Sales Development Representative (f/m/d) | 80k EUR OTE | Cologne

Hi, this is team UMH.

Who we are. 8 years ago, we were frustrated with the state of data infrastructure in manufacturing. Companies paid millions per year for outdated software from the 90s. They still do. There is much better technology out there, built on open source, and we have spent the last 8 years building it.

What we build. We build a data platform for manufacturing. It connects machines across all major industrial protocols, models data to industry standards like ISA-95, and feeds it into systems where users can build applications and automations on top. The whole thing is open source.

Where we are. We have gone from a GitHub project to an enterprise platform trusted by companies like Boellhoff, Hipp, and Edeka. The incumbents in industrial data management are slow. We are not.

The pipeline problem. Our product is strong. Our customer references are strong. What we do not have is a systematic outbound engine that fills the top of the funnel with qualified enterprise conversations. We are not short on accounts to go after. We are short on someone who picks up the phone 50 times a day and turns cold contacts into warm pipeline.

This role. You are the person who opens doors. You research target accounts, identify the right stakeholders, and get them on the phone. You run a high-activity outbound motion focused on cold calling into manufacturing companies across DACH. You do not wait for inbound leads. You create conversations from scratch, qualify them, and hand them to an AE who can close.

You'll love this if you want to:

• Spend most of your day on the phone. You are energised by cold calling, not drained by it. You see 50+ dials a day as the baseline, not the ceiling. You have learned that the phone is the fastest way into enterprise accounts and you have the rejection tolerance to prove it.

• Have conversations that actually matter. This is not a transactional SDR seat where you read a script and book a demo. You are calling plant managers, IT/OT leads, and operations directors at manufacturing companies. They do not care about your product. They care about their problems. You need enough business acumen to have a real conversation about production data, machine connectivity, or downtime, and enough curiosity to learn what you do not know yet.

• Work named accounts, not spray and pray. You research your target accounts. You map the org chart. You find the right person and the right angle before you dial. High activity does not mean low quality. It means disciplined volume against a focused list.

• Build pipeline that sales can actually close. Your success is measured by qualified meetings that convert, not just meetings booked. You work closely with AEs to understand what a good opportunity looks like and you hold yourself to that standard. When you hand over a meeting, the AE trusts it.

• Be part of building the outbound playbook. We do not have a 200-page sales playbook waiting for you. You will help build the talk tracks, the objection handling, the call cadences. You bring ideas from your previous roles and adapt them to our market. If something is not working, you say so and suggest what to try instead.

• Learn an industry that is not going away. Manufacturing is the backbone of the DACH economy. The companies you call are not startups that might not exist next year. They are Mittelstand companies and large enterprises that have been running factories for decades and are now figuring out how to use their data. That is a conversation worth having.

• 1-3 years in outbound sales development, ideally in B2B software or industrial technology. You have made cold calls before. Not a few. Hundreds per week. You know what a productive call block looks like and you do not need someone to tell you to pick up the phone.

• A track record of hitting activity and pipeline targets. You can point to specific numbers: dials per day, conversations per week, meetings booked per month, conversion rates. You know your metrics because you managed them.

• The ability to hold a business conversation with senior buyers. You have called into director-level and above. You know how to earn 30 seconds of attention and turn it into a 5-minute conversation. You ask good questions. You listen more than you talk.

• Comfort with technical products. You do not need to be an engineer, but you can learn how OPC UA, MQTT, or a Unified Namespace works well enough to explain why it matters to a plant manager. Experience in manufacturing, industrial automation, or OT/IT is a strong plus.

• Fluency in German and English. Most of your calls will be in German. Internal communication is in English. Both need to be strong.

• Coachability and competitive drive. You want feedback on your calls. You listen to recordings. You iterate on your talk track weekly. You are not easily discouraged and you treat every no as data.

Also a good sign:

• You have worked at a company known for strong outbound culture.

• You have sold into manufacturing, logistics, or industrial companies before.

• You have experience with sales tools like HubSpot, Fullenrich, or LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

• You have been part of a startup or scale-up where the playbook was not handed to you.

• You played competitive sports or did something else that built real resilience.

This probably is not for you if:

• You prefer email sequences over picking up the phone. Cold calling is the core of this role, not a side channel.

• You want a fully built playbook and a team of 20 SDRs to learn from. You will be one of the first. That is the opportunity, but also the reality.

• You need constant supervision to stay productive. We trust you to manage your own activity. That means you actually do it.

• You see SDR as a box to check on the way to something else, not as a craft worth getting good at.

• You are uncomfortable calling people who do not expect your call. That is the job.

• No degree requirement. No rigid year threshold. We care more about how you think and how you work than whether you check every box. If your application makes us think "this person will pick up the phone and figure it out," that matters more than a perfect resume.

• Salary: 80k OTE, including variable tied to pipeline generation. We will explain the split and details in our first conversations.

• Role trajectory: You are building the outbound function. If it works, you are either leading a team of SDRs or moving into a closing role. Both paths are real.

• Office: We work mostly from our office in central Cologne. This role requires being close to your team, to sales cycles, and to the energy that only happens in person. Home office is possible for focused work. This is not a remote position.

• Reporting: You report directly to the CCO.

• Learning curve: Expect steep growth. Industrial protocols. How enterprise deals actually close. Factory operations. You will learn more in 6 months here than in 2 years at a bigger company.

• Virtual company shares: We are building a generational company, and those who join us on that multi-year, all-in journey should share in the upside. Through our VSOP program, you participate directly in the value you help create.

• Benefits: 30 days vacation, a thoughtfully designed office in central Cologne, free drinks and snacks, a healthy and ergonomic work environment, and access to Urban Sports Club / EGYM Wellpass, Uber Eats and Uber Home when working late.