peopleIX

Founding Account Executive

peopleIX

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Hybrid

Location: Cologne • Germany

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Salary

💰 €65,000 - €80,000 per year

About the role

  • Build and close pipeline
  • Own the full sales cycle: prospecting, discovery, demos, negotiation, and closing
  • Actively engage People Ops, People Analytics, HR Automation leaders, Controllers, and CHROs
  • Close mid-market and enterprise deals and consistently meet or exceed quota
  • Write and refine the sales playbook
  • Develop our ICP definition, messaging, and sales narratives together with the founders
  • Turn early wins and losses into repeatable sales motions
  • Help define pricing logic, deal structures, and qualification criteria
  • Create demand (not just respond to it)
  • Proactively build lead lists and outbound strategies
  • Run campaigns together with our Growth Lead and Demand Generation Manager
  • Attend and leverage events; host webinars, roundtables, dinners, and small executive gatherings
  • Do whatever it takes to create meaningful conversations and pipeline, both creatively and pragmatically
  • Build for scale and automation
  • Think AI-first and automation-first in how you sell
  • Continuously improve tooling, workflows, and processes to make sales more scalable
  • Collaborate closely with product to feed market signals into roadmap decisions
  • Grow beyond individual contributor responsibilities
  • Work with partners and ecosystem players to unlock larger deals
  • Help lay the foundation for future Account Executives
  • Over time, grow into building and leading your own sales team

Requirements

  • Fluent in German and strong proficiency in English
  • Based in Cologne with a strong onsite presence
  • 2+ years of total sales experience
  • 1–2+ years closing B2B SaaS deals
  • Experience managing €25k–€100k+ deals with 5–6 month sales cycles
  • Comfortable selling into complex organizations with multiple stakeholders
  • Thrive in early-stage, unstructured, high-growth environments
  • Strong ownership mindset — you take responsibility and create momentum
  • Bonus: experience selling to HR, People Ops, or HR-IT
Benefits
  • A founding role with real influence on company direction
  • Real equity and meaningful upside — competitive compensation including stock options
  • Maximum impact — flat hierarchies, genuine ownership, and direct influence on GTM from day one
  • Modern setup — office in the heart of Cologne with flexible hours and hybrid work
  • Growth investment — dedicated learning & development budget plus Urban Sports Club membership
  • Team culture — regular offsites with a fast-moving team that builds together
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
B2B salessales cycle managementpipeline managementnegotiationsales playbook developmentlead generationdeal structuringsales automationsales strategyaccount management
Soft Skills
ownership mindsetcreativitypragmatismcollaborationcommunicationadaptabilityproblem-solvinginitiativerelationship buildingstrategic thinking