Commercial Associate Manager

The way companies innovate is broken. The systems built to create and protect ideas can’t keep up with the pace of change. Today, 90% of S&P 500 company value is intangible (e.g., in intellectual property) - yet R&D and IP teams spend half their time buried in manual work, sifting through patents and paperwork instead of pushing the frontier forward. The tools of creating and protecting are stuck in the past. We’re here to fix that.

Ankar is building the R&D tools for the AI era and defining what applied research will look like in the next 20 years. We’re building infrastructure and product experiences our customers rely on every day. You’ll translate messy, ambiguous problems into clean, dependable software—and you’ll do it at the cutting-edge of AI.

We’re at an inflection point:

• We’ve raised >$24M to date from Tier-1 VCs like Atomico, Index Ventures, Norrsken, Daphni, and angels like the Founder of Hugging Face, CEO from Datadog, and Leaders from DeepMind and OpenAI.

• We’re already working with the world’s most innovative companies including Fortune 500 company L’Oréal and global law firm Vorys

• Expanding our world-class team with alumni from Palantir, Amazon, and BCG to tackle the $1T+ innovation market. We’re just getting started.

What you’ll be doing

As our Commercial Associate Manager, you’ll lead and elevate our outbound engine, working closely with the Head of Sales and broader GTM team to build a high-performing team of Commercial Associates.

You will:

• Manage, coach, and develop a team of Commercial Associates, setting a high bar for execution, activity, and results

• Lead by example - actively participate in outbound efforts including cold calls, power hours, and pipeline generation

• Design, iterate, and optimize outbound strategies across channels (calls, LinkedIn, etc), continuously improving conversion rates

• Own and refine tooling and data workflows (e.g. Clay, sequencing tools), ensuring the team is operating efficiently and leveraging best-in-class processes

• Build scalable playbooks for prospecting, messaging, and qualification

• Partner closely with AEs and Marketing to ensure strong pipeline quality and tight feedback loops

• Track, analyze, and report on performance metrics, identifying areas for improvement and driving accountability

• Hire and onboard new Commercial Associates as we scale

What we are looking for

• 4+ years of experience in B2B SaaS sales or outbound roles, with at least some experience managing or mentoring others

• Proven track record of generating pipeline through outbound efforts (calls, email, LinkedIn)

• Hands-on operator mindset - you enjoy being in the trenches and actively prospecting, not just managing

• Strong experience with modern sales and outbound tooling (e.g. Hubspot, Clay, sequencing platforms) and a data-driven approach to prospecting

• Analytical and process-oriented - you can break down funnels, identify bottlenecks, and implement improvements

• Excellent communication and coaching skills, with the ability to motivate and develop high-performing individuals

• High agency and ownership - you take initiative, move quickly, and continuously look for ways to improve performance

• Comfort operating in a fast-paced, early-stage startup environment

• [Bonus points] Experience building outbound teams or functions from early stages

• [Bonus points] Experience selling or prospecting into enterprise, innovation, or IP teams

What else you might want to know…

• Location: Hoxton Square, London (on-site role)

• Contract: Full-time

• Compensation: We pay competitive salaries and will reward you with a substantial equity package under the tax-efficient EMI scheme.

• Hiring process: (1) 30min introductory chat, (2) 30min co-founder meeting, (3) 60min onsite. The process can be as fast you want it to be.