Strategic Business Development Lead, Continental Europe
About The Position
Second Front Systems is seeking a hunter-oriented, market-signal-driven Strategic Business Development Lead to establish its commercial organization across continental Europe as the region’s inaugural dedicated hire. This individual-contributor role reports directly to the Head of EMEA and is the primary route to European market entry and scaled commercial revenue. The role operates in a nascent market without an established playbook. The Lead will create qualified pipeline, open target accounts, qualify buying paths, and close new business with commercial software vendors, government customers, and regulated enterprises. The work includes testing target customer profiles and buying paths through direct prospecting, named-account coverage, and active opportunities; identifying lighthouse customers; and developing repeatable commercial motions across priority continental markets. The successful candidate will map mission needs, buyers, budgets, procurement routes, and decision criteria in government and defense pursuits, while maintaining disciplined pipeline management, account planning, and forecasting. The position is full-time and remote within the EU, requires EU residency and existing valid work authorization, and involves regular travel across continental Europe.
Requirements
- At least 7 years of business development, enterprise sales, or capture experience, including complex B2B and B2G technology sales across European markets.
- Demonstrated track record of personally opening accounts and creating net-new pipeline in commercial software, cloud, infrastructure, or technology deals spanning commercial and government buyers.
- Strong hunter profile, with evidence of closing complex deals and distinguishing genuine revenue opportunity from access and activity.
- Experience selling technically demanding enterprise products to commercial and government customers.
- Commercial exposure to European defense, govtech, or regulated industries, or to technology vendors selling into those markets.
- Ability to operate across multiple European procurement cultures and work fluently with commercial executives, technical evaluators, and government decision-makers.
- Credible network in at least one relevant European ecosystem and clear capacity to expand beyond it.
- Strong CRM, qualification, account-planning, and forecasting discipline.
- Fluent English and willingness to travel regularly across continental Europe.
- EU residency with existing valid work authorization; the company cannot sponsor candidates.
Nice To Haves
- Existing relationships within the European defense, NATO, or allied-government ecosystem.
- Fluency in an additional European language relevant to a priority continental market, such as French, German, Dutch, or a Nordic language.
- Prior experience as an early or first commercial hire opening a new market or region for a startup or scale-up.
- Existing government security clearance or eligibility.
Responsibilities
- Own opportunities from initial contact through contract signature, qualifying budget and procurement authority before investing in discovery.
- Build qualified pipeline across commercial software vendors, government entities, and regulated enterprises.
- Run named-account coverage through direct prospecting, referrals, and partner channels.
- Map government and defense pursuits, including mission needs, buyer roles, budget cycles, procurement vehicles, and decision criteria.
- Identify European lighthouse customers that can establish credible proof points and unlock adjacent accounts.
- Validate ideal customer profiles, pricing, and buying paths through live opportunities.
- Assess routes to revenue via hyperscalers, sovereign cloud providers, primes, and systems integrators.
- Coordinate with continental technical and delivery teams as qualified opportunities move through discovery and evaluation.
- Translate quarterly business targets into regional deployment roadmaps, accounting for export-control review and customer security-clearance gates.
- Align the sales pipeline with operations capacity and surface resource constraints that could affect contract fulfillment or accreditation schedules.
- Keep go-to-market messaging and proposals aligned with the company’s compliance posture, system hardening, and government contract standards.
Benefits
- Eligible for equity awards.
- Eligible for discretionary bonuses as part of the broader total rewards package.
- Variable compensation tied to revenue targets and first-year MBOs; total on-target earnings will be finalized during the interview process.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
