Business Development Representative

About Alknoma

Alknoma builds Ayven, an AI control centre that makes sure work gets done: it researches each task, delegates it to people and AI agents, and tracks it to done - working inside the tools teams already use, like Slack and Teams.

The product is strong and it is starting to get noticed: Ayven is drawing more and more interest through public channels. Until now, every sale has been founder-led. That got us here; it will not get us to the next stage.

The Role

You'll be our first Business Development Representative. Your job is to turn founder-led selling into a strong, repeatable pipeline - one that keeps producing qualified conversations week after week, whoever is in the room.

This is a hands-on outbound role. You'll be on the phone every day, cold calling the teams Ayven is built for, finding out what they actually need, and learning first-hand how our sales cycle works from the first call to a signed customer. Then you'll write it down so it can be repeated.

What You'll Do

• Cold call. Run daily call blocks to prospects, backed by email and LinkedIn - the phone comes first.
• Identify product needs. Use discovery conversations to find out how a team really coordinates its work today, where it breaks, and whether Ayven fixes it. Qualify honestly; a no is useful data.
• Map the sales cycle. Learn how a deal moves at Alknoma - who the buyer is, who else gets a say, what slows a decision down, what moves it forward - and measure each stage.
• Write the sales playbook. Turn what works into our guidebook for establishing sales: who to call, what to say, how to handle objections, when to hand over, and what a good week looks like.
• Build the pipeline. Book qualified meetings for the founders, keep every conversation recorded in the CRM, and take on inbound interest arriving through our public channels.
• Close the loop with product. Bring back what prospects say - the needs, the objections, the words they use - so it shapes what we build and how we position it.

Your First 90 Days

• Month 1: learn the product and who it is for, sit in on founder calls, and start your own call blocks.
• Month 2: book qualified meetings every week, and know our sales cycle well enough to say where deals stall and why.
• Month 3: a first version of the sales playbook, written by you, and a pipeline steady enough that its next month can be predicted.

Who We're Looking For

• You're comfortable picking up the phone to a stranger, and you keep going after a run of no's. Experience cold calling, in sales or anywhere else, is a strong plus.
• You're genuinely curious about how other teams work, and you ask the question behind the question.
• You're structured: you track what you do, notice what works, and write it down clearly enough that someone else could repeat it.
• You can hold a credible conversation about a software product with an operations lead or a head of a team, and you learn new products fast.
• You use AI tools and other modern systems to research, prepare, and work faster.
• B2B or SaaS sales experience is a plus, not a requirement. We care more about drive, judgement and how fast you learn than about years on a CV.

Where This Goes

As the pipeline you build proves itself, the role grows with it: running deals through to close, owning a segment of the market, and helping bring on and train the sales hires who follow you, using the playbook you wrote.

Who This Isn't For

If you'd rather wait for leads than go and find them, prefer a script that has already been written, or aren't comfortable being measured on activity and results, this won't be the right fit.

Location

This role is London-based and hybrid - you'll work from our London office on a regular in-person basis (around three days a week). You must already be based in London, or able to be. We are hiring locally only and cannot consider fully remote or overseas applicants for this position. You must already have the right to work in the UK - we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

What You Get

• Meaningful early-stage equity, with the opportunity to share directly in the upside if we execute well.
• The chance to build Alknoma's sales function from the ground up, as its first dedicated hire.
• Direct access to the founders, with fast decisions and short feedback loops.
• £400 per month AI and productivity tools budget.