Business Development Associate Intern, akirolabs
2-3 days a week in office
Collaborative strategic procurement platform
Open for applications
Collaborative strategic procurement platform
21-100 employees
Open for applications
2-3 days a week in office
21-100 employees
Company mission
To become the platform for connecting people with different backgrounds, cultures and languages to change businesses for the better forever through procurement strategies with purpose and sustainable business value.
Role
Who you are
- Self-motivated, resilient, comfortable handling rejection and maintaining consistent activity
- Excellent time management and organizational skills
- Results-driven approach with competitive spirit
- Adapt at multitasking and prioritizing effectively.
- The ability to thrive in ambiguity and work autonomously as a high level contributor
- Team-First mentality: flexibility to lead, or support, as no job is too small or too big
- Comfort with AI tools and willingness to experiment
- Drive to sell with discipline and initiative – you communicate clearly with senior stakeholders, think analytically, stay coachable, and bounce back quickly
- Strong communication, presentation and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport and engage prospects in meaningful conversations
- You are currently pursuing or have already obtained a bachelor's or master's degree in business administration, or a comparable subject at a university or business school
- Preferably, you have initial client exposure in your previous internship/roles (e.g. any client facing discipline such as consulting, partnerships at startup)
- Familiarity with CRM software tools (such as Salesforce, Hubspot)
- Familiarity with sales automation and intelligence tools such as Clay, Apollo, Lemlist, HeyReach, Gong is a big plus
- Possess understanding of B2B SaaS sales and a strong sense for customer needs
- A constant user and explorer of AI tools - you should already be using Claude/ChatGPT/Gemini/Perplexity tools daily
- Native or C2-level German and Strong English skills
What the job involves
- Join akirolabs at a defining stage of growth, where your work will directly influence how we expand our market reach and connect with the world’s leading procurement and category management teams
- As a Business Development Associate (Intern), you’ll be on the frontlines of our go-to-market engine — turning insights, conversations, and data into real opportunities that power akirolabs’ growth
- You’ll take ownership of building our sales pipeline — researching target accounts, crafting personalized outreach, and engaging decision-makers to open doors for our sales team
- Your curiosity, discipline, and drive will help shape how we identify and qualify opportunities, setting the foundation for predictable revenue growth
- In a market rapidly evolving with AI-driven transformation, your ability to combine human connection with intelligent automation will be key
- Every conversation you start, every lead you uncover, and every relationship you build will directly impact akirolabs’ journey to become the global leader in procurement transformation
- Research accounts to identify the right personas at target prospects & own the execution of outbound prospecting
- Analyze competitive activity and market trends while leveraging LinkedIn social listening to uncover opportunities, generate leads, and drive pipeline growth
- Design, operate, and monitor automated multi-channel outbound systems that push leads in our pipeline and create new opportunities
- Initiate highly personalized conversations with the help of AI to build relationships with highly engaged prospects through a mix of phone calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages (150–250 contacts/week)
- Support outreach efforts by drafting cold emails, LinkedIn messages, and other go-to-market materials
- Qualify and follow up on inbound leads and collaborate with marketing in nurturing them through the early stages of the sales cycle
- Clearly articulate the value of our SaaS product and how it addresses customer pain points in discovery calls
- Summarize and manage lead handovers (detailed call reports and qualification summaries) to ensure a smooth transition to later stages of the sales cycle
- Collaborate with GTM to create and execute strategies for driving pipeline & personalized outreach
- Maintain and enrich CRM data while producing weekly sales insights and performance reports
- Collaborate with marketing to develop sales assets, including one-pagers, presentations, and outreach sequences
- Month 1: Master the Fundamentals
- Deep dive to get to know our product, customers, and sales methodology. Shadow sales discovery calls, start practicing prospecting and outreach calls/emails with structured coaching; Understand how multi-channel outbound systems work and how to run outbound sequences using our sales automation and intelligence tech stack
- Months 2-4: Own your pipeline Own a quota. Master outreach strategies, convert buying signals into opportunities and build consistent pipeline with weekly coaching
- Months 5-6: Win your first deals
- Get exposure to full-cycle AE work. Prospect, Lead discoveries, assist and deliver demos, navigate stakeholders, and close deals with dedicated mentorship
- Month 7: Outcome
- Proceed towards the promotion — you can now step into a Jr. Account Executive role and own a quota. Alternatively, depending on internal needs and your interests, you may choose to move into a GTM Engineering and Growth position
- Duration: 6–12 months, with the possibility of extension or transition to a full-time role
Application process
- Application screening > Interview > Take Home Case Study > Final interview > Offer > 30-minutes with our CEO
Our take
In the area of procurement, although digital transformation has certainly evolved operations, there is still much scope for improvement. This has become especially evident of late, when strategic procurement strategies have been needed to address the macroeconomic challenges that businesses are facing.
Akirolabs exists to unlock the value potential of strategic procurement by implementing artificial intelligence to make the process smarter and swifter. Through the platform, users can create, execute, and monitor their intelligent category strategies, visualising and comparing a diverse range of choices informed by rich insights and their overarching strategy.
The company claims that this approach enables clients to "achieve 4-5 times higher value from procurement - beyond savings" - an impressive feat that will no doubt attract many businesses. With its industry-agnostic approach, akirolabs certainly has the potential to shake up the procurement space, and $5 million in seed funding and a grant from the European Regional Development Fund should set it on its way.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Jul 2024
$1.2m
GRANT
Jan 2024
$5m
SEED
Total funding: $6.2m
Company benefits
- Work closely with experienced and successful entrepreneurs that support your development through mentoring
- A lot of space for your own ideas with a sparring approach
- Full flexibility in working hours and location
- Collaborative company spirit and open feedback culture
- Employee growth opportunities
Company HQ
Winsviertel, Berlin, Germany
Leadership
Michael Pleuger
(Co-Founder & CEO)Owner and Managing Director or iMPact Strategic Advisory. Former Senior Partner at Roland Berger and Partner (Management Consulting) at KPMG. Also worked at Vodafone as Senior Manager of Global e-Supply Chain Management.
Detlef Schultz
(Co-Founder, Vision & Customers)Member of the Board at LMS365. Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Vodafone Procurement Company, who also worked as a Senior Advisor for Machavert Pharmaceuticals.
Christoph Flöthmann
(Co-Founder & CPO)A freelance Management Consultant, Christoph has also worked as a Senior Consultant at Roland Berger and as an Assistant Manager for Operations Consulting at KPMG.
Tim Ergenzinger
(Co-Founder & Finance & Operations)Former Senior Consultant at Roland Berger. Spent 8 years at KPMG, ultimately as Manager for Operations Consulting. Prior to this, they completed a chain of internships in areas such as IT Advisory and Supply Chain.
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