Business Development Executive - EU Public Sector & NATO
About this role
🌍We’re making security suck less for developers & CISOs
Security tools interrupt teams, slow releases, and turn security into a bottleneck. Aikido builds developer-first products that cut real risk without getting in the way of shipping. Founded in 2022 by third-time founders, with $85M in the bank.
Aikido Strategic & Defense (ASD), our public sector and defense unit, is hiring its first Business Development Executive (EU Public Sector, Defense & NATO). This is a zero-to-one, quota-carrying mandate: you drive and close out our first revenue in the region, then turn those wins into a repeatable motion.
You will be measured on closed revenue first. Strategy, positioning, and partner work exist because they are how deals close here, not as a substitute for closing them. A team comes later, once the number is proven. This is a cyber-first role: developer tooling experience helps, but it is not what earns credibility in an MoD cyber unit.
Who You Will Sell To:
Government and defense institutions themselves, not the defense industrial base: ministries of defense, national cyber commands and CERTs, public agencies, and NATO bodies like the NCI Agency. Three profiles, three entry points:
In-house developers: The Aikido core platform, mapped to sovereign and mission outcomes.
Few developers, GSI delivery team: Core platform plus supply chain security, sold through the integrator shipping the code.
MoD and national cyber units: Autonomous pentesting, Box, and the offensive portfolio alongside defensive coverage. Cyber risk buyers, not engineering buyers.
Requirements
Drive and Close Out Our First Revenue: Carry the number and own the full cycle, from first touch through security review and procurement to signature. You source your pipeline and close it.
Localize the ASD Strategy: Turn our global strategy into EU positioning and account plans that hold up with sovereign buyers.
Define Joint GTM With Partners: Build go-to-market plans with GSIs, regional partners, and distributors holding government frameworks, and hold them accountable for pipeline.
Navigate Public Procurement: Lead tenders, RFPs, and RFIs, and build the executive relationships behind them, from CISOs and national cyber leadership to procurement directors. Forecast accurately in HubSpot.
Be Part of the Conversation: Operate inside the circles where European defense and cyber decisions get shaped. Credibility here is a deliverable, not a nice-to-have. What
We Are Looking For:
Cybersecurity Depth First: Credible on both sides of the house, AppSec and supply chain on defense, pentesting and adversary tradecraft on offense, with a view on how AI is reshaping both.
You Speak Acronym: Fluent in the language of this customer base and alive to the nuances here: budget and program cycles, classification boundaries, competing coalition and national interests, and when a slow process means caution, not disinterest.
A Closer, Not Just an Opener: 8 to 12 years selling cybersecurity into the EU public sector, defense, or NATO, with a personally attributable record of closing 6- and 7-figure deals. Deep knowledge of government purchasing frameworks and partner-led models. A Network You Can Use Day One: Relationships across European MoDs, national cyber agencies, NATO bodies, or the partners serving them.
Clearance, Languages, Location: Eligibility to obtain EU/NATO clearance; an active clearance is not required. Fluent English, with French, German, or Dutch a major plus. Based in Europe near government hubs, Brussels preferred.
Why This Matters to Us
These institutions protect citizens and support warfighters. The software they run on is a live target, and insecure code here lands on real people, not a risk register. If you want real impact, this is the seat. If it is just another territory, it is not.
What You Can Expect
A founding mandate for ASD in Europe with direct access to leadership. Short decision lines, big ownership, room to ship fast.
Compensation and equity benchmarked to the mandate rather than the title, with real upside on the deals you close.
Latitude on how you present yourself in the market. High trust, flexible hours, zero corporate BS. We hire for talent, drive, and potential. Everything else is noise.
Originally posted on Himalayas
