Sales Lead - Social Robotics

Sales Lead – Social Robotics Social robots are no longer science fiction. Around the world, universities, research labs, schools, hospitals, companies and innovation teams are exploring how AI-powered robots can interact with people in more natural, human ways. We are still early in this transformation. The use cases are evolving, the rules are still being written, and many of the organizations we speak to are figuring out what is possible at the same time as we are. Furhat Robotics is one of the global leaders in this field. Our robots are used by researchers, universities, companies and innovation teams around the world to explore the future of human-AI interaction. Now we are looking for the person who will own sales at Furhat. The role This is not a traditional sales job where you inherit a mature category and follow an established playbook. You will be the person driving opportunities forward every day. You will work mainly with universities, research organizations, innovation teams and companies exploring new applications of AI and robotics. Some customers will already know what they want. Others will need help understanding what they could build, why Furhat is relevant and how they can get started. Your job is to understand each customer deeply, build trust, identify the real opportunity and move the conversation toward a decision. You should genuinely enjoy sales. You should like seeing an opportunity move from first conversation, to discovery, to demo, to proposal, to negotiation and finally to closed won . You will own the full sales cycle and work closely with our CEO and the rest of the Furhat team. What you will do Own the sales pipeline from first contact to close. You will know where every serious opportunity stands, what needs to happen next and what is stopping it from moving. Understand customers deeply. What are they trying to achieve? Who is involved? What problem are they solving? Is there budget? What would make them move forward? Turn interest into decisions. A lot of people find Furhat exciting. Your job is to turn that excitement into real projects, purchases and long-term customer relationships. Run strong discovery conversations and demos. You will connect Furhat to the customer's research, use case or innovation goals rather than simply presenting product features. Keep momentum alive. You follow up, create next steps and make sure good opportunities do not quietly disappear. Build relationships that create more opportunities. A university buying one robot may know several other groups that should know about Furhat. A successful customer project might become an introduction, a case study, an event or a new collaboration. You naturally look for these connections. Come up with new sales ideas constantly. New outreach. Better demos. Partnerships. Events. Customer stories. New segments. Different ways to bring the right people together. You should regularly be thinking: What else could we try? Become genuinely curious about our customers' work. Conversational AI, LLMs, human-robot interaction, education, healthcare, customer experience and research should interest you enough that you want to understand what people are building. Bring customer insight back into Furhat. You will work closely with product and engineering and help us understand what customers are asking for and where the market is moving. Build sales discipline. Keep the CRM clean, forecast realistically, understand the sales cycle and continuously improve how we sell. And ultimately, you will be responsible for turning good opportunities into customers and growing revenue. Who will thrive in this role You might spend the morning discussing a research project with a professor, the afternoon demonstrating an AI robot and later the same day negotiating a commercial agreement. You are curious, energetic and very hands-on. You do not wait for someone else to generate the perfect lead, create the perfect sales material or tell you exactly what the next step should be. If something could help a deal move forward, you find a way to make it happen. You like understanding people. You listen carefully, ask good questions and try to understand what is really happening inside an opportunity. You also like the mechanics of sales. Pipelines, next steps, momentum, conversion and closing are interesting to you. When a deal stops moving, your instinct is to understand why and do something about it. You are persistent without being pushy, commercially driven without becoming transactional, and excited by the idea of selling something genuinely new. Skills & Requirements You probably have Experience owning B2B sales opportunities from first contact through to close A track record of moving complex sales processes forward Strong discovery, presentation and communication skills A consultative approach to selling The ability to understand technical products and explain them clearly Strong relationship-building skills Excellent written and spoken English A high level of personal initiative and ownership Genuine motivation to close business and grow revenue Experience with universities, research institutions, AI, robotics, conversational systems, innovation teams or startups would be a big plus. But we care more about how you think, sell and operate than whether your CV perfectly matches a checklist. What success looks like You know the pipeline well. You understand what the customers are trying to achieve. You know which opportunities are real, what needs to happen next and where you need to push. Customers feel that you understand their work rather than simply trying to sell them a robot. You continuously find new ways to create interest, trust and momentum. Opportunities move. Relationships deepen. Customers introduce us to other customers. And deals close.