Founding Commercial Lead

What We’re Building

Cytely turns any fluorescence microscope into a real-time data engine. Think of it as bringing the quantitative rigor of flow cytometry to the spatial richness of microscopy—automated segmentation, per-cell gating, phagocytosis metrics, kinetic tracking—all while maintaining the “why” through interactive image browsing.
The product is technical. The science matters. The sales motion is consultative, pilot-driven, and requires genuine fluency in microscopy workflows. You can’t fake it with these customers.
– Academic imaging cores
– Biotech/pharma discovery teams (high-content screening, cell-based assays, infectious disease models)
– Academic research groups who care about reproducibility, throughput, and linking phenotype to image

What You’ll Actually Do

• Design and execute outbound motions across Europe and Asia — account mapping, prospecting, sequencing, discovery cadences
• Run product-led pilots that prove value on real datasets; co-define success metrics (e.g., % internalized prey, iMOP scores, time-to-publication) with PIs, core managers, and screening teams
• Work directly with founders on high-value deals — you do discovery, scoping, and objection handling; they bring deep technical credibility and close alongside you
• Create territory plans for priority markets
• Represent Cytely at imaging conferences, microscopy society meetings, and customer lab visits
• Build relationships with microscope vendors, imaging networks (EMBL, ELMI), and CROs for co-marketing/referral pilots
• Close the feedback loop to product: win/loss insights, unmet needs, dataset requirements, onboarding friction

What Success Looks Like (6–12 months)

• 3–4× pipeline coverage of your ACV target
• ≥2 qualified trials per month; ≥40% trial-to-paid conversion
• First 10 lighthouse customers producing referenceable outcomes (video interviews, papers, saved time, validated metrics)
• Founder time optimized — you de-risk meetings, handle pre-work, run follow-ups; founders focus on deep-dives and closing
• Documented, repeatable process that the next sales hire can scale

Who Thrives Here

You should join if

• You’ve done early-stage sales before and know what ‘building the plane while flying it’ actually feels like
• You’re energized—not paralyzed—by ambiguity, incomplete data, and changing priorities
• You can talk credibly about microscopy workflows, segmentation, gating, multi-channel fluorescence (or can learn fast enough to earn a PhD’s respect in 3 months)
• You’re comfortable operating across cultures and time zones
• You want equity that could be worth something, not just a salary
• The mission matters: you genuinely care about Cytely’s mission of unlocking human biology and curing preventable disease
• You have low ego and high agency—willing to do unsexy work (cold emails, CRM cleanup, carrying booth materials) because it moves the needle
• You’re intellectually curious about the science and want to understand why Cytely’s assays matter to labs globally

You should NOT join if

• You need an established playbook, sales ops support, and a demand-gen engine feeding you leads
• You want clear 9-to-5 boundaries and predictable quarterly planning
• The science is ‘just a product’ to you
• You’re looking for a brand-name company to put on LinkedIn
• You need a guaranteed outcome — this is seed stage; we could 10× or we could pivot

What You Bring

Must‑haves

• 3–6 years selling scientific software, instrumentation, or SaaS into academic labs and/or biopharma in Europe or Asia
• Microscopy or image analysis fluency — segmentation, gating, fluorescence channels, and per-cell metrics; can hold discovery conversations with imaging scientists
• Proof-of-value expertise: scoping pilots with clear success criteria, multi-threading stakeholders, and converting trials to paid
• Process discipline: CRM hygiene, pipeline forecasting, and crisp follow-ups
• English fluency; additional European (DE, FR, NL, Scandinavian) or Asian (Mandarin, Japanese) language is a major plus
• Travel-ready: Ready to travel globally for customer meetings, conferences, lab visits and high-stakes pitches

Nice‑to‑haves

• Prior sales into imaging cores, phenotypic screening, or assay development teams
• Life sciences degree (BSc/MSc/PhD) or hands-on microscopy/analysis background
• Existing relationships in European/Asian universities, research institutes, biotech hubs
• Experience with product-led growth motions (Individual trial → Lab/Institution expansion)

Why This Matters

Scientists are still spending months on image analysis that should take minutes. Breakthroughs are delayed because researchers can’t process the data their microscopes generate. Drug targets go unexplored. Assays stay manual and irreproducible.
Cytely’s vision is to close the loop from acquisition to decision on an experiment-day timescale, not a grant cycle. We want to build a global discovery system that eventually predicts outcomes and autonomously drives research.
You’re not selling software. You’re accelerating biomedical research that could prevent curable disease.

Practical Details

• Location: Sweden (Lund), Singapore, or Remote (Europe)
• Compensation: Competitive package tailored to experience — optimized for people who want upside over safety
• Team: Work directly with founders; report to the CEO
• Benefits: Generous vacation; local benefits aligned to your country; remote-first culture; budget for conferences and customer visits

Interview Process

1. Intro call (30m)
2. Discovery deep-dive (60m)
3. Practical exercise
4. Panel (45m)
5. References → Offer

One Last Thing

If you’re reading this and thinking ‘this sounds chaotic, risky, and like a ton of work’ — you’re right. It is.
But if you’re also thinking ‘this sounds like the opportunity to build something from zero, work on a mission that matters, and prove you can create commercial leverage at a deep-tech startup before anyone else believes it’s possible’ — then we should talk.
We’re looking for one person. The right one.