Account Executive (Europe)

Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

Switch ON is a Series B deep tech startup based out of Bangalore.

We aim to eliminate defects in manufacturing by automating Quality Inspections using AI-powered Vision Inspection systems.

Our client base features industry leaders such as Unilever, ITC, P&G, Godrej, SKF, Bajaj, Brakes India, and many other prominent manufacturing giants.

Our team is the heartbeat of our success, and we are on a mission to attract top-tier talent to join us in shaping the future.

If you are passionate about solving problems & thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, we want you to be a part of our journey.

Job Description

About the Role

This is our founding commercial role in Europe.

You will be based in Germany and own the entire European market — starting with the DACH automotive and CPG belt, then expanding into France, Italy, Benelux, the Nordics, CEE, and the UK as we prove the motion.

You are joining at the very beginning of our European journey.

There is early traction and reference-able global logos to work with, but no established European pipeline, no local team, and no playbook yet.

You will build all three.

This is a role for someone who wants to plant a flag, not inherit a territory.

Because Deep Inspect changes how a plant runs quality, decisions are taken at the top — Plant Manager, Head of Quality, Director and VP of Manufacturing and Operations, and often the CFO.

You will run the full cycle: market research and prospecting, technical discovery, application feasibility and trials, techno-commercial solutioning, negotiation, and closure — supported by our application engineering team.

You will report directly to the Co-Founder, and your feedback will shape our European product, pricing, and go-to-market strategy from the ground up.

• What You Will Own
• Market Entry & Pipeline Creation
• Own the European revenue number and build the pipeline that delivers it, essentially from a standing start.
• Define our European ICP: which countries, industries, sub-segments, and applications we go after first — and where we deliberately do not play yet.
• Day-to-day prospecting into Automotive OEMs and Tier-1/Tier-2 suppliers, CPG/FMCG, pharma, and electronics manufacturers; build and continually improve the outbound motion.
• Represent Switch On at the trade shows that matter in this market — Hannover Messe, automatica, VISION Stuttgart, Achema, interpack — and convert them into real pipeline.
• Competitor and market research: we are entering the home market of the global machine-vision incumbents. Know them cold, and know exactly where we win.
• Reach and build credibility with Plant Managers, Heads of Quality, VP/Director Manufacturing, and CXO-level stakeholders.
• Run technical discovery on the shop floor: understand the defect, the line speed, the inspection standard, and the cost of getting it wrong.
• Establish application feasibility through demonstrations and on-site trials, coordinating with our application engineering team.
• Own techno-commercial solutioning, pricing, commercial negotiation, and closure against quarterly quota.
• Convert single-line pilots into multi-line and multi-plant rollouts — and use European wins to open the customer's other European sites.
• Building the European Foundation
• Navigate what is genuinely different about selling in

Europe: works council (Betriebsrat) engagement when cameras go onto a line, GDPR and data-residency questions, EU AI Act readiness, CE marking and machine-safety expectations, and formal procurement and vendor-onboarding processes.

• Build the channel: identify and develop system integrators and industrial-automation partners in DACH and beyond to extend our coverage.
• Feed structured market intelligence back to Product, Engineering, and leadership — you are our eyes and ears in Europe.
• Help define what our European team should look like next, and help us hire it.
• Maintain rigorous CRM hygiene (Zoho) and an honest, defensible forecast. With one person in a new market, forecast integrity matters more, not less.

Requirements

• Must have
• 5–10 years in B2B sales into manufacturing, as a Sales Engineer, Account Executive, or Sales Manager — with a track record of carrying and hitting a quota.
• Deep experience in the DACH industrial market, ideally automotive and/or CPG/FMCG, with existing credibility on the shop floor.
• Solution-selling and value-based selling capability on a techno-commercial sale with a long, multi-stakeholder cycle.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing processes, quality systems, and industrial automation.
• Fluent German and English — German is essential for plant-level conversations in this market.
• Hands-on discipline with CRM and sales tooling (Zoho, Salesforce, Hub Spot or equivalent).
• Based in Germany with existing right to work in the EU, and willing to travel roughly 50% across Europe.
• Comfortable being the first person in a new market — self-directed, resourceful, and happy without an existing playbook.
• Machine-vision or camera sales experience — for example Keyence, Cognex, Basler, SICK, Omron, Banner, ISRA Vision, MVTec, Baumer, IDS, or an AI-native inspection player.
• Industry 4.0, IIo T, MES, or ERP sales experience.
• An existing network of plant and quality leaders at European manufacturers.
• Experience selling a hybrid hardware-plus-software / Saa S commercial model.
• Experience launching a non-European vendor into the European market, or working across a distributed team with a significant time-zone offset.
• Additional European languages — French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, or Polish.
• Engineering degree (Electronics / Instrumentation / Electrical / Mechanical) or equivalent technical grounding.
• How you work
• A builder — you are energised, not unsettled, by a blank page.
• High integrity and transparency — you call your number honestly, in good quarters and bad.
• Technically curious — you enjoy getting into the detail of a defect and a line, not just the commercial conversation.
• Comfortable working closely with a team several time zones away, and generous with the context you share back.
• What Success Looks Like

In your first 90 days

you have a clear point of view on our European ICP and priority countries, a qualified pipeline started, and your first on-site technical discoveries completed.

By month 6

first European application feasibility trials are running, at least one pilot is signed, and we have a working European playbook — pricing, objections, procurement path, and partner shortlist.

By month 12

you have delivered your number, converted at least one pilot into a multi-line or multi-site rollout, and made the case for what the European team needs to look like next.

Why Join Us?

• Own an entire continent. This is a founding commercial role with the scope, autonomy, and upside that go with it.
• You are not selling a concept — the platform is proven at scale with Fortune 500 manufacturers and 100+ live sites.
• Work directly with the Co-Founder, with real influence on European product, pricing, and go-to-market.
• Sell a product with hard, provable ROI: fewer defects, fewer customer complaints, higher throughput — and quality inspectors who are made more capable rather than replaced.
• Meaningful ESOP participation at a post-Series-B stage, plus a competitive base and uncapped commission.
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