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Salary: EUR 117,200 - 146,500 / annual
Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history, delivering empirical data via a cloud-based platform to commercial, environmental, and humanitarian sectors. The company controls every component of hardware design, manufacturing, data processing, and software engineering.
The Director of Sales, Europe will lead the regional sales organization, drive Planet's Go-To-Market strategy, and accelerate revenue growth across national security, defense, and government sectors. This is a full-time hybrid role based in the United Kingdom or Germany, with an expectation to work from the office 3 days per week if located near one.
As a people manager and business leader, you will own the regional revenue target, drive executive alignment, and establish disciplined pipeline governance to ensure forecast predictability. You will build, mentor, and coach a team of direct reports, fostering a culture of accountability, operational excellence, and continuous professional development. You will architect large-scale strategic programs, lead high-stakes commercial negotiations, and scale partner ecosystems to penetrate priority markets.
Key responsibilities include: driving strategic revenue growth and executing GTM strategy to build, negotiate, and close high-value complex deals across sovereign defense and government sectors; maintaining rigorous pipeline hygiene in Salesforce and delivering accurate, data-driven revenue forecasts; engineering tailored capture strategies and executive narratives aligned with agency-level priorities; building and scaling a high-performing sales team with accountability and professional development; training direct reports on sales methodologies (MEDDPICC, Shipley) and deal qualification; proactively recruiting and retaining elite commercial and defense-domain talent; orchestrating seamless collaboration across Government Affairs, Product, Engineering, and Field Marketing; partnering with Pre-Sales/Solutions Engineering and Post-Sales teams for technical wins and customer onboarding; and communicating deal velocity transparently to mobilize executive sponsorship.
The ideal candidate is an accomplished sales leader with deep defense domain expertise and a track record of managing high-performing teams across Alliance structures and Northern European markets. You will bring an established executive network spanning NATO HQ, allied Defense Ministries, Armed Forces Commands, Intelligence Agencies, and key European Prime Contractors/System Integrators.
Requirements:
- 8+ years of relevant work experience and 6+ years supervisory/leadership experience, with a track record of driving revenue growth, building high-performing teams, and consistently exceeding multi-million-dollar individual and team quotas
- Ability to recruit, mentor, and retain top-tier talent, instilling a high-accountability culture and coaching direct reports through complex, multi-year deal cycles
- Deep experience establishing pipeline discipline, accurate revenue forecasting, and thorough deal inspection using Salesforce.com and modern sales methodologies (e.g., MEDDPICC)
- Extensive background navigating complex government, NATO, and defense procurement frameworks (e.g., NCI Agency, FMS/DCS, national MoD acquisition bodies) across Northern Europe and Allied Command structures, with focus on key Nordic nations (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark)
- Established C-level network across Defense Ministries, Intelligence Agencies, Allied Commands, and European Defense Primes/System Integrators
- Deep understanding of how commercial technology and advanced data feeds support Allied posture, sovereign defense, intelligence, and ISR missions
- Success collaborating across internal matrixed teams (Government Affairs, Product, Engineering, Legal) to align corporate capabilities with regional opportunities
- Strategic, self-directed leader with commercial judgment, adept at leading teams through dynamic, high-growth, or startup-like market environments
- Professional working proficiency in English
Desirable qualifications:
- 5+ years of progressive sales leadership and enterprise business development experience within defense, national security, or government technology sectors
- Operational understanding of NATO defense priorities, Nordic security dynamics, joint acquisition processes, and agency decision-making across Allied Ministries of Defense and Tier-1 Defense Primes
- Experience managing complex, multi-year deal cycles with disciplined capture frameworks, pipeline governance, and accurate revenue forecasting
- Professional proficiency in a Nordic language (Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish)
