Sales Manager

PONDA

Ponda is a UK-based biomaterials company developing Bio Puff®, a regenerative, plant-based insulation made from Typha grown on rewetted peatlands through paludiculture.

We work at the intersection of advanced materials, regenerative agriculture, and global supply chains, helping brands replace fossil-based or extractive insulation with a credible, scalable alternative. Our work spans fashion, outdoor, and adjacent industrial sectors where performance, reliability, and environmental integrity all matter.

You will be taking Ponda’s extensive CRM and leveraging it alongside new leads to grow repeatable, scaled revenue. This is an opportunity to work with some of the world’s leading brands to create truly regenerative supply chains. We have both a direct-to-brand and merchandising model, meaning you will have to create, adapt and manage multiple sales funnels.

The ideal candidate is someone who is happy building and defining their role as they deliver on key overarching targets. This is an opportunity to not just enable a regenerative transformation, but to also define what sales is  will be working directly with the CEO and other founders to ensure Ponda becomes the defacto go-to for regenerative materials and garment solutions.

You should be someone who is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure customers are able to receive the highest quality service. You will be able to manage complex timelines across multiple different business units including manufacturing, product and marketing to ensure customer expectations are met whilst working within the resources available at Ponda.

This is a consultative, trust-led role, working with retail, materials, innovation, brand, sustainability and sourcing teams at global brands. You will sit between customers and internal teams, shaping how Bio Puff® is positioned, tested, and ultimately adopted. The role is central to how Ponda learns from the market and turns insight into strategy.

Build & Convert Customer Relationships into Revenue

• Manage end-to-end pilot-to-commercial customer journeys, from early engagement through validation, internal buy-in, and scale-up
• Build and maintain long-term relationships with brands, manufacturers, and strategic partners across fashion, outdoor, and adjacent sectors
• Act as a primary commercial point of contact for selected accounts, balancing credibility, responsiveness, and realism
• Support and lead commercial negotiations
• Represent Ponda clearly and credibly in meetings, workshops, and industry contexts

Orchestrate Internal Delivery & Customer Success

• Be able to build and manage CRMs, understanding how to effectively categorise leads and select the best
• Coordinate closely with product, R&D, and operations teams to align customer needs with technical capability and delivery timelines
• Work closely with product teams to ensure customer success, connecting sales to production and delivery of orders.

Build the Commercial System & Future Capability

• Own and maintain a clear, structured commercial pipeline, working closely with marketing to optimise a productive funnel.
• Feed structured market insight back into product development, pricing, positioning, and go-to-market strategy
• The potential to build a department at Ponda which is at a key turning point of growth.

This role is for someone who is target-driven and comfortable operating in an agile environment. You will have to manage and juggle multiple timelines across novel material production, apparel production times and customer expectations. You are curious about how materials, systems, and supply chains work, and motivated by the idea of building something genuinely new and impactful.

You are commercially sharp, but not aggressive in style. You are able to build trust with senior stakeholders by being well-prepared, thoughtful, and honest about constraints. You care about sustainability and impact, but you are pragmatic about what it takes to make change happen at scale.

You will be joining Ponda at a pivotal moment of our journey as we transition from capsules to scaled production. With growth there will be ongoing opportunities for career…