Vice President of Commercial Strategy (Palo Alto)

Teleo, a Havoc company, is a robotics company that transforms construction heavy equipment, including loaders, dozers, excavators, and trucks, into autonomous robots for commercial and defense applications. Our technology enables a single operator to supervise and control multiple machines simultaneously, delivering significant productivity gains while improving operator safety and comfort.

Teleo was founded by a team of experienced technology leaders who previously led the development of Lyft's Self-Driving Car program and Google Street View. Teleo recently announced its merger with Havoc AI, a fast-growing defense technology company developing coordinated fleets of autonomous maritime vessels.

This is a unique opportunity to join a team building technology with real-world impact. You will work on cutting-edge 100,000-pound autonomous robots and engineer complex systems at the intersection of hardware, software, robotics, and AI.

We are entering an exciting phase of growth as we expand deployments across new customers, applications, and industries. We are looking for an exceptional Head of Commercial to build and lead the company's overall commercial strategy.

This is much more than a sales leadership role. You will own how Teleo brings its products to market—from defining commercial strategy and developing customer relationships to building strategic partnerships, growing our dealer ecosystem, shaping our go-to-market approach, and scaling the commercial organization.

You will work closely with the CEO and executive leadership team to identify new markets, prioritize strategic opportunities, structure complex commercial relationships, and ensure customer needs are reflected throughout the company. As one of Teleo's senior leaders, you will play a central role in defining the company's long-term growth strategy.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building organizations, creating new markets, and helping customers adopt transformational technologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and execute Teleo's overall commercial strategy.
• Develop market segmentation, customer targeting, pricing strategy, and go-to-market plans.
• Lead enterprise sales engagements with major construction, mining, aggregates, waste, ports, and industrial customers.
• Own forecasting, pipeline management, commercial planning, and revenue growth.
• Build and scale the commercial organization, including sales, solutions engineering, and other customer-facing functions.
• Develop scalable commercial processes, tools, and operational discipline, including CRM, ERP integration, commercial bidding processes, and sales enablement.
• Ensure a seamless customer experience from initial engagement through contract execution.

Business Development & Strategic Partnerships

• Develop and execute Teleo's partnership strategy across OEMs, equipment dealers, contractors, fleet operators, rental companies, and technology partners.
• Identify new markets, applications, and strategic growth opportunities.
• Structure commercial agreements, reseller relationships, joint development efforts, and strategic alliances.
• Build and expand Teleo's dealer ecosystem, including sales support tools, training, and enablement processes.
• Represent the company with customers, partners, investors, and industry leaders.
• Define and continuously refine Teleo's go-to-market strategy as the company enters new markets and industries.
• Develop compelling value propositions and messaging for autonomy and AI solutions in real-world industrial environments.
• Work closely with Product and Engineering to prioritize customer-driven capabilities and roadmap investments.
• Analyze competitive positioning, pricing, and market dynamics to inform strategic decisions.
• Help shape Teleo's long-term commercial roadmap through direct customer engagement and market intelligence.
• Partner closely with the CEO and executive leadership team on company strategy and growth initiatives.
• Provide market intelligence, customer insights, and commercial perspectives to guide strategic decision-making.
• Represent the commercial organization in executive planning and board-level discussions.
• Help build the culture, processes, and organizational capabilities needed to scale Teleo into a category-defining company.

Team & Culture

• Recruit, develop, and lead a world-class commercial organization spanning sales, business development, solutions engineering, and customer-facing technical teams.
• Establish performance metrics, organizational structure, and career development paths aligned with company growth.
• Foster a culture of customer obsession, accountability, collaboration, and operational excellence.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressively responsible leadership across commercial strategy, enterprise sales, business development, partnerships, or go-to-market leadership.
• Proven track record commercializing new or disruptive technologies within construction, mining, heavy equipment, industrial automation, robotics, autonomy, or adjacent industrial markets.
• Experience introducing first-of-kind or early-adoption technologies into conservative, safety-critical industries.
• Demonstrated ability to develop commercial strategy while personally leading complex enterprise sales engagements.
• Deep understanding of how industrial customers evaluate operational risk, ROI, productivity improvements, and organizational change.
• Experience building and scaling commercial organizations in high-growth environments.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence customers, partners, investors, and internal stakeholders.
• Comfortable operating in an early-stage environment with ambiguity, limited resources, and rapid iteration.
• Willingness to travel frequently to customer sites and industry events.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with robotics, autonomy, AI, or advanced industrial technologies.
• Familiarity with OEM, dealer, contractor, rental, or channel-based sales models.
• Experience scaling commercial organizations from early pilots to multi-site or fleet-wide deployments.
• Experience negotiating strategic partnerships, reseller agreements, or joint development initiatives.
• Prior leadership role within a venture-backed or high-growth technology company.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to define and lead the commercial strategy of a category-defining autonomy company.
• Significant executive visibility and influence on company direction.
• Competitive executive compensation package, including meaningful equity.
• Flexible location with a highly collaborative Bay Area-based leadership team.
• The opportunity to help shape the future of autonomous heavy equipment and transform some of the world's largest industrial industries.
• 100% Employer paid Health, Dental and Vision Insurance for you and your families
• Life Insurance (Employer Paid)
• Ability to participate in the companies 401k program (Matching)
• Unlimited PTO policy with an enforced 2 week minimum