Senior Director, Defense Sales & Capture

Basemark; Helsinki; Remote; EUR 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Basemark, headquartered in Helsinki, seeks a Senior Director of Defense Sales & Capture for Europe. You will own high-value defense opportunities from discovery through contract award, building relationships with primes and platform OEMs across Europe.

You will lead technical workshops, evaluations, pilots, and negotiations, coordinating with Basemark engineering and product teams. Expect frequent travel and senior management collaboration.

Qualifications

• Experience selling defense or defense-technology to primes, OEMs or integrators.
• Track record of closing defense programs and handling multi-million euro deals.
• Strong understanding of embedded systems, sensors, mission systems, or software integration.
• Ability to navigate RFI/RFP/RFQ processes and procurement cycles.
• Excellent commercial judgment on scope, pricing, licensing, and partnerships.
• Willingness to travel across Europe and work independently.

Responsibilities

• Own qualified defense opportunities from discovery through contract signature.
• Develop relationships with defense primes, OEMs, and program owners.
• Lead proposals, pricing discussions, and contract negotiations.
• Coordinate with engineering and product teams during technical evaluations.
• Maintain CRM and forecast with realistic opportunity tracking.
• Ensure programs evolve from engineering work to broader Rocksolid licenses and support.

Skills

Defense sales

European defense market

Contract closing

Embedded systems knowledge

Pricing & licensing

Travel readiness

Multilingual (DE/EN)

Senior sales leadership

CRM management

Tools

RFI/RFP/RFQ processes

Job description

Senior Director, Defense Sales & Capture

Europe

Have you personally taken complex defense technology opportunities from early customer engagement through technical evaluation, proposal, procurement, and contract award? Do you know how to sell software, electronics, mission systems, or embedded technology into defense primes and platform OEMs? And finally: can you tell the difference between a real funded program and an interesting conversation that will never become one? If you answered yes out loud to these questions, it means you talk to yourself! Please read on:

Basemark headquartered in Helsinki with employees in Germany, Ukraine, the US and Taiwan, develops production‑grade real‑time visualization software for software‑defined vehicles and mission‑critical systems. Our Rocksolid platform turns data from sensors, cameras, navigation, C2/BMS/TAK systems, autonomy, and AI into clear, low‑latency information for the operator. Rocksolid can be used across crew displays, remote operator stations, HUDs, smart helmets, and AR glasses.

Our background is in automotive series production software, where reliability, embedded performance, low latency and long product lifecycles matter. We are now applying that same technology and engineering discipline to defense where we are growing our business across land systems, soldier systems, maritime platforms, autonomous systems and command‑and‑control environments. Basemark operates a German GmbH, and this role will be employed in Germany.

The Job

We are looking for a senior defense sales leader who can turn an existing pipeline into funded programs and long‑term business. This is not a lead‑generation role.

You will inherit active defense leads and opportunities across primes, vehicle manufacturers, soldier systems companies, maritime programs, and defense integrators. Your job is to take the strongest opportunities and move them forward: qualify the program, understand the customer and buying process, bring in the right Basemark technical people, build the commercial case, lead the proposal and negotiation, and get the contract signed. You will work closely with our business development team, product and engineering teams, and senior management.

You will:

• Own qualified defense opportunities from early discovery through contract signature.
• Build strong relationships with defense primes, platform OEMs, system integrators, and program owners.
• Understand who owns the program, who owns the budget, who makes the technical decision, and how the customer will buy.
• Turn customer interest into concrete technical workshops, evaluations, pilots, RFIs, RFQs, and funded programs.
• Represent Basemark in customer meetings, technical reviews, negotiations, and selected industry event(s) across Europe.
• Lead proposals, pricing, negotiations, and commercial discussions.
• Work closely with Basemark engineering and product teams during technical evaluations.
• Keep opportunities focused on a clear customer problem, decision path, budget, and next step.
• Qualify hard and walk away from opportunities that do not have a credible program, owner, budget, or procurement path.
• Protect Basemark’s role and commercial position when working through primes, partners, and system integrators.
• Build deals that can grow from initial engineering work into Rocksolid Studio licenses, runtime licenses, royalties, support, and production programs.
• Keep CRM up to date and maintain a realistic forecast.

Your customers may include:

• Defense primes
• Armored and tactical vehicle manufacturers
• Soldier systems and smart‑helmet companies
• C4ISR and battle‑management‑system providers
• Maritime defense companies
• Autonomous and robotic system companies
• EO/IR and sensor companies
• Defense system integrators
• The programs may involve crew situational awareness, remote operation, autonomous systems, smart helmets, EO/IR visualization, tactical data, mission displays, HUDs, AI‑assisted systems, or multi‑display command environments.
• Basemark is usually one technology layer inside a larger defense system. You need to be comfortable selling in that environment.

Requirements:

• Approximately 8–15+ years of relevant commercial experience.
• Significant direct experience in the European defense market.
• A track record of personally closing defense or defense‑technology programs.
• Experience selling software, electronics, sensors, mission systems, embedded systems, or similar technology into larger defense platforms.
• Experience with RFI, RFP, RFQ, technical evaluation, procurement, negotiation, and contract award processes.
• Existing relationships with European defense primes, OEMs, integrators, or program organizations.
• Experience with deals ranging from hundreds of thousands to several million euros.
• Enough technical understanding to have credible discussions about embedded computing, mission systems, sensors, displays, C4ISR, AI, autonomy, and software integration.
• Strong commercial judgment around scope, pricing, margin, licensing, IP, and partner‑led deals.
• The ability to work independently and to drive internal teams without unnecessary process.
• Willingness to travel frequently across Europe.
• Professional working proficiency in German and English is expected. French is a strong advantage.
• Other European languages are useful but not required.
• An existing security clearance is welcome but not required. You should be eligible to obtain the relevant German security clearance if needed.
• Experience with BAAINBw, Bundeswehr procurement, NATO programs, European defense programs, export controls, or defense consortiums is useful.