Sales Team Lead

We are a fintech start-up that has found product-market fit, and we are looking for a hands-on commercial leader to build and lead the sales function across our fintech and financial infrastructure businesses. This is not a pure strategy, advisory, or executive role. We are looking for a player-coach: someone who can define the sales direction, personally find and close early customers, build the sales process, and gradually develop a high-performing sales team. The first stage of the role is deliberately hands-on. Before scaling the team, you will be expected to understand the market from direct conversations, identify the right ICP, test the messaging and channels, and create a repeatable sales motion based on real opportunities. Your mission Build a predictable business development and sales engine — starting with your own deals and turning what works into a scalable team process. What you will do 1. Personally sell and build the first pipeline Own a personal pipeline of qualified opportunities. Find, contact, qualify, negotiate with, and close early customers and strategic partners. Lead discovery calls, product conversations, commercial negotiations, and follow-ups. Work directly with founders, executives, fintech entrepreneurs, financial institutions, payment companies, and other senior decision-makers. 2. Define and validate the ICP Identify the highest-potential customer segments for the company's products and services. Research markets, companies, decision-makers, buying triggers, and competitive alternatives. Define ICPs, personas, use cases, qualification criteria, and disqualifiers. Test which segments, geographies, products, and value propositions convert best. Bring market feedback to Product, Compliance, Operations, and Leadership. 3. Build the sales process Design, together with marketing, the sales funnel from prospecting and qualification to proposal, negotiation, onboarding, and expansion. Create practical sales playbooks, messaging, qualification frameworks, and follow-up standards. Set up and maintain CRM discipline, pipeline stages, forecasting, and reporting. Track conversion, sales cycle, pipeline quality, and revenue metrics. Turn successful personal practices into repeatable processes for the future team. 4. Lead outreach and go-to-market experiments Oversee inbound, outbound, partner, referral, and intro channels. Personally test cold outreach and help build a scalable outreach motion. 5. Build and lead the sales team Hire, onboard, coach, and manage sales and business development team members as the function grows. Build a culture of ownership, disciplined follow-up, curiosity, and commercial accountability. 6. Work cross-functionally to close and deliver deals Coordinate with Product, Compliance, Operations, Legal, and Finance to make deals executable. Ensure customer expectations are realistic and accurately translated into internal next steps. What we are looking for Strong full-cycle B2B sales and business development experience with a complex product. Experience defining ICP, entering new markets, and testing acquisition channels. Hands-on experience with outbound / cold outreach, inbound qualification, partnerships, or referral channels. Background in fintech, payments, banking infrastructure, B2B SaaS, technology, or another complex B2B environment is strongly preferred. Ability to quickly understand the technical, regulatory, and commercial aspects of a product. Strong CRM, pipeline management, forecasting, and sales-process skills. Excellent English and Russian — confident communication with senior stakeholders. High ownership, commercial judgement, resilience, and willingness to do the work personally before scaling it through a team. This role is a strong fit if you Enjoy building from zero and taking responsibility for commercial outcomes. Prefer evidence from real customer conversations over assumptions and presentations. Can switch between selling, analysing the market, improving the process, and coaching a teammate. How to apply