Sales Director

Join the team redefining commercial insurance with AI. Nettle is a fast-growing, VC-backed insurtech building one of the most compelling real-world applications of AI: transforming how commercial insurers assess risk – 5x faster, more consistently, and at far greater scale than ever before. We have strong product-market fit and are scaling quickly.

• $2m pre-seed raised in 2025; oversubscribed seed round closing with a tier-1 specialist insurtech fund
• Six-figure annual revenue with eight figures in active pipeline
• Working with tier-1 global carriers, including Allianz, as well as specialty and regional carriers across Europe and the US
• Insurtech of the Year 2025 (Finance Awards) and European Insurtech of the Year 2025 (Guidewire Awards)
• Founding team with experience from McKinsey and QuantumBlack

About the Role: Nettle is building the AI platform that is redefining how the world's largest commercial insurers assess and manage risk. Our product replaces slow, manual workflows with intelligent automation, and we're working with some of the biggest carriers on the planet. We are live in production and have a strong pipeline of six- and seven-figure deals across Europe and the US.

We're hiring a Sales Director to own high-value deals from sourcing through signed contract. You'll find opportunities, run discovery, scope and manage the PoC that sits at the heart of every enterprise insurance deal, navigate procurement, and get the contract signed. Once a deal is in production, it moves to our customer success function. This is a foundational hire with a defined path to leadership. You join as an individual contributor inheriting live enterprise accounts, and – as you deliver – step up to lead our European sales function, making your first hire in early 2027. A counterpart will build the US function in parallel, both tracks reporting directly to our CEO.

What You'll Accomplish:

• Close enterprise deals end‑to‑end. You own the full cycle: sourcing, discovery, qualification, PoC scoping and execution, commercial negotiation, procurement navigation, and contract signature.
• The founding team gets pulled in for strategic leverage, not because you need help.
• Run PoCs as a closing mechanism, not a delivery exercise.
• Scope pilots with clear success criteria tied to commercial outcomes.
• Manage milestones, risk, and stakeholder engagement throughout.
• Use the PoC to build enough buying conviction that the contract is a formality.
• Map the power structure and multi‑thread from day one.
• Know who the economic buyer is, who the champion is, who can block you, and who else in the organisation cares about the problem.
• Never rely on a single contact.
• Build a repeatable sales process. You'll be Nettle's first dedicated sales hire. What you build becomes the playbook for everyone who follows – including the team you'll go on to hire.
• Document what works, iterate on what doesn't, and leave the sales function better than you found it.
• Keep the pipeline honest. Maintain a clean, accurate forecast. Call your deals straight. Update the CRM because it's how you run your business, not because someone asked you to.

What We're Looking For:

• 8+ years in enterprise B2B sales, with a track record of personally closing six‑and seven‑figure deals.
• Experience selling into insurers – you understand how the industry buys, you can read insurance buying signals, and you know the difference between real pipeline and a polite waiting game.
• Demonstrable experience with structured deal qualification. You use a framework (e.g. MEDDPICC) and apply it with rigour, not as a checklist exercise.
• Exceptional communication. You can run a tight discovery call, write a sharp follow‑up, and build a compelling business case deck.
• Self‑directed and low‑maintenance. You don't need to be managed; you manage the deal.

• Experience at an early‑stage startup where you've built a sales process from scratch.
• Experience selling workflows and outcomes into the enterprise.
• German, French, or Spanish language skills.

How We Work: We're a small team that ships fast and holds each other to a high bar. We use AI tools daily to operate at a level that shouldn't be possible for a team our size. If you're the kind of person who already uses Claude, Cursor, or AI‑native workflows to move faster, you'll fit right in.

Location: London (Shoreditch). We work from the office Monday to Thursday, with Fridays from home. Expect meaningful travel to customers.

£240k–£340k OTE (50:50), tied to closed revenue. Variable is uncapped. 0.5‑1% equity (EMI options; standard four‑year vesting, one‑year cliff). You inherit live accounts and deals already in or entering PoC – you're not building pipeline from zero.

Interview Process:

• Intro call (45 min) – A conversation with our Chief of Staff about your background, deal history, and what you're looking for.
• Culture interview (30 min) – A deeper conversation with our CEO about how you work, how you handle challenges, and what you value.
• Technical assessment (90 min, in person) – A 30‑minute interview with our CTO, and, later, a hands‑on simulation with our CEO and our Chief of Staff.
• Client materials & deal strategy (24h async + 40 min review) – Produce a client‑facing document, then iterate on feedback with our CEO and another team member.