Franchise Sales Manager

About the job Franchise Sales Manager

About Presto

Presto is the leading Voice AI company for restaurant drive-thrus, operating at scale in complex, noisy, customer-facing environments. As the AI partner to more than a dozen of the most iconic American restaurantbrands, Presto is building one of the most impactful real-world applications of AI that directly impacts revenue, labor efficiency, and a magical guest experience for millions of people.

AI is not a feature at Presto; it is the foundation of how we build, evaluate, and evolve our products.We operate at lightning-speed iteration cycles and are solving some of the hardest problems in Voice AI. We are backed by Remus Capital, were a Y Combinator company, and are headquartered in Silicon Valley.

This may not be the right fit for you if you are looking for a traditional 9-to-5 environment. We move at the pace of AI. Change is constant, and roadmaps evolve quickly. Presto is for builders, experimenters, and problem-solvers who thrive in ambiguity, learn continuously, and are excited to shape the future of real-world AI alongside a high-performance team.

The Role

We are looking for a Franchise Sales Manager to drive store-level adoption of Presto's Voice AI platform across the franchise base of one of our largest enterprise brand partners.

Presto's largest brands operate across hundreds or thousands of franchise-owned locations. Corporate may greenlight the partnership, but individual franchisees, franchise groups, and regional operators decide when, whether, and how fast they adopt. That is where you come in.

You will report to the Brand General Manager, who owns the overall brand relationship and commercial strategy. Your job is to execute the franchise expansion plan: build relationships with franchise operators, run sales cycles, close store commitments, and convert the corporate mandate into real deployments across the fleet.

The right person for this role is a high-activity, relationship-driven seller who thrives on volume and velocity. You are comfortable working a large franchise map, managing dozens of simultaneous conversations, and closing deals that range from a single location to a 50-store franchise group. You understand that in franchise environments, trust is earned one operator at a time, and you are willing to put in the work to earn it.

This role is remotely based in the south or midwest regions of the United States. Travel to franchise markets will be required.

What You'll Do

Sell Across the Franchise Base

• Own a pipeline of franchise operators, franchise groups, and regional multi-unit owners within your assigned brand
• Run the full sales cycle from first outreach to signed commitment: prospecting, discovery, demo/pitch, objection handling, negotiation, and close
• Build and manage a high-volume pipeline; track activity, forecast accurately, and hit store-commitment targets on a monthly and quarterly basis
• Tailor the pitch to each audience: a single-store owner has different concerns than a 100-unit franchise group, and you know how to speak to both
• Use performance data from live deployments to build compelling, evidence-based business cases for adoption
• Coordinate with the Brand GM on deal strategy, pricing, and sequencing to ensure franchise sales align with the broader brand expansion plan

• Develop deep, trust-based relationships with franchise operators, regional franchise groups, franchise advisory councils, and co-op leaders
• Become a known and trusted presence within the franchise community for your brand; attend franchise events, regional meetings, and operator gatherings
• Understand franchisee economics at a granular level: labor costs, ticket averages, peak-hour staffing challenges, and how Presto's product directly addresses them
• Identify and cultivate franchise champions who can advocate for Presto adoption within their peer groups and regional networks
• Navigate franchise-specific dynamics: co-op voting structures, technology mandates vs. opt-in programs, franchisee autonomy, and regional variation

• Partner with deployment operations to ensure sold locations move smoothly from signed commitment to live deployment
• Stay engaged through the onboarding process; set expectations with franchisees on timelines, installation, and what to expect in the first weeks of going live
• Follow up post-deployment to ensure operator satisfaction, address concerns early, and turn new deployments into references for the next round of sales
• Identify at-risk operators early and work with the Brand GM and support teams to resolve issues before they escalate

• Share frontline insights from franchise conversations with the Brand GM, product team, and leadership: what objections are you hearing, what's resonating, what's blocking adoption
• Help refine sales materials, pitch decks, ROI calculators, and objection-handling guides based on real franchise conversations
• Track competitive activity and alternative solutions that franchisees are evaluating
• Contribute to the playbook for franchise sales that the broader Presto team can learn from and replicate

• Brand GM: Owns the overall brand relationship, corporate stakeholder management, commercial strategy, CX quality, and revenue targets for the account
• Franchise Sales Manager (this role): Executes the franchise expansion plan; sells to and builds relationships with individual franchisees and franchise groups to drive store-level adoption
• Forward Deployed AI Product Builder: Owns technical delivery, AI system performance, engineering coordination, and product development for the brand

• 3-5 years of experience in a high-activity sales role: SaaS sales, franchise development, technology sales into distributed/multi-location businesses, or B2B sales with a high volume of concurrent deals
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding quota in a role that required building pipeline from scratch, not just closing inbound leads
• Comfort selling to owner-operators and small business owners, not just corporate buyers; you understand that franchise sales is relationship-driven and trust-based
• Strong organizational skills: you can manage 50+ active conversations simultaneously without letting anything fall through the cracks
• Excellent verbal and written communication; you can present confidently to a franchise group, write a compelling follow-up email, and have a straightforward conversation about ROI with a skeptical operator
• Analytical ability to interpret performance data and translate it into a persuasive business case tailored to a specific franchisee's economics
• Self-starter mentality; you don't wait to be told who to call next
• Willingness to travel to franchise markets as needed (estimated 25-40% travel)
• High energy, persistence, and resilience; franchise sales is a volume game and you are energized by it

• Direct experience selling into franchise or multi-unit restaurant environments
• Background in QSR, restaurant technology, or food service operations
• Experience selling technology products that require deployment or installation at physical locations
• Familiarity with franchise business models: franchisor/franchisee dynamics, co-op structures, FACs, and regional operator groups
• Experience with CRM tools (Salesforce, HubSpot) and high-volume pipeline management
• Background in AI, SaaS, or enterprise technology sales
• Experience with Voice AI, conversational AI, or voice automation products
• Existing relationships within major QSR franchise networks