TandemLaunch is looking for a Commercial Director to join the founding team of an early-stage ag-tech startup coming out of our venture studio. We're building a precision ion-sensing platform - electrochemical, ion-selective sensors that monitor nutrient levels (nitrate, potassium, calcium, and more) in real time and automate dosing in the fertigation loop for greenhouse and controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) operations.
Today, growers manage fertigation with static schedules and infrequent manual lab tests, resulting in nutrient imbalances, inconsistent yields, and wasted fertilizer. We're putting a robust, affordable sensor directly in-line so growers get real-time data and automated dosing control in demanding real-world conditions.
About TandemLaunch
TandemLaunch is a Canadian venture studio that builds technology companies out of cutting-edge university research, focused on sensing systems, advanced materials, wireless technology, computer vision, and edge AI.
The Role
This is a founding, equity-bearing position with a competitive cash stipend. The role will include visiting greenhouses in person, being there while a sensor gets wired into a grower's dosing system, and doing the work that earns you a second visit. You'll work closely with our technical team to turn a genuinely new sensing technology into a business growers pay for.
What You'll Actually Be Doing
Getting in front of growers
- Identify and prioritize target accounts - greenhouse operators, vertical farms, CEA integrators, agronomy service providers - and build a pipeline from cold outreach through pilot agreement to paid contract.
- Run on-site demos and field trials: install sensor units, walk growers and their agronomists through the data, and troubleshoot in real growing conditions (not a lab bench).
- Represent the company at grower conferences, trade shows, and industry events to build visibility and a bench of design partners.
Building the commercial engine
- Develop pricing, packaging, and channel strategy - including how to work through distributors or equipment dealers already selling into this market.
- Establish a customer funnel from scratch, with real CRM/pipeline discipline in place from day one so there's full visibility into what's in motion.
- Build the business case and ROI model that makes the ask concrete for a grower: yield improvement, fertilizer and water savings, labor reduction.
Closing the loop with product
- Translate what you hear in the field regarding sensor accuracy, deployment form factor, integration with existing fertigation/dosing hardware, etc. into requirements the technical team can act on.
- Help scope the regulatory, certification, and market-access requirements for agricultural sensing and automated dosing hardware.
Founder-level work
- Contribute to fundraising: investor materials, market sizing, commercial due diligence.
- Set the commercial roadmap and partnership strategy alongside the technical teams
- Be a credible, direct voice with early customers, distribution partners, and investors - you're demonstrating traction, not just describing it.
What We're Looking For
- A BSc/BA in business, agriculture/agronomy, engineering, or a related field.
- Real experience selling or developing products in ag-tech, CEA, greenhouse technology, precision agriculture, or a related sensing/hardware market.
- Working knowledge of greenhouse/CEA operations, fertigation systems, or crop nutrition management
- A track record of closing early deals or pilot programs, ideally at a hardware or deep-tech startup where the product was still rough around the edges.
- Comfort working cross-functionally with engineers - translating what a grower needs into something a technical team can build.
- An entrepreneurial temperament: you have a high tolerance for ambiguity and are comfortable making the plan up as you go, without needing a playbook to know what to do next.
TandemLaunch is committed to building a community of excellence, equity, and diversity. We welcome applications from women, underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities, sexual minority groups, and other candidates who will enrich our ideas and perspectives.
