File · SRX-2609 / Germany / Netherlands (EMEA) · Open

Director, AI Sales & Business Development — DACH & Benelux

Agentic AI platform, managed AI services · €8–12M ARR

An AI-era rainmaker. This mandate is for the Director who can hold a credible engineering conversation with a CTO in the morning and structure a multi-million-euro platform-plus-services deal in the afternoon.

Discipline
Enterprise AI & Transformation
Seniority
Director · 12+ years
Languages
German and/or Dutch, plus English
Work mode
Remote-first — Germany or Netherlands · ~40% travel
Employment
Full-time · Permanent
Listed
17 Aug 2026

How to approach this mandate

No application form. No CV portal. Read the position brief, then speak with Peter directly, under confidence.

The client is not named here. On an engaged mandate the client's hiring intent is commercially sensitive, so the organisation is identified to you under confidence in the first partner conversation — not published to their competitors.

The remit

Why this role exists now. And what it carries.

Enterprise AI has crossed from experiment to production mandate. DACH and Benelux boards are approving AI transformation spend with urgency, and the window to win preferred-partner status with the region's largest organisations is open now rather than indefinitely.

The client is positioned for that window: thirty years of engineering credibility, an agentic development platform that changes delivery economics rather than describing them, hyperscaler and data-platform partnerships for reach, and enough agility to move faster than the large integrators. Boutique regional AI consultancies compete credibly on brand but not on global delivery at scale.

What the region does not yet have is the commercial owner. This seat is the primary growth engine for AI-led new business across DACH and Benelux — originating net-new logos, constructing deals that blend platform, engineering services and managed AI delivery, and closing them with the engineering community alongside rather than behind.

What the role carries

  • Own and exceed an €8–12M ARR target in Year 1, scaling toward €18–24M by Year 3.
  • Originate, qualify and close net-new enterprise logos across financial services, automotive, manufacturing and public sector.
  • Run the full commercial cycle from first conversation through structuring, proposal, negotiation and close, holding a pipeline at three to four times target.
  • Sell the full AI portfolio: an agentic development platform, generative AI engineering, AI-enabled managed services, data modernisation and cloud-native transformation.
  • Build joint go-to-market and co-sell motions with cloud hyperscalers and data platform leaders in region.
  • Translate AI capability into board-level value: platform economics, engineering velocity and competitive differentiation tied to the client's P&L.
  • Build and sustain CTO, CIO, CDO, COO and CPO relationships and navigate multi-threaded enterprise buying centres.
  • Represent the firm at tier-1 events and executive roundtables across Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland, and feed market intelligence back to global leadership.

The brief

The challenge, the mandate, and the impact.

The challenge

The platform, the partnerships and the engineering credibility are in place; regional AI revenue is not. DACH and Benelux buyers are funding AI transformation now, and without a senior commercial owner the preferred-partner window closes in a competitor's favour.

The mandate

Reports to the Managing Director, EMEA. Full ownership of AI-led new business across DACH and Benelux with an €8–12M ARR Year-1 number, end-to-end cycle authority, portfolio-wide selling rights across platform, engineering services and managed AI delivery, and hyperscaler and data-platform co-sell ownership in region.

The impact

12 months
€8–12M ARR delivered, a pipeline held at three to four times target, and at least two reference-grade AI programmes closed and in delivery.
24 months
A repeatable regional AI motion with tested commercial structures, preferred-partner status inside several of the region's largest enterprises, and a trajectory toward €18–24M ARR.

35

Median days to shortlist

Category norm: 84–120 days

8 in 10

12-month retention

Category norm: ~60% at 18 months

90 days

Replacement guarantee

With backfill

1

Partner, start to close

Never delegated

Index reading

The market reading behind the brief.

This mandate is not written from a job description. It is written from our own quarterly reading of how these roles are being eliminated, redefined and created in this corridor.

Where this mandate sits in the market

Current Q3 displacement intensity in the sectors that frame this search. Higher intensity means more leadership turnover and sharper talent scarcity.

  • AI EngineeringDisplaced · 9/9
  • Tech ConsultingDisplaced · 9/9
  • SaaS & CloudDisplaced · 9/9

Read the full Displacement Index — 7 sectors across APAC, EMEA and the GCC.

The profile

Who closes this. And on what terms.

Critical

  • €1M+ TCV closes, personally

    Multi-stakeholder enterprise deals you originated and closed yourself, described in structure and substance.

  • AI and data services depth

    Five years or more selling AI, data, cloud or transformation services — not adjacent enterprise software.

  • Technical credibility with CTOs

    Agentic AI, GenAI engineering, MLOps or LLM architecture fluency sufficient to hold the room without a solution architect.

  • Platform-plus-services motion

    Managed services and outcome-based contracts structured and sold, not merely quoted.

  • German and/or Dutch

    Native or fluent, plus professional English, with a live regional executive network.

Differentiators

  • Prior commercial experience at a technology consultancy or specialist AI/ML practice.
  • Existing hyperscaler or data-platform partner relationships in DACH or Benelux.
  • Working knowledge of GDPR, the AI Act and data-sovereignty pressure in DACH buying centres.
  • Genuine intellectual curiosity about engineering practice, not only its commercial packaging.

What the client offers

  • Platform differentiation that is shipping infrastructure rather than a methodology deck.
  • Engineering credibility clients already trust, and access to a global technologist community as a sales resource rather than a cost line.
  • Green territory: DACH and Benelux are under-penetrated relative to global capability.
  • A direct path from origination to earnings, with base of €150K–€185K, OTE of €260K–€320K and uncapped upside above target, plus long-term incentive participation.
  • Remote-first base in Germany or the Netherlands with roughly 40% regional travel; private health, pension, learning budget and sabbatical programme.
Revenue target
€8–12M ARR Year 1 · €18–24M+ by Year 3
Reports to
Managing Director, EMEA
Package
€150K–€185K base · €260K–€320K OTE, uncapped · LTIP
Start
Q3/Q4 2026 preferred; notice periods accommodated

The approach

How this mandate runs. Partner-led, end to end.

01 · Day 0–1

Approach

You reach out — through this page, the Amsterdam line, or a confidential booking. No application form, no CV upload to a portal. The first conversation is about fit, not paperwork.

02 · Days 2–7

Partner conversation

Peter Post, the partner following up on this mandate, speaks with you directly. Origination records do not read from a CV, so the conversation goes straight to the deals you personally closed and how.

03 · Days 8–21

Client introduction

If the fit holds, Peter introduces you to the hiring client under confidence. You meet regional leadership, test the territory assumptions, and see the support structure behind the number.

04 · Days 22–35

Decision

The client decides. On a yes, Peter works the package — base, variable, ramp and counter-offer defence — with both sides. On a no, you get a direct debrief, not silence.

Your partner on this mandate

Peter Post
Peter Post

Partner · Digital Talent Sourcing · Amsterdam

Old-school recruiting instinct, modern stack, engineer's discipline — pipelines built before the brief is signed.

Book a confidential call

Where this mandate connects

The full register