Business Development Manager Financial Services Europe (m/f/d)

Acceleraid GmbH; Berlin; Hybrid; EUR 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Direct founder access

Travel opportunities

Job summary

Acceleraid GmbH seeks a senior business development professional to build access to banks, card issuers and insurers across Europe. You will identify talking points and decision makers, then open and develop opportunities with the founders closely involved.

You will present data-driven AI solutions to financial services executives, leveraging your European network. Two days a week in the Berlin office is preferred, with travel across Europe to conferences and clients.

Qualifications

• 3–6 years in banks, card issuers or insurers across Europe, in consulting, at a payment scheme, processor, fintech or vendor selling to financial services.
• Deep understanding of card programmes, loyalty, retail banking P&Ls and how Heads of Cards/CMOs are measured.
• Experience across multiple European markets (Germany, UK, France, Nordics).
• Active European banking/fintech network and ability to open conversations.
• Ability to translate data/AI/regulation concepts to business units and hand off to data science.
• High initiative, travel willingness and client-facing confidence.
• Fluent business English (C1/C2) and German (C1/C2); other European languages a plus.
• Two days per week in the office with the team preferred.

Responsibilities

• Build access to banks, card issuers and insurers across Europe with focus on DACH, UK, Benelux, France, Italy and Nordics.
• Identify institutions where marketing/sales/service topics align with our offerings and locate the right person to engage.
• Leverage existing networks and industry events to create conversations that wouldn’t happen otherwise.
• Open and develop opportunities; prepare each conversation with stakeholders and decision makers.
• Guide opportunities through decision processes with founders and specialist team from first meeting to PoC to signature.
• Present solutions credibly to Heads of Cards/CMOs and CIOs; win trust as a advisor, not just a talker.
• Travel regularly across Europe to conferences, clients and industry scenes; maintain market insights in Pipedrive.
• Lead introductions where a client beyond financial services could benefit from our AI solutions.

Skills

Fintech industry networking

Strategic business development

Networking with banks and insurers

Deal negotiation

Opportunity qualification

Market research

English fluency

German fluency

Travel readiness

Tools

Pipedrive

Job description

You've spent the last few years working with banks, card issuers or insurers across Europe - in financial services consulting, at a payment scheme or processor, in a fintech, or on the vendor side. Along the way you've built something valuable: you understand how a card programme or a retail bank actually makes money - interchange, revolving, fees, loyalty economics, customer lifetime value - and you know who drives which topics in which institution, who really decides, and how a bank buys. You know the European banking, credit card, loyalty and rewards scene inside out.

Who we are

We build AI and data intelligence solutions for marketing, sales and customer service. Our clients are credit card issuers, retail banks and insurers - today mainly in Central Europe, the UK and the Nordics - companies that know there is more in their customer base than they are currently getting out of it. We're a small team, the founders are personally involved in every deal, and whoever joins us shapes the company rather than working through a process.

What you'll build with us

• You build our access to banks, card issuers and insurers across Europe - with a focus on DACH, the UK, Benelux, France, Italy and the Nordics
• You identify which institutions are currently working on topics in marketing, sales or service that fit what we do - and who the right person is to start the conversation
• You use your network from previous roles, the fintech scene and industry events to create first conversations where they otherwise wouldn't happen
• You open and develop the opportunity; the founders close with you. You prepare each conversation so we never start from zero: who's at the table, what's driving the institution right now, where the P&L pressure sits, and where the hurdles are with IT, procurement and data protection
• You accompany the opportunity through the decision process together with the founders and our specialist team - from first meeting to proof of concept to signature
• You present our solutions credibly to business stakeholders - making a data science use case tangible for a Head of Cards or CMO and credible for a CIO
• You're regularly out in the European hubs - at conferences, with clients, in the scene - and come back with names, topics and meetings
• You keep contacts, deal status and market insights in Pipedrive so the team can build on them
• If your network leads to a client outside financial services who could use what we build, we'll follow your lead

What you bring

• 3-6 years working with banks, card issuers or insurers in Europe - for example in financial services consulting (at a mid-sized consultancy or an Accenture/BCG-type firm), at a payment scheme, processor or fintech, or at a software or data vendor selling into financial services
• You understand the business, not just the org chart: how card programmes, loyalty and rewards, and retail banking P&Ls work, where the margin sits, and what a Head of Cards or CMO is actually measured on
• Experience across several European markets: you've seen how differently a bank operates in Frankfurt, London, Paris or Stockholm
• An active network in the European banking and fintech scene - former clients, colleagues and partners who now sit at banks, card issuers, insurers or fintechs
• An understanding of how financial institutions make decisions and buy: business units, IT, procurement, compliance, data protection - and who among them actually tips the balance
• A feel for topics: you recognise in conversation where a client has a problem in marketing, sales or service that we can solve
• You can translate: enough understanding of data, AI and regulation (GDPR, EU AI Act) to talk to business units as a peer and hand over cleanly to our data science team - we don't need you to know how to integrate with TSYS
• Substance over pitch: you'd rather ask a sharp question than give a slick answer. We're looking for a trusted advisor, not a talker
• Initiative and willingness to travel: you don't wait for leads, you create them - and you like being where the conversations happen
• Business-fluent English (C1/C2) and fluent German (C1/C2) required; another European language is a plus
• Two days a week in the office with the team highly preferred

Nice to have

• Network in retail banking, credit card and financial services in Central Europe
• Hands-on experience in a card, loyalty or CRM programme on the bank side (e.g., product, portfolio or campaign management)
• Experience selling or delivering marketing, CRM, analytics or customer data software to financial institutions

Why join us

• A market you build rather than inherit - with direct influence on where we stand in two years
• A role for someone who's advised banks for years and now wants to build something with a stake in the outcome - rather than write another deck
• Working directly with the founders, short paths, no politics
• Bringing AI solutions to regulated companies - a field that is only just emerging and where very few people can genuinely do it yet
• A team of data science, product and pre-sales that has your back on the technical side
• Travel to Europe's financial centres as part of the job, not the exception