Commercial Director - Germany (Hybrid - Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin)

The Role

As Commercial Director Germany, you will own and build Optiml’s German market while contributing to broader European growth. This is a senior, hands-on enterprise role combining market ownership, new business hunting, long-term account building, and strategic collaboration across teams.

This is a hunter–builder role: you will personally originate and close new enterprise customers, while building trusted, long-term relationships that drive renewals, expansion, and multi-year growth. You will start as a senior individual contributor and evolve into a team leader as the German customer base scales.

You are explicitly expected to surface and hold ground on uncomfortable truths with senior operators and committees, including CapEx trade-offs, timing misalignment, and clear “do not invest” recommendations where value creation cannot be defended. This role requires confidence and credibility to challenge experienced stakeholders constructively, without defaulting to momentum for momentum’s sake.

While Germany is your primary focus, you are also expected to leverage your existing international network to generate pipeline beyond Germany, in close alignment with the wider commercial team.

About Optiml

Optiml is revolutionizing real estate with our Real Estate Decision Intelligence (REDI) software—a new class of decision technology that embeds AI to help decarbonize buildings while optimizing asset financial performance.

We are an ETH Zurich spin-off that launched its first product in April 2024 and has since been scaling across Europe and the United States, earning major industry recognition, including the 2024 ULI Europe PropTech of the Year and 2024 ZIA PropTech of the Year awards.

We are backed by top-tier US and European investors, including Innovation Endeavors (the fund of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt), Planet A, BitStone, and Kompas, who support our mission to empower real estate investors, asset managers, and consulting partners to deliver a cost-effective, value-preserving transition to Net Zero.

As of early 2026, we are expanding our team to broaden our product lines and scale operational delivery for a growing global client base.

Key Objectives

• Own and scale the German market by personally generating, closing, and expanding enterprise customers, delivering €1M+ new ARR and building a sustainable, high-quality pipeline.
• Establish Optiml as a trusted category leader in Real Estate Decision Intelligence by leveraging senior relationships, industry presence, and associations to create trust, demand, and lighthouse accounts.
• Build a repeatable hunter–builder sales motion that lands new institutional customers and drives long-term expansion through close collaboration with Delivery and Customer Success. Build refers to market ownership, narrative creation, lighthouse account development, and category establishment.
• Translate market and customer insight into product and GTM impact, shaping product roadmap, use cases, pricing, and messaging in close collaboration with Product, Tech, Marketing, PR, and Communications.
• Lay the foundation for scalable growth in Germany, including account planning, playbooks, and talent development, evolving from senior IC to team leader as the customer base grows.
• Apply commercial judgment to assess account fit, timing, and organisational readiness, ensuring the right deals progress at the right time, and that misaligned opportunities are consciously deprioritised.

Your Responsibilities

1️⃣ Market Ownership & Pipeline Creation

Own the German market end-to-end with clear accountability for target accounts, pipeline creation, and revenue outcomes, while collaborating closely with commercial peers across Europe. Personally generate pipeline from scratch using your network, relationships, and ecosystem presence, including opportunities beyond Germany where relevant.

2️⃣ Enterprise Sales Execution (Hunter–Builder)

Originate, qualify, and close complex enterprise software deals (typically €50–500k ACV, 1–3 year contracts), navigating procurement, committees, and senior stakeholders. You will actively engage and sell to CFOs, Investment Committees, credit, risk, and finance stakeholders, not only asset or fund management teams and tailor value narratives to capital allocation, risk-adjusted returns, and downside protection. You are comfortable operating through long, ambiguous, committee-driven decision cycles, maintaining deal integrity and positioning without discounting, or forcing progression before institutional readiness is established. Own the full customer lifecycle — from first contact through onboarding, retention, and expansion — in close partnership with Delivery and Customer Success.

3️⃣ Industry Relationships & Category Building

Build long-term, trust-based relationships across the institutional real estate ecosystem and use industry presence deliberately to generate leads, build pipeline, and establish Optiml’s Real Estate Decision Intelligence category. Actively engage in key associations, conferences, and executive forums to position Optiml as a credible, long-term partner.

4️⃣ Go-to-Market, Product & Narrative Shaping

Shape Optiml’s GTM approach for Germany by contributing market insight on ICPs, use cases, value propositions, and pricing. Work closely with Product to influence the roadmap based on real customer needs, and with Marketing, PR, and Communications to shape campaigns, thought leadership, and the external narrative.

5️⃣ Foundation for Scale & Leadership

Establish a repeatable enterprise sales motion for Germany and contribute to hiring, onboarding, and mentoring future commercial team members. Act as a role model for ownership, collaboration, and execution, evolving into a team leadership role as the market scales.

You Have:

• 10+ years total professional experience, including 3–5+ years in institutional real estate (asset/fund management, bank/insurance real estate, or top-tier advisory serving these buyers).
• Proven ability to own and build enterprise pipeline end-to-end (not only executing inbound) and to close complex, consultative deals.
• Demonstrated enterprise software sales experience (preferred: quota-carrying seller; acceptable: senior buyer of enterprise software who later moved into a commercial role).
• Strong understanding of institutional real estate decision processes, such as fund & asset management, Capex & budget planning, and LP–GP–Asset Manager dynamics.
• Track record selling into or managing senior stakeholders (C-level / N-1), navigating multi-stakeholder groups, procurement and committee-driven decisions.
• Comfortable operating as a hunter–builder: landing new logos and driving expansion/renewals over multi-year (1–3 years) customer relationships.
• Entrepreneurial, hands-on, and autonomous: operates effectively in a remote-first, early-stage setup; willing to travel 25–50%; motivated by performance-based upside (high variable + VSOP) rather than high fixed security.
• Experience shaping GTM narratives and campaigns with Marketing / PR / Comms, and translating market insight into Product roadmap improvements.
• Practical use of AI tools in your own commercial workflow (e.g. research, preparation, prioritisation, synthesis)
• Active involvement and credibility in relevant associations / networks (e.g., ZIA, RICS, INREV, ULI) and ability to use industry presence to generate leads and build category trust.
• Fluent in German and English (business & written).
• EU / German work permit.

Nice to have:

• Track record working across Europe / cross-border relationships that can generate pipeline beyond Germany.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Business, Finance, Real Estate, Engineering/Architecture, or similar
• Professional certifications such as MRICS/RICS, CAIA/CFA, or comparable credibility signals in institutional environments.

🌍 Impact (Germany): Own the expansion of Optiml in Germany—one of Europe’s most important institutional real estate markets

⚙️ Ownership (Germany): Commercial ownership of the German market (and selected adjacent opportunities via your network): build pipeline, land lighthouse customers, and drive long-term expansion—while shaping GTM plays together with the wider European commercial team.

🚀 Growth (Germany): Work directly with the COO/Founder and closely with the UK commercial counterpart; collaborate cross-functionally with Product/Tech, Delivery/CS, and Marketing/Comms to influence roadmap, narrative, and enterprise rollouts in a category-defining company.

🏆 Culture (Germany): Join a collaborative, high-performance team that values ownership over hierarchy—clear accountability, no siloed territories, and a “get it done” mindset with high trust.

💡 Benefits (Germany): Competitive base salary with high, variable and VSOP participation; remote-first setup across Germany with 25–50% travel; 25 days paid vacation; learning & development budget; and additional benefits/insurance support