Sales Manager

Light Labs•Austin, TX

7d•Onsite

About The Position

Light Labs is seeking a Sales Manager to own and grow a book of business with some of the largest manufacturers and brands in CPG. This is a "land-and-expand" role where average deals are around $250K and can reach $1–2M+ at the top end. The position requires building a system for sales and service, as there is no existing playbook. The ideal candidate will be a salesperson who excels at growing accounts by being responsive, understanding customer businesses deeply, and turning initial tests into significant programs. This role involves running the book like a P&L, mapping and driving expansion, maintaining extreme responsiveness, traveling frequently for in-person client engagement, acting as the customer's advocate within the lab, solving problems creatively, learning the scientific and regulatory aspects of the business, building multi-threaded relationships within client organizations, and providing customer feedback to internal teams to shape company direction. The Sales Manager will also play a key role in building the sales playbook for the rest of the team.

Requirements

A real go-to-market trajectory, ideally having grown from SDR through AE or AM, with a history of top performance (President's Club-caliber).
A track record of growing a book of business, having carried a quota and expanded existing accounts through complex, multi-stakeholder sales.
Proven ability to build and extend customer relationships over years.
Relentless responsiveness, treating speed as a competitive advantage.
Ability to create real account plans that reflect an understanding of the business behind customer needs.
Strong communication skills, including discovery, storytelling, and objection handling, with a clear, persuasive writing style.
Curiosity and the ability to quickly pick up technical and scientific concepts and translate them into business value for the customer.
Willingness to travel regularly to plants, HQs, and industry events.
Readiness to work in the Austin office five days a week.

Nice To Haves

Selling into manufacturers or raw materials buyers.
Commercial insurance sales experience (not personal lines or retail).
Experience in any high-service, relationship-driven sales role where the customer expects an immediate answer.

Responsibilities

Run your book of business like your own P&L, understanding every account's health, whitespace, and growth plan, and owning the expansion revenue it produces.
Map the path to expansion for each account and drive it by landing new testing programs, product lines, sites, and use cases.
Respond to customer inquiries and needs within minutes, treating speed as a competitive advantage.
Travel regularly to visit plants and HQs, walk the floor with quality and ops teams, and conduct business reviews on site.
Act as the customer's voice inside the lab, proactively managing potential issues like missed turnaround times and communicating revenue impact.
Serve as the lab's voice with the customer, flagging risks before they escalate.
Solve problems creatively, such as failed results, quality issues, or regulatory questions, driving them to resolution.
Learn the science behind the testing, including methods, contaminants, specs, and regulatory thresholds, to build trust with technical stakeholders.
Go multi-threaded by building trust across quality, operations, regulatory, procurement, and executive teams within client organizations.
Feed customer insights back to product, marketing, and operations teams to help shape company direction.
Contribute to building the sales and service playbook for the rest of the sales team.