Strategic Business Development Lead, Continental Europe

About Second Front Systems

Second Front is a venture-backed company on a mission to strengthen global security by accelerating access to emerging technologies for the U.S. and our allies. Founded by Marines who saw firsthand how outdated government acquisition systems held back frontline personnel, we help commercial software companies get mission-critical technology into the hands of government users faster — backed by FedRAMP High, DoD IL2–IL6/JWICS, GovRAMP, UK MOD, and NATO authorizations. Our team is mission-obsessed, collaborative, and decisive, and we’re proud to be Great Place to Work® certified.

About the Role

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.

Work authorization & location: This position requires EU residency with existing, valid work authorization. Second Front cannot sponsor candidates at this time. We’re hiring EU-wide for this role (candidates based in the Netherlands or Denmark are of particular interest, but we welcome applicants anywhere in the EU).

Employment type & schedule: This is a full-time, remote position based in the EU, with compensation designated in EUR. Regular travel across continental Europe should be expected.

What You’ll Do

• 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.

What You Bring

• 7+ years of business development, enterprise sales, or capture experience, including complex B2B and B2G technology sales across European markets.

• 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 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 both commercial and government customers.

• Commercial exposure to European defense, govtech, or regulated industries — or to technology vendors selling into those markets.

• Proven ability to operate across multiple European procurement cultures and work fluently with commercial executives, technical evaluators, and government decision-makers.

• A credible network in at least one relevant European ecosystem, with clear capacity to expand beyond it.

• Strong CRM, qualification, account-planning, and forecasting discipline.

• Fluent English; willingness to travel regularly across continental Europe.

• EU residency with valid work authorization.

Preferred Qualifications

• 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.

Compensation & Benefits

The base salary for this position will fall between €150,000 €180,000. This is a quota-carrying role with a variable component tied to revenue targets and first-year MBOs; total on-target earnings (OTE) will be finalized during the interview process based on the final compensation structure. Actual base compensation will depend on professional background, technical proficiency, seniority, and regional cost factors, and this role is also eligible for equity awards and discretionary bonuses as part of a broader total rewards package.

Equal Opportunity

Second Front Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.