Founder's Associate (Generalist & GTM)

Job description

YOUR IMPACT Every founder has a list of (strategic) initiatives with tremendous potential that lack time to be realized and belong to no one yet. As a Founders Associate, that list is your job. You'll be the right hand to C-level and founders - taking the hardest, highest-leverage, cross-functional initiatives off their plate and driving them to done, with real ownership from day one and access almost no one else in the company has. We hire for the person first, then match you to one of two tracks: TRACK 1 - GENERALIST - Own the most important company-wide initiatives directly with our CEO. Whatever stands between Tacto and its next growth phase that quarter, you take it and drive it to done. - Build new bets from 0 to 1: new product wedges, growth loops, and ideas that could become standalone engines inside Tacto - Operate as a "founder within the company," moving from strategy to hands-on execution and back - Go where the leverage is: one month it's org and hiring, the next a product wedge or a new market TRACK 2 - GO-TO-MARKET - Analyze new markets, industries, and segments, and build the business cases and go-to-market plans to enter them. - Identify our next growth opportunities, e.g. new modules or motions, and turn them into concrete execution plans. - Support the executive team directly: prepare and run C-level meetings with our most important customers, and own the analyses behind them. - Help our revenue leadership reshape the GTM engine and make Tacto the best go-to-market organization in Europe YOUR PROFILE - Smart, driven, and hungry to build - you get energy from moving fast and seeing results - You think strategically but don’t shy away from hands-on execution - You've seen what "great" looks like - through a role or internship at a top-tier startup, in consulting, or VC - Extreme ownership: you build the roadmap, find solutions, and don't wait for permission - You've built something from zero before - and we could see ourselves backing you if you started your own company one day - Ego-free overachiever who makes everyone around them better - Fluent in German and English WHY THIS ROLE IS AWESOME You'll get rare exposure to our founders and senior leadership, working right next to them on Tacto’s most important projects. The growth trajectory of this company depends on the success of the projects you own. It's broad by design: you'll move across different topics and go deep wherever the leverage is, building the instincts you'd need to run a company yourself one day. Most Founders Associates earn a clear next step within 12-18 months, whether that's leading a function, owning a commercial role, spinning up a new business line, or going on to found their own company. WHAT THIS ROLE IS - AND ISN'T We want to be honest about what you're signing up for: - This is a role for people who love to roll up their sleeves and get things done - building, analyzing, and shipping, not advising from the sidelines. You take whatever the most important problem is, even when it's messy, cross-functional, or unglamorous. - You'll own real problems end to end, move fast, and figure things out as you go. In return you get things that are rare and valuable: direct, visible impact, real ownership from day one, and daily exposure to our founders and senior leadership. - The deal: prove yourself, deliver real impact, make a strong case for yourself - then we'll back your next step in every way possible, inside Tacto or beyond. WHY TACTO - We bet on young talent and mean it. We consistently back smart, hungry, young people with real ownership early. 70%+ of our Leadership Team was promoted internally - you deliver impact and sky is the limit at Tacto. - Backed to win big. We are Sequoia and Index-funded and have €50M+ behind us. Our founders sit at the same table as the people defining the global AI agenda, from Sam Altman to Europe's leading tech entrepreneurs. We're building Tacto to be the lighthouse for European industrial AI. - A truly AI-native organization, with every resource you could dream of. All the leading AI tools and custom agents at your fingertips, plus dedicated "AI captains" who keep us at the frontier. - High bar, high speed, genuinely fun. You'll be surrounded by extremely smart and ambitious people who set the bar high and push you to get better every week. Intense, fast, and the opposite of boring. - A front-row seat in the European startup ecosystem. Weekly exposure to leading founders and operators through internal and external events, e.g. with Andreas Klinger https://tactotechnologygmbh.pixieset.com/lunchandlearnwandreasklinger/, Judith Dada https://tactotechnologygmbh.pixieset.com/lunchandlearnwjudithdada/ or during large Hackathons https://tactotechnologygmbh.pixieset.com/techeuropemunichhackathon/. Check out all upcoming and past events here: https://luma.com/tacto - You'll build something that lasts and that matters. You'll help build the company that keeps European industry competitive for the long-term. OUR BACKGROUND Tacto is building the intelligence layer that connects AI to the physical world of manufacturing, starting with procurement. AI is transforming every industry, but it stops at the factory gate. The knowledge that holds manufacturing together - part costs, suppliers, materials - is scattered across systems and people. Over 50% of a product's cost originates from suppliers, making procurement the single largest cost lever in manufacturing and the missing connection between the digital and the physical world. Yet it still runs on Excel and legacy systems. We're changing that with our Procurement Intelligence Platform, trusted by hundreds of companies running billions of Euros of material. Based in Munich, we are 100+ passionate builders who are in-office, with high expectations, fast growth, and a lot of fun. We are supported by >€50m from Sequoia, Index, and Europe's leading tech entrepreneurs and industry veterans. WHY IT MATTERS Manufacturing forms Europe's economic backbone, driving a fourth of Europe's GDP and providing over 30% of jobs. These hidden champions and global market leaders manufacture the physical world around us, from the machines that build our cities to the medical devices that save lives. But the world is changing. The US dominates the digital world of bits. China is scaling the world of atoms, manufacturing at unprecedented speed and scale. Geopolitics are more uncertain than ever. Europe's strength lies in its deep industrial knowledge through generations of engineering. Manufacturing worldwide runs on European machines and software. But that heritage is only an advantage if we leverage it in the age of AI. Tacto builds the AI that connects Atoms and Bits, empowering our Industrial Base to Stay Stronger and building a lighthouse for European tech. WHAT WE OFFER The people at Tacto are passionate about building the organization, growing themselves, and our product while having fun and being real. We have high expectations, great talent density, and a culture where your ambition, performance, and agency are what count - not where you come from or how big your ego is. You'll grow at the forefront of AI, have real ownership and impact, and be surrounded by the best people in their field who challenge you and make you better every day. That is demanding and rewarding, but that's where we thrive. Besides that you have: - Money: Competitive salary & equity in the company with real upside, so you are invested in our success - Workplace: A vibrant in-office culture (> 4 days/week) in a beautiful office in central Munich - Development: A development budget and regular exposure to exceptional people, e.g., Lunch & Learns, peer mentoring, external speakers - Time off: 26 + 4 vacation days per year (4 fixed “company rest days”) as well as regular off-sites and team events - Health: Wellpass membership, of course, a fruit basket (!), and access to Jobrad, for your health - Family & Social Security: Voluntary pension contribution, voluntary KITA subsidy for your children Tacto is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or gender identity. 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