Strategic Sales DirectorRobust AI | San Carlos, CA - Remote | Full Time
As a Strategic Sales Director at Robust.AI, you will own our largest and most consequential customer relationships - selling, deploying, expanding, and permanently embedding the next generation of warehouse robotic systems inside enterprise fulfillment networks. This is a high-visibility role reporting to the Head of Sales, with influence across every commercial and technical group within the Robust.AI organization. You will possess a unique combination of well-developed customer-facing skills, problem-solving abilities, leadership, and relationship management through effective communication. You are also comfortable working in a startup environment, can collaborate with a team and can pivot effectively. You will have a strong network and deep experience of selling in fulfillment warehouses. This is a senior individual-contributor role: you carry your own number and mentor the sellers around you rather than managing a team.
Main responsibilities- Work with Robust.AI Sales Leadership to help size and position robotic solutions to both new and existing customers
- Develop, maintain, and grow a strong pipeline of qualified opportunities in our target market
- Drive and manage the entire sales cycle, from initial engagement to closed sales, for large and mid-market opportunities
- Build and defend the business case: ROI models, subscription economics, and performance-based structures
- Lead pricing and contract negotiation in partnership with sales leadership, structuring agreements that scale
- Navigate complex, multi-stakeholder buying processes including procurement, legal, safety, and IT security review
- Own a named portfolio of strategic accounts: build penetration plans that map the organization, identify the economic buyer, and multi-thread across operations, engineering, finance, and IT
- Collaborate internally with solutions, marketing, product, and customer success teams to provide feedback from the field and ensure an ideal customer experience
- Act as a player-coach, leading and mentoring junior reps on the team and in your territory
- Network and develop relationships with partners in our space to help expand our market presence
- Travel to and spend time onsite with prospects to qualify and assess their current operations and fit of our solution
- Lead and drive the expansion of systems at early-stage customer sites
- Conduct post-project evaluation and identify successful and unsuccessful project elements
- Effectively communicate with customers daily to ensure smooth transitions to deployment and continued scaling opportunities
- Communicate and troubleshoot with the Robust engineering team
What you'll bring to the table- BS in Business Administration, Operations, Engineering, or related field and at least 8 years of related work experience
- Strong knowledge and understanding of distribution and fulfillment operations
- An existing network of relationships with 3PLs, retailers, and fulfillment operators that you can activate from day one
- A proven track record of achieving and exceeding sales targets and objectives
- Demonstrated success closing large, complex, multi-stakeholder deals with long sales cycles and executive sponsorship
- Strong commercial and financial fluency - you can build and defend an ROI case in front of customer executives
- Experience mentoring or coaching other sellers, formally or informally
- Ability to communicate technical/complex information both verbally and in writing
- Self-motivated and able to solve problems independently and in customer settings
- Strong communication skills to collaborate effectively with internal and external teams
- Knowledge of and interest in diverse technical topics, including software, hardware, and robotics
- Experience managing and navigating enterprise level sales
- Perform multiple tasks concurrently and respond to pressure situations effectively
- Strong leadership and relationship-building skills
- 50% Travel required
Nice to have- Experience selling RaaS, subscription, or other consumption-based commercial models
- Experience growing a single-site deployment into an enterprise-wide, multi-site program
- Familiarity with WMS/WES ecosystems and how automation integrates with them
What we offer- Competitive compensation with quota-based accelerators
- Stock options and growth potential
- Strong startup (and fun) culture
- Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
- Flexible vacation and sick leave practices
- Paid parental leave
$150,000 - $170,000 a year
