Clay and Sales Navigator workflows, outreach sequences, and your own emails.
• Run sales opportunities – close the initial contract, coordinate delivery with the CEO, present findings, convert to subscription.
• Document everything – every loss reason and win pattern becomes the foundation of the playbook.
• Feed product direction – inform what objections surface, what integrations unlock deals, and what language converts.
• Hire your team when you have enough signal to know the profile, recruiting your own backup.

Who You Are

The successful candidate thinks like an operator, sells like a banker, and hunts like a recruiter. Restaurant experience is useful but not required. What is non‑negotiable is the motion: self‑sourced, analytical, CFO/COO buyer, middle‑market deal size.

Non‑Negotiables

• Proven hunter – your pipeline was primarily self‑generated in previous roles. You have a system for identifying accounts and manufacturing urgency.
• Closed middle‑market deals in the $100,000 to $300,000 range – not transactional volume, not 18‑month enterprise motion.
• Sold analytical software – data, intelligence, business performance software, fintech, or workforce analytics where the core sale is “here is what your numbers are actually telling you.”
• Strong written communicator – you write outbound emails that are short, specific, and free of template‑like language.
• Can build without infrastructure – no RevOps, no content team, no brand awareness coming for you. You are comfortable being the entire commercial motion.

Strong Advantages

• Sold into restaurant groups, hospitality operators, or multi‑unit food service – understand their P&L and labor metrics.
• From a data or intelligence software company: restaurant tech (R365, Crunchtime, MarginEdge, HotSchedules), BI platforms (Domo, Looker, Sisense), or workforce analytics (Anaplan, Planful, Visier).
• Operated in a founder‑led, pre‑scale environment where the pitch was never finished and the product was still being shaped while selling.
• Personal network includes CFOs, COOs, or multi‑unit operators at 10 to 200‑location restaurant groups.

This Is the Wrong Role If…

• You need inbound, brand awareness, or a defined ICP and campaign engine before you can generate a meeting.
• Your best sales years were working a warm territory inherited from someone else.
• Your comfort zone is account management, upsell, or renewal on an installed base.
• You need the product to be complete before you can sell it with conviction.
• You come from a big brand where the logo did the heavy lifting.

What Winning Looks Like

30 Days

• Fully immersed in the product. You can run the intelligence briefing from memory and translate any data finding into dollar impact for a CFO.
• Outbound engine initialized: 300‑account target list, CFO/COO contacts mapped, trigger events flagged.
• First 15 discovery conversations underway.

90 Days

• 2 signed customers.
• First read on which triggers and verticals convert fastest and why.
• Outbound sequence documented, iterated on, and repeatable.

End of Year 1

• 6 closed customers.
• Sales playbook exists: ICP definition, trigger events, discovery framework, objection responses, close sequence.
• Recommendation on the second hire: SDR, second AE, or solutions consultant.
• Personal earnings comfortably above $220,000 because quota was exceeded.

About Marty & Lavu

Marty is built by Lavu, a 15‑year restaurant technology company with $40M+ ARR, deep integrations across POS, payments, labor, and back‑of‑house systems, and relationships in over 75 countries. The data infrastructure Marty runs on is already built. The integration ecosystem already exists. The operator network is already there.

You will work directly with the CEO, who has 25 years in technology and an analytical and sales background. Decisions move fast. You will have real input on pricing, packaging, and go‑to‑market. This is not a role where you execute someone else’s strategy. You are part of building it.

Lavu’s headquarters is in Tampa. The CEO is Tampa‑based. Tampa and the surrounding Gulf Coast market also serves as a natural proving ground: a dense, growing restaurant scene with independent operators, multi‑unit groups, and hospitality‑driven tourism that maps directly to Marty's ICP. Being on the ground here is a genuine advantage in the early pipeline. Tampa‑based candidates are strongly preferred, with relocation possible for ideal candidates. In‑person time with the CEO is expected as a regular part of the role.