Principal, Business Development – Voice AI

San Francisco or London | Full-time | Series A — Growth Stage | Reports directly to CEO

This is the first US-focused BD hire at thymia. You will work directly with the CEO to take live enterprise deals across the line, build the repeatable motion behind them across predominantly the US, but also UK, Middle East and Japan. A technical-knowledge intensive, creative, fast-paced role with the opportunity to grow to Head of US BD.

Compensation: $200K base · $200K variable (uncapped) · $400K OTE · meaningful early-stage equity · full benefits.

Why this role exists, right now

thymia turns 15 seconds of speech into 30+ clinical and wellbeing signals in real time, with clinical-grade accuracy. We are the health and safety intelligence layer for all voice AI — already trusted by leading automotive manufacturers, major telehealth providers, and some of the world’s largest AI platforms. We hold the first regulated voice biomarker models globally.

We just closed a round that brings our total funding over $20M. Inbound is outpacing what the CEO can personally run, deals are stacking up across the US, UK and Japan, and we need an owner for the US commercial motion before pipeline becomes the bottleneck on the company. We have a clear pathway to $100M+ ARR within 2 years, in large part based on concrete framework agreements already secured, but awaiting commercial implementation. It’s your responsibility to help us realise it.

This is not a role where you take a playbook and execute a classic SaaS sales motion. It is a technical knowledge-intensive role where you take a warm, named pipeline across multiple industries and double it, thinking on your feet, moving at speed, juggling multiple priorities without dropping the ball.

You will be setting the base for a growing GTM team across multiple sites globally and be part of a high-velocity team where impact matters more than job titles, and no task is above or beneath any of us.

What you’ll own

• Close the deals in front of us. Run live enterprise opportunities end-to-end — discovery, technical scoping with our science team, pricing, procurement, security review, and signature. We expect first closed deals inside 90 days from existing and new pipeline.

• Build the outbound motion. Identify and prioritize the next 50 accounts across voice AI platforms, automotive OEMs and Tier-1s, and telco / CCaaS, finding opportunities where thymia can drive safety, wellbeing, engagement or cost efficiency — and helping us hit our revenue goals. Run targeted outbound personally until volume justifies an SDR hire.

• Prepare sales materials & meetings: Prepare sharp, high-quality decks, briefs and follow-ups for client, partner and investor meetings.

• Know the landscape and act on it: Develop and maintain a deep understanding of the voice AI landscape — customer use cases, competitive solutions and emerging trends — and feed that back to HQ on a weekly cadence — enough to actually move the roadmap.

• Own the CRM and the forecast: Every meeting logged, every deal staged, every next step dated. Our global team plans against this data — it is not admin, it is product.

• Lead commercial contracting: Drive MSAs, pilot agreements, and DPAs to close in partnership with our legal lead, with clean handoffs to our science and engineering teams for implementation.

• Coordinate across borders: Be a reliable link between our UK HQ and customers across the US, UK, Japan, Middle East and beyond — clear, timely and dependable across time zones.

• Be our voice in the US: Represent thymia at commercial and technical conferences for lead prospecting, use and develop your network across Voice AI to ensure we are top-of-mind whenever anyone mentions voice.

The growth path

This role has an explicit path to Head of US Business Development within 2 years. If you hit your number and build the foundation we expect in year one, you hire and lead the next commercial hires under you and become a member of the senior leadership team. If you would rather stay an elite individual contributor and keep carrying a number, that is also a great outcome — we will support either.

First 90 days

• Your first 4-5 weeks will be spent primarily in London working closely with the CEO, science and product teams. Absorb all technical and product knowledge. Deep-dive on every active commercial opportunity. Shadow every customer call. Internalize our science, our deployment patterns, and the language our buyers actually use.

• Take ownership of multiple deals from the CEO. Run your own discovery and demos. Build out a 50-account+ target list with named champions.

• We expect you to convert an existing warm opportunity into a closed deal within your first 90 days.

What we’re looking for

Required

• 6+ years in business development, sales or account management selling technical products to enterprise customers — ideally with exposure to AI, LLM or API-based products; you have a track record of personally closing $250K–$2M+ ARR deals.

• Deep, demonstrable experience selling into at least one of: voice AI platforms or foundation-model companies; automotive OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers; telcos or CCaaS / contact-center AI. Experience in two of the three is a meaningful advantage. Whichever technically sophisticated category you come from, the common denominator is that you've created commercial opportunities where the path wasn't obvious, opened doors that weren't already open, and personally moved complex deals from idea to signature.

• Deep interest in voice AI: Demonstrated expertise — or a strong willingness to learn everything — about voice AI and how thymia’s technology can unlock value across safety, health, wellbeing and customer experience. You will need to be comfortable selling a technical, scientifically-rigorous product — explaining models, regulatory pathways, and integrations without flinching.

• A high-calibre operator: you thrive in a fast-paced, highly technical environment — a hands-on operator who builds pipeline and closes complex, multi-stakeholder deals without a big team or a ready-made playbook around you. You set a high bar and consistently deliver.

• A commercial builder, not a conventional enterprise salesperson: You know how to take complex technology into markets that don't yet have an established buying playbook. You can understand a technical product deeply enough to sell it credibly to CTOs, product leaders and business executives and you're equally comfortable finding the first conversation yourself.

• Fluency with CRM and productivity tools (e.g. HubSpot, monday.com) — or a track record of picking up new tools fast

• Ready to travel — frequently and at short notice, from San Francisco to London, Riyadh and Tokyo. Expect 30%+ across US, UK, and Japan.

• Operate with engineering-grade rigor: CRM clean, notes captured, next steps dated, forecast you would stake your name on. We are a science company. Your pipeline is data.

• Excellent written and verbal communicator. You can hold your own in front of a CTO, a Chief Medical Officer, and a procurement lead in the same week

• High agency and curiosity — agency matters more than pedigree. Curiosity matters more than a textbook sales process. And we want someone who gets their hands dirty.

Strongly preferred

• Existing relationships with one or more of: voice AI infrastructure providers, hyperscaler ISV and big tech teams, contact-center platform leaders, in-cabin voice / ADAS leaders

• Strong network across one or more of our target geographies: US, UK, APAC.

• You have built a sales process from scratch before — you don’t need someone else to set up your stages.

Working Model

• Full-time, based in either San Francisco or London. If you’re based in San Francisco, you’ll spend your first 4–5 weeks working in person in our London HQ with the CEO and team, to build context fast.

• Our HQ is in London, with offices opening in San Francisco and Tokyo within 6 months.

• Hybrid working (in-person and online for London; online first in San Francisco, with meaningful daily overlap with our UK team (GMT/BST) being essential, especially during your ramp)

This role probably isn’t for you if…

• You want an existing playbook, a fully built outbound machine, an SDR team, and case studies on day one. We have warm pipelines and named-tier logos, but you will still prospect, have to think on your feet and problem-solve selling a technology that is genuinely category-defining.

• You do not have a technical background and/or are uncomfortable rapidly learning new technical terms and keeping up with cutting edge acoustic science and AI technology.

• You are uncomfortable owning your own forecast and being held to it.

• Your strength is managing a sales process rather than creating one; you want to run a BD team immediately rather than getting in the weeds and selling directly.

• You prefer selling simple SaaS or commodity products and have only sold into an established category with a known buying process. Voice biomarkers are exploding along with the Voice AI boom, but you will often be teaching the market.

Why join thymia

• Real ownership. First US-focused commercial hire. Direct line to the CEO every day.

• Category-defining product. First regulated voice biomarker models globally. Defensible science, real customers, clear pricing power. The potential to change how voice is used every single day in every industry.

• Comp built for closers. $200K base, $200K variable uncapped ($400K OTE), meaningful equity.

• Growth path. This is an individual contributor role, however there is an explicit path to Head of US BD inside 24 months for the right person.

• People. Work alongside world-leading scientists, clinicians, and engineers who care about getting it right and about positively impacting every end user. Our company values, including respect, excellence and velocity are core to who we are at thymia — reflected in everything we do and everyone we work with.

How to apply

Send your CV to talent@thymia.ai with no more than 100 words on:

• The hardest enterprise deal you’ve closed, and what you specifically did to land it.

• Which of our three target verticals (voice AI / automotive / telco–CCaaS) you know best, and one named account you would open in your first 90 days here.

We read every application. If we want to move forward, you’ll hear back within five business days.