name: Sales Hiring Plan 2026 description: Sequencing, cost model, and ramp expectations for the first three Sales hires posted on 2026-05-04.

Sales Hiring Plan — 2026

Authored: 2026-05-04 Owner: Founders → Head of Sales (once hired)

This is the plan behind the three sales roles posted simultaneously on /careers. Posting all three at once is deliberate: the candidate pool for senior sales talent looks at the whole org chart before applying. Posting an AE role alone signals chaos; posting Head of Sales + Sales Manager + AE simultaneously signals an investment thesis.

Roles, sequencing, and ramp

Role	Posted	Target start	Ramp to fully productive	Candidate pool
Head of Sales — SMB Shopify	2026-05-04	Q3 2026 (Jul–Sep)	90 days to first solo close, 180 days to full forecast ownership	Shopify Partner ecosystem, ex-Shopify enterprise reps, services-business sales leaders
Sales Manager — SMB Ecommerce	2026-05-04	After Head of Sales hires them (Q4 2026)	60 days to running pipeline review solo	Ex-AEs at Shopify Plus partner agencies, sales managers at commerce SaaS
Account Executive — SMB Shopify	2026-05-04	Hired by Head of Sales + Sales Manager (Q4 2026 – Q1 2027)	90 days to first solo close at quota pace	Ex-AEs at agencies, Shopify Partner sales reps, ecom-platform sellers

Why Head of Sales first. Founder-sold businesses fail at sales-team scaling because they hire AEs first and watch them burn out under no system. The Head of Sales builds the system → hires the manager → who hires the AEs. We are not skipping levels.

Cost model (annualised, fully loaded)

Role	Base	Variable on plan	Fully loaded (×1.25 for benefits + tooling)
Head of Sales	CA$120K	CA$50K	~CA$215K
Sales Manager	CA$80K	CA$40K	~CA$150K
Account Executive	CA$50K	CA$45K	~CA$120K

Total fully loaded year-1 cost: ~CA$485K assuming all three start in 2026 (worst case). Realistically only Head of Sales lands in 2026, so the 2026 cash impact is ~CA$215K + recruiting fees.

Year-1 quota model

Quota assumptions, conservative:

AE annual quota: CA$1.0M closed-won services revenue. ~12 deals/year at CA$80K average deal value.
Sales Manager team quota: 2 AEs × CA$1.0M = CA$2.0M.
Head of Sales org quota (Year 2 once full team is in place): 2 AEs + manager-led deals = ~CA$2.5M.

Break-even: Head of Sales pays for themselves at CA$700K of net-new contribution margin. With our blended margin we hit that around CA$1.4M – $1.8M of net-new closed-won, depending on project mix.

Application flow (until ATS ships)

Candidate clicks Apply via email on the role detail page.
Mailto opens with subject pre-filled: Application — {role} ({location}).
Lands in darshan@x9elysium.com.
Founders triage within 5 business days, route promising candidates to the Head of Sales loop once that hire is in.

We are intentionally not running an ATS for the first 30–60 days. Volume will tell us when to wire one in.

Promotion of the postings

Where we'll surface the three roles (in order of expected ROI):

/careers page on x9elysium.com (live with this commit). JobPosting JSON-LD makes them eligible for Google Jobs.
LinkedIn — Darshan and Adhvait personal feeds, then the X9Elysium company page once it's claimed (currently a placeholder URL — see the third-party-listings doc).
X.com (@x9elysium) — one post per role with the founder-led wedge in the copy.
Shopify Partner directory career section once the profile is claimed.
Pavilion / Wynter / Bravado — once the Head of Sales is in seat and can run those channels themselves.

We are deliberately not paying for LinkedIn Premium Job Slots or Indeed sponsorship at this stage — distribution is via warm channels first.

Updates log

Date	Change	By
2026-05-04	v1.0 — initial plan authored alongside the first three sales postings going live.	Founders