Head of Business Development – Western Europe

Job Title: Head of Business Development – Western Europe

Location: Flexible within Western Europe

Salary: €100,000 dependent on experience plus executive benefits package

What you’ll be doing:

• The Director for Western Europe is responsible for delivering the full range of business development activities across a group of countries, including Germany, France, and Italy. This includes Strategy and planning, Market development, Opportunity identification and development, Stakeholder management across the defence and security ecosystem and Support to campaigns and bids.
• The Director for Western Europe must be able to provide market insight, inform business and product strategy, manage stakeholders, navigate procurement processes, and attract resources from across the company to prosecute new business opportunities in their region.
• This will involve working with Governments, embassies, defence procurement agencies, industry partners and other stakeholders across the region, with a strong connection back to BAE Systems home markets, including the UK, US and Sweden.

Your skills and experiences:

• Degree in business administration, international relations or related field, MBA desirable.
• Deep understanding of European geopolitics and the defence and security landscape.
• Considerable knowledge of defence and security procurement, and a good understanding of capability trends.
• Commercially astute, with the capacity to think strategically and deliver impact at a national level.
• Track record of building, maintaining and strengthening relationships with senior customers and partners.
• Experience of bids/captures in a high profile and competitive environment.
• Experience of developing and/or managing industrial partnering agreements.
• Able to operate in a challenging and dynamic political, cultural and industrial environment.
• Some experience of managing teams and awareness of other business functions.
• Foreign language skills highly desirable (German, French or Italian with fluent English).

Benefits:

As well as a competitive pension scheme, BAE Systems also offers employee share plans, an extensive range of flexible discounted health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, including a green car scheme, private health plans and shopping discounts – you may also be eligible for an annual incentive.

The Group Business Development Team:

In your capacity as Director Western Europe, you will be responsible for delivering the full range of business development activities across a group of countries. Reporting into the Regional Managing Director for Europe you will be instrumental in the success of the company’s growth.

You will be working for Europe’s largest defence and security company, representing an extensive portfolio of products and services in the air, land, sea, cyber and space domains, and interacting with government and industry stakeholders in Europe’s capitals. All shaped by the geopolitical context, this role is challenging, varied and exciting.

Why BAE Systems?

This is a place where you’ll be able to make a real difference. You’ll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you’ll be empowered to fulfil your potential.

We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and particularly from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our industry, including women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ individuals. We also want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder etc.) that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict the roles you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All applicants must as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting.

Closing Date: 4th March 2025

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.