About the company
We're an early-stage robotics startup building aerial robots that perform physical maintenance tasks in the field — work that today requires sending skilled crews to remote or hazardous sites. We're pre-seed, assembling our founding team, and moving fast toward our first paying pilot with a utility customer.
About the role
We're hiring our first go-to-market hire to help us land and grow our earliest utility customers — co-ops, municipal utilities, and eventually investor-owned utilities. You'll work directly with the founders to define our market entry strategy, build the pipeline, and turn early conversations into paid pilots. This is a builder role, not a maintainer role — you'll be defining the playbook as you go.
What you'll do
Identify and prioritize target utility segments for early deployment, starting with smaller/faster-moving customers (co-ops) before larger ones
Build and run outbound pipeline into utility operations, engineering, and procurement contacts
Own customer relationships from first conversation through pilot contract
Navigate utility procurement cycles, safety/compliance requirements, and multi-stakeholder buying processes
Translate customer feedback into product and roadmap input for the founding team
Help define pricing, packaging, and early GTM motion as we learn what works in this market
What we're seeking
Must have
Experience selling into utilities, energy, or other regulated infrastructure markets
Familiarity with how utility procurement and vendor approval processes work (or a fast learner with adjacent B2B infrastructure sales experience)
Comfort operating with ambiguity at a pre-seed stage — no existing playbook, no large team
Strong written and verbal communication; able to represent a technical product credibly to engineering and operations stakeholders
Based in or willing to work from the SF Bay Area
Nice to have
Existing relationships with electric co-ops, municipal utilities, or IOUs
Experience selling hardware, robotics, or field-deployed technology (not just software) into utilities
Background in utility operations, grid engineering, or a related technical field — enough to speak the customer's language
Prior experience at an early-stage hardware or robotics startup
Skills Required
- Experience selling into utilities, energy, or other regulated infrastructure markets
- Familiarity with utility procurement and vendor approval processes, or adjacent B2B infrastructure sales experience with the ability to learn quickly
- Comfort operating with ambiguity at a pre-seed startup without an established playbook or large team
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to represent a technical product credibly to engineering and operations stakeholders
- Based in or willing to work from the San Francisco Bay Area
- Existing relationships with electric co-ops, municipal utilities, or investor-owned utilities
- Experience selling hardware, robotics, or field-deployed technology into utilities
- Background in utility operations, grid engineering, or a related technical field
- Prior experience at an early-stage hardware or robotics startup
What We Do
Aviary Robotics is developing autonomous aerial robots for electric-grid inspection and repair. Its drones use onboard perception to detect and diagnose pole and equipment defects, then a robotic arm can perform routine tasks such as clearing debris, replacing fuses, or installing sensors during the same flight. The company aims to help utilities maintain outdoor infrastructure while reducing hazardous field visits and repeat dispatches.
