Strategic Business Development Lead (Continental Europe)

• Second Front Systems is seeking a hunter-oriented, market-signal-driven, highly disciplined Strategic Business Development Lead to anchor our EMEA commercial organization as our inaugural dedicated hire for continental Europe. This is an individual-contributor role reporting directly to the Head of EMEA
• You’ll be operating in a nascent market with no inherited playbook. You will be responsible for creating qualified pipeline, opening target accounts, qualifying buying paths, and closing net-new deals across commercial software vendors, government customers, and regulated enterprises
• You’ll pressure-test our target customer profile and buying paths through direct prospecting, named-account work, and live opportunities — identifying the lighthouse customers that establish credible European proof points and unlock a repeatable commercial motion across priority continental markets
• We’re looking for a zero-to-one player who can map mission needs, buyers, budgets, procurement routes, and decision criteria in government and defense pursuits; who can tell the difference between genuine revenue opportunity and mere access or activity; and who brings real discipline to pipeline management, account planning, and forecasting
• In short: you’ll be the organization’s primary route to European market entry and scaled commercial revenue
• Own opportunities from initial contact through contract signature. The hard part: qualifying budget and procurement authority before investing in discovery
• Build a qualified pipeline across commercial software vendors, government entities, and regulated enterprises. The hard part: telling procurement-ready leads apart from exploratory inquiries
• Run named-account coverage through direct prospecting, referrals, and partner channels. The hard part: keeping account discipline across overlapping routes to the same buyer
• Map government and defense pursuits — mission needs, buyer roles, budget cycles, procurement vehicles, and decision criteria. The hard part: validating those criteria before discovery even begins
• Identify the lighthouse customers in Europe that establish accreditable proof points and unlock adjacent accounts. The hard part: qualifying replicability before committing to a pilot
• Validate ideal customer profiles, pricing, and buying paths through live opportunities. The hard part: separating real signal from noise in early-stage feedback
• Assess routes to revenue via hyperscalers, sovereign cloud providers, primes, and systems integrators. The hard part: mapping technical fit to what a given market actually needs
• Coordinate with our nascent continental technical and delivery teams as qualified opportunities move through discovery and evaluation. The hard part: keeping deal timelines realistic against engineering dependencies
• Translate quarterly business targets into regional deployment roadmaps. The hard part: accounting for export-control review and customer security-clearance gates
• Broker alignment between the sales pipeline and operations capacity. The hard part: surfacing resource constraints early enough that they don’t derail contract fulfillment or accreditation schedules
• Keep go-to-market messaging in sync with our compliance posture. The hard part: making sure proposals reflect our actual system hardening and government contract standards, not just the pitch

Benefits

• Health & Wellness: Receive 100% medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family.
• PTO & Remote First: We provide flexible time off, recognize 11 federal holidays, and offer paid parental leave.
• 401(k) & Equity: Invest in your future. Our 401(k) and equity incentives help you build wealth as we grow together.
• Professional Development: We value your drive to grow and provide an annual stipend for self-directed professional development.

• EU residency with valid work authorization
• Fluent English; willingness to travel regularly across continental Europe
• Experience selling technically demanding enterprise products to both commercial and government customers
• 7+ years of business development, enterprise sales, or capture experience, including complex B2B and B2G technology sales across European markets
• Strong CRM, qualification, account-planning, and forecasting discipline
• A 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
• A credible network in at least one relevant European ecosystem, with clear capacity to expand beyond it
• Proven ability to operate across multiple European procurement cultures and work fluently with commercial executives, technical evaluators, and government decision-makers
• A strong hunter profile, with evidence of closing complex deals and distinguishing genuine revenue opportunity from access and activity
• Commercial exposure to European defense, govtech, or regulated industries — or to technology vendors selling into those markets
• Existing relationships within the European defense, NATO, or allied-government ecosystem
• Fluency in an additional European language relevant to a priority continental market (e.g., 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