Founding Sales Lead, DACH

Enterprise customer service is being rebuilt around AI agents, and we are building the platform that wins it. Typewise (YC S22) is a 20-person AI company based in Zurich. Our technology is already used by 60+ enterprise customer-service teams such as Unilever, DHL, and Superhuman, and our AI Agent Platform connects to thousands of business systems to automate real work across support, sales, and commerce. The product works. Customers see the value. We now need to take the AI Agent business from **1 to 10**. ## The role As our Founding Sales Lead, you will build the sales engine and then the team that scales it. DACH is the initial focus because this is where we have the strongest access and references, but are clients are already international. This is a hands-on player-coach role, not a conventional Head of Sales position. You will work directly with the founders, manage and develop an existing Account Executive, and partner closely with our customer success, product and technical teams. You will have full access to customers, company strategy, tools, and the people who can help you win important deals. You will own the path from target-account selection to signed business: personally prospecting, cold calling, running campaigns, leading discovery and demos, building stakeholder coalitions, negotiating, and closing. You should be as comfortable inspecting enrichment data and configuring an AI-assisted outbound campaign as you are presenting to a C-level buyer. Once the motion is proven, you will hire and build the international sales team around it. ## What you will do - Personally create and close mid-enterprise opportunities in DACH, while supporting selected international opportunities. - Build an integrated outbound motion across cold calling, email, and LinkedIn. - Define target accounts, build and quality-check lists, use AI for research and enrichment, and continuously improve campaigns from evidence. - Run excellent discovery and account-specific demos for a technical AI product. - Build broad stakeholder coalitions and navigate C-level buyers, procurement, and complex enterprise decisions. - Coach and manage an existing seller, then add further sales capacity when the motion is ready to scale. - Create a sales operating system with clear ownership, disciplined CRM use, reliable forecasting, and fast learning loops. ## What you will bring - You have personally sourced from scratch and closed complex B2B software, SaaS, or AI deals. - You have sold in DACH and internationally. You are fluent in English; German is a strong advantage, but substantial DACH selling experience and local market credibility can compensate for it. - You sell confidently to mid-enterprise and C-level buyers, build stakeholder coalitions, and do not depend on one friendly champion. - You run excellent discovery and compelling, account-specific demos for technical products. - You still prospect personally, including cold calling, and know how modern CRM, enrichment, email, LinkedIn, and AI tools work in practice. - You use AI to research accounts, automate repetitive work, improve campaign quality, and move faster without losing judgment. - You have onboarded, coached, or managed SDRs or less-experienced sellers while carrying your own number. - You are willing to stop weak campaigns and explain what the evidence changed in your market view. - You prefer accountability and speed over layers, handoffs, and methodology theater. ## This role is probably not for you if - Your recent experience is mainly managing managers or large established teams. - You depend on SDR-generated pipeline and no longer prospect personally. - You want a RevOps team before you can launch and inspect a campaign. - You discuss pipeline and methodology more readily than exact sourced-and-closed deals. - You optimize for meetings without demanding buyer quality and commercial progression. - You have no practical experience selling into the DACH market. ## Why you will love it here - Grow a cutting-edge AI Agent Platform that is already solving real problems for enterprise customers. - Take a strategically important business from 1 to 10, with the authority to shape how it grows. - Work directly with the founders and a strong, pragmatic 20-person team. - Earn meaningful equity and build the international sales team as the motion scales. - Work flexibly: remotely within DACH, from our Zurich office, and alongside customers where it matters. - Join our quarterly international team trips and a culture that is ambitious, direct, low-ego, and genuinely enjoyable. ## Ready to move? Do not just send us a standard CV. Please include one example of a complex deal you personally sourced and closed. State the customer type, buyer, approximate ARR or ACV, sales cycle, how the opportunity originated, the hardest obstacle, your exact contribution, and who else materially helped. ## What the interview process looks like We keep the process focused: a small number of live conversations followed by an in-person visit to meet the founders and team in Zurich. There is no take-home task or unpaid project. ## Compensation The base pay range for this role is €80,000 – €120,000 per year. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.