Commercial Planning Manager

Destinus; Dubai; On-site; AED 300,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Destinus is seeking a Commercial Planning Manager to orchestrate the company’s commercial ambitions across Business Development, Programme Management, Legal and Operations. You will link sales and delivery, ensure bids progress smoothly, and drive licensing and export-control activities for government and defense customers.

You will coordinate demonstrations, site visits, and cross-functional planning, maintaining discipline under time pressure while upholding compliance standards and accurate

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in related discipline.
• 5–7 years of professional experience in commercial planning or related field.
• Experience in defense or aerospace and export-control regimes is advantageous.
• Strong planning and accuracy.
• Excellent coordination and stakeholder-management skills.
• Fluent in English; Dutch, German or Spanish a plus.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a rolling commercial calendar of bids, milestones, demonstrations and deliveries.
• Serve as the link between teams, ensuring smooth handover to delivery.
• Align commercial plans with programme schedules and resource plans.
• Own administration for licence applications and export controls (end-user certificates).
• Liaise with export authorities, customs, and Legal/Compliance to move applications forward.
• Advise colleagues on licensing implications early in pursuits.
• Coordinate demonstrations and act as the single commercial contact for demos.
• Coordinate customer and partner visits to sites and facilities.
• Collaborate with Business Development, Manufacturing, Legal and Programme Management to align plans.

Skills

Commercial planning

Sales operations

Project management

Stakeholder management

Attention to detail

Cross-functional collaboration

English fluency

Export controls

Regulatory compliance

Communication

Education

Bachelor/Master degree

Tools

Export licensing process

Job description

As Commercial Planning Manager, you will be the orchestrator who ensures Destinus’ commercial ambitions can be fast tracked and realised. You will drive the coordination of the activities that win and deliver business. Crucially, you will be the linking pin to a.o. our Business Development, Programme Management, Legal and Operational teams. You are a critical spider in the web to ensure the lead up to a commercial deal is validated, streamlined, and successful. This is a high-impact, cross-functional role for someone who brings order to fast-moving environments, is accurate and understands the rigour and trade-compliance discipline required when selling into government and defense customers.

What You’ll Do

Commercial Planning

• Maintain a rolling commercial calendar of bids, milestones, demonstrations and deliveries, proactively flagging conflicts, capacity constraints and resourcing risks

• Serve as the link between various teams within the organisation, ensuring commitments made during the sales process are handed over cleanly into delivery

• Align commercial plans with programme schedules, milestones and resource plans, surfacing risks and dependencies in both directions

Export Licensing & Trade-Compliance Administration

• Own all associated administration for licence applications, end-user certificates and classification requests—ensuring complete, accurate and audit-ready documentation

• Main entry point into the legal team for export license applications

• Liaise with national export-control authorities, customs, and internal Legal and Compliance to resolve queries and keep applications moving

• Advise commercial colleagues on licensing implications early in each pursuit and maintain the export-control knowledge base

Demonstration Team Liaison (Commercial Linking Pin)

• Ensure demonstration activity is prioritised against the pipeline and that outcomes and lessons learned feed back into the commercial plan

• Act as the single commercial point of contact for the demonstration teams, translating customer and campaign requirements into clear demonstration briefs

• Plan and coordinate the commercial aspects of demonstrations—scheduling, attendee management, and the approvals and export licences required

Factory Site-Visit Coordination

• Coordinate, on behalf of Commercial, all customer and partner visits to our sites & facilities

• Work with Manufacturing, Security and Programme teams to ensure visits are well prepared, compliant, and aligned with commercial objectives

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Business Development, Manufacturing, Legal and Programme Management to keep commercial plans aligned with contractual, financial and delivery realities

• Support commercial teams during major pursuits by maintaining planning discipline under time pressure

• Serve as a point of contact for internal and external audits relating to export-control administration

What You’ll Need

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business Administration, International Trade, Law, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, or a related discipline

• 5–7 years of professional experience in commercial planning, sales operations, or commercial project management;

• Experience in the defense or aerospace industry, as well as working knowledge of export-control regimes and hands-on experience with licence applications is a strong advantage

• Strong planning skills and operate with high level of accuracy

• Excellent coordination and stakeholder-management skills

• Fluent in English.

• Dutch, German or Spanish will be a plus

Who You Are

You are a structured, highly organised professional who creates clarity where there is ambiguity and keeps many moving parts on track at once. You combine a planner’s discipline with a hands‑on, pragmatic approach, and you are comfortable being the connective tissue between various internal and external stakeholders. You understand the seriousness of export controls and treat compliance as non‑negotiable. You are diplomatic enough to bring people along, yet firm enough to hold the line on deadlines and process. Above all, you are motivated by the mission, ensuring Destinus can compete and win in the global defense market through commercial excellence.