Commercial Recruiting Partner (12 Months Fixed-Term)

The Company

Sofar is the leading ocean intelligence platform. We’ve built the world’s largest real-time ocean network, turning billions of measurements into insights trusted by scientists, governments, and shipping fleets.  Our technology makes the ocean more predictable and sustainable, helping customers save costs, cut emissions, and unlock insights that were once out of reach.

About The Position

We're at an inflection point. To scale our impact, we need to build world-class commercial teams across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas—and we need someone who knows how to find the people others can't.

As our Contract Commercial Recruiting Partner, you'll spend the next 12 months laser-focused on one mission: building our commercial engine by finding exceptional sales executives and marketing leaders who can open doors in the global maritime industry. This isn't about high-volume hiring - it's about quality, precision, and cracking markets where we don't yet have a footprint.

You're the person who figures out where senior maritime sales talent in Singapore spends their time online, who knows which shipping industry veterans are getting restless at their current companies, and who can convince a successful sales leader in Rotterdam that solving ocean data problems is more compelling than their comfortable enterprise software job.

You'll love this role if you thrive on creative problem-solving, building something from scratch, and turning "we have no network in that market" into "we have three exceptional finalists ready to close."

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What You'll Actually Do:

Hunt in unfamiliar territory:

• Build sourcing strategies for senior commercial roles we've never hired before in markets where Sofar has limited brand recognition (APAC, EMEA, emerging maritime hubs)
• Go beyond LinkedIn - tap into maritime industry associations, shipping conferences, ocean tech alumni networks, logistics tech communities, and anywhere senior commercial talent congregates
• Create and maintain talent maps for key markets: Who are the top maritime sales leaders in key cities? Which shipping software companies are people leaving? Where do EMEA-based ocean tech marketers hang out?
• Maintain a living pipeline of 30-50 exceptional commercial candidates across target markets

Sell Sofar like your life depends on it:

• Every outreach message is your chance to tell our ocean story. You're equal parts recruiter, evangelist, and consultant
• Convert skeptical passive candidates who've never heard of us by painting a compelling picture of market opportunity, impact, and career growth
• Create candidate experiences so exceptional that even people we don't hire become Sofar advocates and refer their networks

Move fast, think globally:

• Navigate time zones, cultural nuances, and regional hiring practices across APAC and EMEA
• Collapse time-to-hire by owning the entire candidate journey from first outreach to signed offer
• Push back on hiring managers with unrealistic expectations (tactfully but firmly) - you're the expert on what it takes to attract senior commercial talent in competitive markets
• Spot patterns and fix them: "We keep losing APAC candidates at the comp stage" or "Our job descriptions don't resonate in European markets, here’s what I think we should do"

Think like a sales strategist:

• You're not just filling today's roles - you're building relationships with people we'll need in Q2, Q3, and beyond
• Stay ahead of market intelligence: What are maritime tech competitors paying in Singapore, the UK etc.? Where are shipping industry sales leaders moving? What motivates EMEA-based climate tech candidates?
• Proactively flag opportunities: "I've been talking to this VP of Sales in London for 1 month, and they're ready to have a conversation"

Be resourceful within budget constraints:

• Find creative ways to build pipelines (targeted LinkedIn campaigns, speaking at maritime conferences, building talent communities, leveraging industry advisors)
• Hard-to-crack market? Try 10 different approaches until something works
• No playbook exists for hiring maritime sales leaders in Singapore? Write it yourself and have the mindset to problem-solve

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You're the Right Person If:

You're a commercial recruiting specialist:

• 6+ years recruiting sales, marketing, and commercial roles (startup/scale-up strongly preferred)
• Your superpower is finding and closing senior commercial talent - Regional Sales Directors, and Account Executive types
• You've successfully recruited internationally, particularly in APAC and/or EMEA markets
• Bonus: Experience in maritime, SaaS, or climate tech sectors

You're a market hacker:

• You know how to enter a new market with zero network and build one from scratch
• You understand regional differences in hiring practices, compensation expectations, and what motivates candidates across cultures
• You're scrappy about finding talent: industry Slack channels, niche LinkedIn groups, conference attendee lists, competitor org charts - nothing is off limits

You have range:

• Equally comfortable recruiting a C-level executive and a mid-level marketing manager
• You can sell to a skeptical CFO-type (analytical, ROI-focused) and a mission-driven sustainability leader (impact-focused, values-driven)
• You flex between being in the weeds (crafting the perfect outreach message) and being strategic

You're gritty and autonomous:

• Comfortable with ambiguity, tight timelines, and shifting priorities
• You don't need hand-holding - you see a problem and solve it, you see the opportunity and you seize it
• Rejection doesn't faze you. 95% of your outreach to senior execs gets ignored and you just keep going with different angles

You're metric-obsessed but relationship-driven:

• You track everything (response rates, pipeline conversion, time-to-hire by region, source of hire) and use data to iterate
• But you also know that recruiting senior commercial talent is a game built on relationships and trust

You can sell the vision:

• You genuinely believe in what you're selling (if you don't care about ocean health, maritime sustainability, and climate tech, this isn't the role)
• You're infectious - senior candidates leave conversations with you thinking "I need to learn more about this company"
• You understand what motivates senior commercial talent: equity upside, market opportunity, mission alignment, leadership autonomy

You push back when needed:

• You'll tell a hiring manager "this comp package won't compete in Singapore"
• You'll tell the Head of People "we're losing EMEA candidates because our interview process doesn't account for time zones - here's what we need to change"
• You do it with tact, data, and regional market intelligence

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What You Don't Need to Be:

• A maritime industry expert (though curiosity about ocean tech and willingness to learn the space is essential)
• Someone who's recruited in every single market we're hiring in (we value resourcefulness and ability to learn over perfect experience match)
• A culture fit for a slow-moving, bureaucratic company (that's definitely not us)

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The bottom line: We need someone who wakes up energized by the challenge of cracking new markets, who treats commercial recruiting like a chess game (always thinking three moves ahead), and who wants to build Sofar's commercial team from the ground up. This is a 12-month sprint with massive impact - if that excites you, let's talk.

Estimated Salary Range

• $130,000 - $170,000
• The range listed is what we reasonably expect to pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and may be modified in the future. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, experience, and equity package.
• This fixed-term contract role includes paid sick leave as required by law. Other benefits may be available depending on contract terms.
• Extension beyond 12 months is subject to business needs, performance, and budget availability. No guarantee of extension is implied.

Sofar's Commitment to Climate Justice

We at Sofar Ocean acknowledge that careers in the marine sciences “... have traditionally been, and remain, non-diverse work environments”, thereby limiting the entry and prosperity of underrepresented groups in the space. (Johri et al., 2021) Many of these same groups are disproportionately affected by climate change, and are often excluded from decision-making that directly address their interests and needs.

We are committed to addressing these climate injustices and highly encourage people who identify as women, LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to apply.

 

Employee Conduct

It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.