Sales Engineer in Cambridge

Role: Presales Engineer

Experience: 4 or 5 years’ experience

Location: Cambridge (a 20-minute walk from Cambridge North train station)

Sector: Software sales - SaaS

Hybrid working: we are flexible

Salary: Up to £60,000 base + commission

Earning potential: £120,000 year 1 min and £200k year 2 as a bare minimum

Travel: Global travel, including Europe, Asia and the USA, roughly once or twice a month for a few days, though some months involve no travel at all.

We also have a 35 hour working week as we value our personal time, we are not a sweat-shop and work-life balance is really important to us.

We're looking for a dynamic sales engineer and the ideal person is a software engineer wanting to get into sales or someone who’s been in technical pre-sales but is transitioning into a sales role. You are ideally someone with 4 or 5 years’ experience who is keen to learn and develop in a sales role to help us grow our business and achieve new heights. You must be good at selling low volume but high value, and strong at customer retention. You must also have real software experience to understand things like the development process or even some of the most basic terminology. You really need to have worked in a more software/electronics/tech/IP licensing type of environment. Ideally be degree level, and ideally in something closely related to software.

The Company: As more and more advanced technology is used in the Automotive/Transportation sector, we present exciting opportunities to join a growing company at a pivotal time in our industry. We are a successful Cambridge (UK) based technology spin-out, leading the way in finding creative, innovative, and above all effective ways to make time spent in-vehicle more entertaining and productive. Our connectivity and telematics software and hardware products are deployed in over 35 million vehicles and counting, across 15 of the world's largest automotive OEMs, including VW Group, Toyota, Honda, Stellantis and many more.

We supply our software across the automotive ecosystem to equipment suppliers such as Bosch, Panasonic, Clarion, Pioneer, and device vendors such as Sony and HTC. We also use our software in our Cobalt Cube hardware product, which enables devices such as PCs, tablets and specialist equipment to be displayed and controlled from the vehicle dashboard screen. It is transforming the way emergency services and fleets now interact with peripheral devices, improving efficiency and safety for their drivers.

We operate across two product streams. Our software development kits are licensed to automotive OEMs and equipment suppliers such as Bosch, with a licence fee of around €250 per unit plus ongoing shipping royalties — this has historically been our core business. Over the last couple of years we've also introduced a hardware product, Cobalt Cube, built on our own software for emergency services use, and now deployed with organisations including the AA and UK police forces. These plug-and-play units sell for £800–£1,000 each and are currently moving through new customer trials.

The Role: We're looking for an experienced, committed and talented Business Development Executive with direct experience of business development within the automotive industry. This role is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced executive to join our highly successful team and take an active role in growing our global brand.

This role covers a wide range of vertical markets including mobile operators, handset vendors, Automotive OEMs and equipment suppliers. You'll be working closely with the management team, shaping business strategy, establishing strong and trusting relationships with key partners, preparing compelling value propositions and customer proposals, developing business models, negotiating commercial terms and closing deals. There is considerable scope for innovation and introducing new product ideas.

You won't be doing this alone. You'll have the backing of a dedicated pre-sales team, as well as a network of established partners you'll need to be comfortable working with and through partners, as well as selling direct. We sell through a mix of direct sales and trade shows, attending around 50 shows a year across Europe, Asia and the USA. In Europe we typically partner with Panasonic on a stand rather than running our own, so despite the number of shows, it isn't a heavy travel commitment.

When you join, you'll shadow the team on existing customer engagements before picking up your own leads sourced from website enquiries, trade shows, and an element of proactive networking. You'll also make use of our CRM to revisit and work cold leads, including enquiries that have gone quiet for six months or more, alongside nurturing relationships across our large existing customer base.

We're currently at proof-of-concept stage with a number of clients, typically selling in batches of 10–20 units, though some clients order 100–200 units at a time. On the software side, deals typically range from around £20,000–£30,000 up to £200,000. On the hardware side, minimum order is 50–100 units, but some clients order 300–500 units — deals of £100,000 or more.

You’ll also work closely with our engineering team to tease out and translate customer requirements, acting as the interface between the customer and engineering throughout the sales process.

Successful candidates will have a good market knowledge of the automotive industry, an appreciation of the formation of partnerships, channel sales and OEM deal-making. You must possess demonstrable business skills, show adaptability, flexibility and a desire to work on a broad range of business initiatives. You must have a strong can-do attitude with the desire to deliver world-class solutions to blue-chip companies, and be motivated by seeing results deployed widely in real-life applications.

The role involves global travel, including Europe, Asia and the USA. There will be a mix of visiting our extensive customer base and new prospects, presenting at conferences and representing at trade shows.

Compensation: Base salary is up to £50,000, plus an uncapped commission scheme based on deal size:

• 4% commission on all sales up to your initial annual target of £500,000
• Once target is hit, this increases by a further 2% (6% total) on sales beyond that point
• Any individual deal over £100,000 earns 6–8% commission

Our best and average performers are currently earning £30,000–£50,000 in commission on top of base salary — taking total earnings to around £120,000 a year.

You:

• have demonstrable experience in consultative selling within a software or electronics technology business sector.
• understand what a software licensing contract is, and have exposure to negotiating price and terms with a legal team and the customer.
• have first-hand experience of technology licensing including contract negotiation.
• understand different revenue models, such as upfront licensing and SaaS-based subscription models.
• are able to tease out customer requirements and interface effectively between the customer and our engineering team.
• have experience of preparing value propositions and commercial proposals.
• possess strong problem-solving skills, excellent attention to detail and a drive to deliver results.
• have excellent oral, written and presentation communication skills.
• have sector experience in the Automotive industry.
• have experience of selling to global blue-chip companies and start-up organisations, with an appreciation of the cultural differences in Europe, USA and the Far East.
• have a relevant degree (or equivalent) ideally within a software, technical or numerate subject.

Anything else? As well as the above, if you have any of the desired experience below then we would like to know about it!

• Detailed knowledge of the sales cycle process, lead qualification, remote customer acquisition using telephone and email.
• Experience in strategy development and business modelling, including creation of channel sales.
• An understanding of market mapping techniques, business intelligence, target identification and qualification.
• Prior knowledge of management and business consulting process, selling projects and development services would be advantageous.
• Willingness to travel to customer meetings, to run product demonstrations and represent at trade shows and conferences globally.
• Foreign language skills would be beneficial, particularly European and/or Asian languages.

Benefits:

• Pension
• Share scheme
• Dental, medical and life insurance
• Travel insurance
• Season ticket loan
• Cycle to work scheme
• Free eye test
• Free flu jabs
• Gym membership loan
• Regular social events and parties
• Charity events and give back days

We are offering a unique opportunity to join our team, working for a successful, growing company with a recognised global brand and great potential and vision. If you are successful, you will be compensated with an attractive package which will be appropriate to your skills and experience. We also offer generous benefits, including a contributory pension, and private dental and medical care. This is a full-time post, based in our central Cambridge offices, but we believe in a healthy work/life balance and are happy to accommodate flexible home/office working arrangements.