Helaina is a VC-backed biotech startup creating a new category of functional food products.
Our vision is to bring the functional properties of human proteins to food. Helaina will be the first company to put human milk proteins into food, defining a new category of consumer nutrition products focused on supporting immunity. We will initially launch a first-of-its-kind infant formula – the only infant formula with immune-nourishing proteins found in human milk. We also see a range of opportunities to use our breast milk proteins to enhance other types of functional foods for all segments of the population.
Helaina is backed by top VCs in the industry including Spark Capital, Siam Capital, Primary Venture Partners, and Plum Alley. We are a team of change-makers looking for our next team member who is intensely passionate about advancing synthetic biology for food and beverage products and redefining the future of nutrition.
About the Job:The Director, Sales will generate new sales opportunities and move forward existing opportunities to ensure that revenue targets are met. The right candidate has the ability to "think big" while simultaneously being able to roll up their sleeves to deliver and execute. The ideal candidate will have experience in B2B ingredient sales, a background in selling ingredients to functional foods, beverages, and supplements manufacturers, and a passion for advancing the future of nutrition through nutrition.
What You'll Do:

• Responsible for identifying new opportunities, advancing existing opportunities, and bridging them to closure.
• End-to-end ownership of customer relationships.
• Perform activities necessary to move prospects through the funnel including preparing client presentations, writing pricing proposals, and driving negotiations, among others.
• Work cross-functionally with marketing to optimize lead generation, optimize the library of sales assets, and other marketing activities.
• Work cross-functionally with marketing, sales and the COO to optimize the sales funnel.
• Work with operations to track and report results to the COO.
• Monitor market trends, competitive landscape, and industry developments to identify opportunities.
• Collaborate with the COO and CFO to create sales forecasting and resource planning.
• Collaborate with the CFO and marketing to create the marketing and sales budget.
• Serve as a thought partner to business development team, providing feedback as needed.

About You:

• You have 10 years of experience selling ingredients for functional foods and beverages, supplements, nutraceuticals, etc.
• You know the key players and have access to the right contacts.
• You are very process-oriented and have experience working with best in class sales processes.
• You have sales experience in an aggressively growing business climate.
• You have experience operating with little guidance in an ambiguous and fast-paced environment.
• You have a strong understanding of revenue forecasts and budgets.
• You are excited to work at a company in which you can generate traction quickly and create a new vertical of humanized bioactive ingredients.
• You have experience leading pricing negotiations.
• You are comfortable working with numbers and navigating Excel.
• You are proficient on Hubspot or similar CRM platforms.
• Bonus points if you have startup and/or sales operations experience.

This role will have a key position on building the sales function at Helaina and has the potential to grow into a senior role in the company. Compensation is market-competitive with a yearly cash base of $130k - $175k, and equity. We use a disciplined approach to compensation. We believe this is the only way to create a consistent, strategic, and equitable compensation structure that in turn unlocks healthy growth for our organization. We build our range with benchmarking data for the particular role from Pave.com. Because Pave hooks into HRIS, they have the most accurate data for early-stage companies. We decide any given hire's offer based on three factors:

• first among them, expected performance in the role (based on performance in the interview process and proximity of experience);
• as well as seniority (amount of relevant experience);
• and location (different cost of living).

Benefits:Helaina was founded on the belief that families should have freedom of choice. We are committed to providing an inclusive workplace that does just that, supporting our team's health, wellbeing and professional development at every stage and milestone. We are proud to offer comprehensive health care, generous parental leave and childcare reimbursement, equity packages and more to our Full-Time employees. A few highlights include:

• Full medical, vision and dental coverage
• Short and long term disability insurance coverage
• 401k match (up to 3%)
• Unlimited vacation days, including an all-company holiday between Christmas and New Year
• Paid Parental Leave for both parents flexible return to work program
• Childcare reimbursement program
• Commuter Benefits
• Leadership Development coaching through BetterUp

Helaina is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Don't meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Helaina we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may just be the strongest candidate for this or other roles. For more information, please contact careers@myhelaina.com.
Learn more about Helaina: https://www.myhelaina.com/press