Commercial & Revenue Operations Specialist (m/f/d)

ESQlabs is an innovative, internationally acting Contract Research Organization and a global leader in the development and application of the OSP Suite (www.open-systems-pharmacology.org). We are a research-focused provider of specialized computational analyses in the life sciences industry.

To help us grow our global business, we are looking for a Commercial & Revenue Operations Specialist (m/f/d) who will design, optimize, and scale the processes, systems, and insights that power our commercial teams to drive predictable, sustainable revenue growth.

This role owns the commercial operating system that turns leads and product usage into recurring software revenue -- and that makes the entire commercial function measurably more effective. Software revenue is recurring and metered, not project-based, and that changes everything: the motion is a funnel with conversion rates and drop-off, the numbers are ARR and retention, and a meaningful share of pipeline will come from product trials, not just outbound.

You are the person who instruments that system, holds it accountable, and lifts the performance of everyone in front of a customer. You build the enablement, run the pipeline discipline, own the forecast, and make sure no qualified opportunity is lost to a missed follow-up or a stalled deal. You will work directly with the CEO and the Business Development function and build this out as the first dedicated commercial-operations hire.

What you will own

Funnel and pipeline system

• Own the full funnel: lead to qualified opportunity to closed-won to onboarded to expansion. Own the conversion rate and drop-off at each stage -- not just CRM tidiness, but the numbers the stages produce.

• Run the weekly pipeline review. Enforce deal-stage hygiene and honest close dates. No deal stalls without a reason; no forecast is a guess.

• Own win/loss analysis and feed it back into targeting, messaging, and pricing.

SaaS revenue operations and metrics

• Build and maintain the commercial metrics that run a software business: ARR and MRR, ACV, CAC, LTV, payback period, net revenue retention, churn, and pipeline coverage ratio.

• Own forecasting: weighted pipeline, realistic commit, and the dashboards leadership runs the business on. You build the model, not just report the number.

• Quote-to-cash machinery: pricing tiers, subscription contracts, renewals tracking, and seat-expansion motions.

Product-led growth

• Own the trial-to-paid loop: self-serve and trial signups, product-usage signals turned into qualified conversations, and the handoff to sales with full context.

Sales enablement and Business Development Strategy

• Define and maintain the Ideal Customer Profile by segment (pharma MIDD teams, biotech, AI drug discovery, CROs).

• Drive the continuous development of the business strategy with both internal and external stakeholders, integrating bespoke needs into a successful roadmap.

• Define and execute a strategy for the acquisition of prospective new customers in areas such as risk assessment, regulatory approval, drug development, and biological modeling and simulation.

• Generate, respond to, and capitalize on business leads across pharma, biotech, AI drug discovery, and CRO segments.

• Act as the enabler between the company and existing partners, maintaining and growing strategic relationships.

• Define and maintain the Ideal Customer Profile by segment (pharma MIDD teams, biotech, AI drug discovery, CROs).

• Build the playbooks, outbound sequences, battlecards, and call-prep that make every customer conversation better targeted and better prepared -- so the team in front of customers performs above its headcount.

• Own the outbound infrastructure and sequences (email and LinkedIn) and hand qualified conversations over with context, not just a name.

Marketing operations (operations only)

• Own the operational and analytical side of marketing: campaign operations and automation, lead capture and routing, list segmentation, newsletter and email execution, attribution, and reporting.

• Own the martech and commercial tool stack: CRM, outbound platforms, marketing automation, analytics, and subscription/billing tooling, kept clean and integrated.

• This is marketing operations, not marketing creative. Content, design, and brand are owned elsewhere; you own the machine that runs campaigns and measures them.

Events and reporting

• Operational side of the conferences that matter (PAGE, ACoP, WCoP, PharMetrX, and satellite workshops): pre-event prospecting, structured follow-up, lead capture into CRM, and honest ROI measurement.

• Weekly reporting on conversion, pipeline health, and revenue metrics.

Who you are

• 4-6 years in revenue operations, sales operations, or commercial operations in a B2B software or SaaS business with a proven track record of contributing to 20–40% year-over-year revenue growth through process and systems improvements or a services business making the move to software. Software commercial experience is what sets this role apart from a generalist ops hire.

• Fluent in SaaS commercial metrics: ARR/MRR, CAC, LTV, net revenue retention, churn, pipeline coverage, stage conversion. You build the model and read it, you do not just populate a report.

• Strong with the modern commercial stack: CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Close), outbound (Apollo, Clay, Dripify, Outreach), marketing automation (HubSpot, MailChimp), web and product analytics (GA4, product-usage tooling), and ideally subscription or billing systems.

• Comfortable with a product-led motion: trial signups, product-usage signals, and the trial-to-paid conversion loop. Experience in a PLG software company is a strong plus.

• You think in funnels and systems. You instrument, you measure, you find the leak, you fix it -- then you prove the result moved.

• Comfortable driving process and holding others to it: you run the pipeline review, you chase the stalled deal, you make the forecast honest. You raise the performance of the commercial function rather than waiting to be handed clean inputs.

• Highly organised and detail obsessed. The pipeline is always trustworthy. Forecasts are grounded, not hopeful.

• Enough scientific literacy to operate credibly in pharma and biotech conversations. No PhD required; genuine curiosity about the domain is essential.

• Writes and speaks clearly in English. German useful, not required.

• Temperamentally suited to a company in transition: takes ownership of ambiguous problems, comfortable being the only person in the function and building it from the ground up.

What this role is not

It is not a marketing design or content role -- creative and brand live elsewhere; this is the operational and analytical engine. It is not a CRM administrator who keeps records tidy and waits for instructions -- you drive the commercial system and own its numbers. It is an operations role with teeth: you make the people in front of customers measurably more effective, and you hold the pipeline and the forecast to account.

What's in store for you

The dynamic team behind ESQlabs unites people with different backgrounds, spanning disciplines like pharmaceutical sciences, physics, bioinformatics, mathematics, data science, and software engineering. Our trust in each other, our open-mindedness, and our constant quest for excellence and innovation unite us. We value flat hierarchies, where everyone can contribute ideas and expertise to develop the best product. We are passionate, always willing to broaden our horizons, and love our start-up culture. 

You will also benefit from:

• Flexible work hours and a home office policy that focuses on people and not on numbers

• An attractive remuneration package

• A dedicated budget for education programs and conferences you can attend

• A working environment in which your contribution will make a difference, and that allows you to take ownership of projects and processes

• Responsibility, autonomy, participation, and career perspective

About us

We collaborate with global corporations in the pharma and chemical industry, as well as start-ups in the life-science technology sector and academic and non-profit research institutions. We define new standards in pharmacometrics and systems pharmacology and toxicology areas. Our software and model platforms help scientists understand mechanisms of diseases and chemical toxicity to optimize individualized treatment of patients and protect the health of the animal and human life.

ESQlabs has attracted international players as sponsors for the OSP Software development. In addition, funding through national and EU-wide research grants allows us to develop our core technologies continuously.

For more information about our culture, values and benefits visit our Unique career opportunities - esqLABS GmbH. 

At ESQlabs, we are committed to diverse backgrounds and experiences.