Head of Ad Sales — Barsys Ad Network

Head of Ad Sales — Barsys Ad Network
Brand & Holdco Revenue | New York, NY (HQ) | 30%+ Travel
Reports to: Chief Business Officer
Compensation: Senior — Base + Quota-Based Variable + Equity

About Barsys
Barsys is a consumer-robotics and software company building the first first-party, intent-based advertising network for the U.S. spirits and beverage category — a $110B retail category that absorbs over $7B in annual U.S. media spend at industry display click-through rates of approximately 0.3%. The Barsys platform combines a six-generation hardware portfolio, a multi-million-user consumer cocktail-making application, and the Barsys Ad Network — a closed-loop, owned-inventory monetization layer that reaches consumers at the moment of cocktail preparation, not the moment of purchase. The Company is AI-native, with the majority of its operating work streams AI-enabled, and is venture-backed with a Growth Round currently funding the build-out of the Ad Network commercial organization.

Role Summary
The Head of Ad Sales is the operator who converts the Barsys advertising surface — first-party, intent-based, closed-loop — into booked revenue. The role personally carries the senior end of the brand and holdco pipeline, builds and runs the AE bench underneath it, and is directly accountable for converting a pre-qualified outreach cohort of major spirits and beverage advertisers into anchor brand clients across four package tiers. This is a player-coach role: the incumbent is expected to close the largest brand and Strategic Partnership accounts personally for the first 18 months while building the long-tail sales machine underneath.

Why Barsys, Why Now
Beverage advertising is the most mis-targeted category in large-scale consumer marketing. The $110B U.S. spirits category absorbs over $7B in annual U.S. media spend, clearing at industry display CTR of approximately 0.3% — brands pay for impressions at the precise moment consumers are least decisional.
Barsys inverts the model: the advertising surface is the cocktail-making moment itself, which carries occasion, intent, and (via first-party signal) consumer taste history. The Ad Network is engineered to deliver an attribution narrative no proxy-based programmatic platform can replicate: a closed-loop link between exposure and the conversion event itself. This is the structural pricing argument and the structural differentiator.

Key Responsibilities

Own the brand-and-holdco revenue number for the Ad Network
Personally close the top of the brand pipeline: spirits majors, lifestyle brands, growth-tier challenger brands
Convert the pre-qualified outreach list into anchor brand clients in the launch quarters
Build and operate the Account Executive bench — hire, ramp, and quota-set the early closers
Run the Strategic Partnership commercial motion alongside the CBO: deal architecture, MSA, exclusivity terms, multi-year renewals
Architect and defend quarterly-commitment as the default sales motion across all four package tiers
Drive cross-channel attach: pair every recipe-integrated CPM contract with at least one data subscription or branded recipe deal
Partner with Strategic Partnerships & GTM on joint business planning, trade-fund integration, and category-incumbent commercial mechanics
Forecast, pipeline-manage, and report weekly into the CBO and the Office of the CEO

Required Experience

10+ years selling at the brand or holdco level in spirits, beverage, CPG, or hospitality — with an active book of decision-makers
Demonstrated history closing seven-figure annual programs with brand-marketing and procurement counterparts
Operating experience in ad tech, retail media, programmatic, or first-party-data platforms
Player-coach orientation: comfortable carrying personal quota while building and managing an AE bench
Deep familiarity with quarterly commitment, annual upfront, and multi-year Strategic Partnership commercial structures

Preferred Qualifications

Existing relationships at Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, LVMH, Brown-Forman, Constellation, or equivalent holdcos
Prior experience selling against retail-media (Walmart Connect, Amazon Ads) or intent-based DSP comparables
Background launching a new ad product into a category without an established media-buying playbook
Direct experience pricing and selling Strategic Partnership / annual upfront contracts

Success Metrics
Year 1:

Anchor brand pipeline established with the pre-qualified outreach list under active dialogue, and the first paying contracts executed
Quarterly-commitment installed as the default sales motion across the majority of contracts
AE bench operating at two Senior AEs, fully ramped, with a documented ramp playbook for subsequent hires
Renewal motion designed, with the first cohort of renewable contracts under management

Year 3:

Multiple Strategic Partnership accounts active at the holdco level; multi-year renewal motion proven
AE bench scaled against fill-rate milestones; territory coverage extended across the full named-account list
Net revenue retention operating at a level competitive with mature retail-media networks

Search is active. Inquiries: [email protected] — Office of the Chief Business Officer.