Business Development Representative (BDR)

Mercura ( YC W25) helps the companies that build the real world move at software speed, automating the back-office work that runs the $12 trillion industry behind every hospital, school, and power plant. We started with one of their biggest bottlenecks - turning messy technical requests into accurate quotes. With a team of 16, we're now targeting $10M by the end of 2026 as well as our expansion into the US.

About the role

As a Business Development Representative, you’ll help drive our growth by building our outbound sales engine and creating new customer opportunities.

As the first point of contact for potential customers, you’ll identify pain points, generate leads, and convert interest into opportunities. You’ll work hands-on within a strong Sales team in a fast-paced environment, taking ownership of outreach, discovery, and relationship-building in the early stages of our sales funnel.

This role offers a fast track to developing your business career, with opportunities to advance from BDR to AE or other growth roles within just one year .

What you will be working on

• Prospecting : Own the full prospecting cycle - from identifying potential leads to engaging and converting them via phone, email, and social media

• Lead Generation : Experiment with and implement new inbound and outbound lead generation strategies

• Messaging : Develop deep product, market, and customer understanding to tailor pitches and close deals

• Market Intelligence : Collaborate closely with GTM Engineering team to conduct in-depth market research to identify target accounts

• Sales Enablement : Create and refine sales materials, scripts, and templates; lead internal knowledge sharing.

• Customer Relationships : Engage with prospects daily and build strong relationships with potential customers.

What we offer

• Proven ARR engine: We have a clearly defined ICP and generated $2M ARR with a single seller last year and short 1–3 month sales cycles.

• Fast career advancement opportunities to AE within just one year

• An ambitious and caring team that sees their work as more than just a job

• Free team dinner (up to 4x/week)

• UrbanSportsClub membership and access to a company bike - join our team workouts 3x/week

• Easy relocation to Munich — our office is located in the Werk1 Startup Incubator , where you can rent a 1-bedroom apartment right next to the office for just €800/month

• Access to any AI or productivity tools you need

What we're looking for

• You are motivated to build a category-defining company from the ground up and enjoy working hands-on .

• You have excellent communication skills in German and feel confident speaking English.

• You enjoy talking to customers, understanding their needs, and convincing them.

• You are reliable , goal-oriented , resilient , and commercially sharp .

• First experience in sales, business development, recruiting, consulting, customer-facing work, or another high-performance environment is a Plus .

• You are willing to work five days a week from our Munich office with higher intensity than in a classic 9-to-5 job.

Note : Studies show that men often apply when they meet only part of the criteria, while women and marginalized groups tend to wait until they meet every requirement. If this role excites you and you believe you could grow into it, we’d love to hear from you.

Why Mercura

• In-office energy in an ambitious and caring team : Your future colleagues are experienced operators, ex-founders, Science Olympiad medallists, and top graduates from places such as Google, Bain, MIT, TUM, Harvard, CDTM, and Cambridge . We bring extraordinary people together and deeply invest in your growth as your mentors, teammates and friends. We care, trust, and support one another, and we make sure that fun is at the heart of everything we do.

• Work with the latest tech : AI is at the core of our product, and use the latest tech across our product and processes to tackle meaningful challenges and shape how users interact with AI.

• Thrive in a high-growth, high-commitment environment : We’re growing extremely fast because we always put our work and our customers first. If you excel in fast-paced settings and want to grow as part of something big from day one, Mercura is for you.

• Build for a market most people underestimate: We automate work in a $12T+ industry that still runs on emails, PDFs, phone calls, and manual ERP processes. The pain is real, the market is huge, and modern software has barely touched it.

• Own one of the highest-leverage roles in the company: Mercura has the potential to become a category-defining company, but only if we move really fast now. As a Growth Associate, you’ll be directly responsible for turning our early traction into scalable growth.

Your team & mentors

You will work with

• Lukas (Co-Founder & CEO; prev. ML at Google X, Researcher in Cambridge)

• Lars (prev. BDR at Tacto, Consulting at OMMAX, FTE #2 at Econos)

• Paul (prev. Senior Consultant at Capgemini Invent)

Your mentors will be

• Bernhard Metzger (VP B2B Sales FINN)

• Christian Reichert (CRO Shiftmove)

About the interview

Step 1: Intro call

Casual intro meeting with one of the founders to get to know each other and introduce Mercura.

Step 2: ICP Deep Dive & Cold Call Role Play

A deep dive into Mercura’s Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) with Lukas (Co-Founder & CEO), where we explore target customers, positioning, and value proposition in detail.

This will be followed by a cold call simulation. In this role play, you will engage a (fictional) prospective customer and your objective is to schedule a demo for Mercura.

Step 3: On-Site

Work alongside the entire team for half a day on-site from our Munich office to fully immerse yourself in our culture and collaboration style. This on-site will be paid.

For the on-site, you will receive preparation materials in advance to conduct cold calling with real customers and a first sales meeting with a fictional customer for Mercura.

Step 4: Offer & Reference Checks

If we see a great fit, you will get an offer. At the same time, we’ll ask you to provide 2–3 references so we can gather additional insights into your strengths and working style.

About the Founders

We are Lukas, Stefan & Sean , the co-founders of Mercura.

We share a deep commitment to excellence and the discipline to pursue what others might consider impossible.

Two of us come from non-academic families, and we all know what it means to create our own paths and overcome barriers. This experience shapes our belief in equal opportunity and fuels our dedication to social mobility.

Lukas (left) is responsible for business development at Mercura. With his background as a Data Scientist at Allianz and at Google in Silicon Valley, he brings extensive expertise in data and AI.
Lukas’ family has been active in the construction industry for over 100 years, giving him a deep understanding and passion for the sector's specific needs.

Sean (middle) is responsible for technical development at Mercura. As a top 0.01% physicist, Sean earned a Silver medal for Germany at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), began researching with the Max Planck Institute at the age of 16, and has since published at leading machine learning conferences.

Stefan (right) leads product development at Mercura. Previously, he worked in management consulting at Bain & Company, where he helped manufacturers improve their operations.
Stefan leverages his research experience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Business School to develop innovative solutions for the industry.

At Mercura, we believe that the best ideas emerge when people from different backgrounds collaborate together. We hire based on ability, mindset, and values, and we live by one simple rule: the best idea wins.

Beyond Mercura, we actively support initiatives that promote diversity and gender equity and commit a portion of our personal income each year to organizations expanding opportunity for others.

Our operating principles: