Founders' Associate / Chief of Staff

<h3>About the Role</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em">A fast-growing <strong>AI-powered energy intelligence startup</strong> in the DACH market is looking for a <strong>Founders' Associate / Chief of Staff</strong> to work directly alongside the founding team. This is a high-ownership, hybrid GTM and operations role — ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of outbound sales, strategic projects, and operational execution in an early-stage environment.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">The company provides an AI-driven platform for holistic energy cost optimisation for industrial enterprises, helping them make smarter procurement decisions and manage energy consumption more efficiently. The business is well-funded at the pre-seed stage and is actively scaling its commercial and engineering teams across the DACH region.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>No visa sponsorship is available for this role.</strong></p><h3>What You'll Do</h3><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Build and maintain a strong enterprise sales pipeline across DACH in close partnership with the founders.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Run outbound execution including cold calls, emails, and LinkedIn outreach with tailored, persona-specific messaging.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Refine ICP, targeting strategy, and value propositions using real market and prospect feedback.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Produce high-quality sales materials — decks, one-pagers, follow-ups, and business cases — to improve conversion rates.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Join discovery calls to surface customer insights and translate them into sharper positioning and product messaging.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Act as an extension of the founders on strategic and operational topics, including investor updates and reporting.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Own and lead high-priority special projects end-to-end: market research, partnership development, and internal initiatives.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Support marketing content and event preparation (newsletters, social posts, event messaging).</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Rapidly develop deep knowledge of energy markets and the product to drive improvements across sales and product roadmap.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Operate autonomously in ambiguous, fast-changing environments and continuously iterate on team processes.</p></li></ul><h3>What We're Looking For</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Must-haves (dealbreakers):</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">3+ years of experience in enterprise sales or outbound demand generation, building and delivering top-of-funnel pipeline in the <strong>DACH region</strong>.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives and acting as an operational right hand to founders in a startup environment, owning projects end-to-end.</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Required skills and experience:</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience preparing investor updates and collaborating with founding teams on investor relations and strategic communications.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Proven track record building and managing enterprise sales pipelines and outbound prospecting across DACH.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Ability to create and deliver compelling sales enablement materials; proficiency with <strong>Notion, Google Workspace, HubSpot, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator</strong>.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Knowledge of energy markets, or a demonstrated ability to rapidly learn and translate insights into sales and product improvements.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience conducting or participating in discovery calls and extracting insights to refine positioning and messaging.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Comfort driving cross-functional initiatives (market research, partnerships, internal projects) with limited structure.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Strong startup mindset — gritty, resourceful, and ownership-driven.</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Nice to have:</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience in energy sector partnerships or procurement contexts.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Familiarity with MEDDICC or similar enterprise sales methodologies.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Background at or adjacent to industrial corporates (e.g. manufacturing, energy, engineering sectors).</p></li></ul><h3>Location</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em">This is a <strong>primarily on-site role</strong> based in <strong>Nuremberg or Munich, Bavaria, Germany</strong>. Candidates should be able to work on-site approximately 4 days per week. Remote-only candidates will not be considered.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">Fluency in <strong>German</strong> is strongly preferred given the DACH-focused commercial scope.</p><h3>Compensation &amp; Benefits</h3><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Salary range:</strong> $60,000 – $90,000 annually (or equivalent in EUR)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Early-stage equity opportunity in a well-backed, fast-scaling startup</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Direct exposure to founders and meaningful impact on company direction from day one</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">High degree of autonomy and ownership across commercial and strategic workstreams</p></li></ul><p>Find <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com">Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>