International Business Development Manager

Mission

As International Business Development Manager at Rift, you will open and structure new markets across Europe and selected export countries. You'll build the ecosystem (end-users, ministries, armed forces, critical infrastructure operators, primes/integrators/partners) and turn it into contracts and repeatable growth.

Your objective: create qualified international opportunities, shape deals upstream, secure reference deployments, and lay the foundations for scalable export sales.

What you'll do

Market entry & territory planning — Pick target countries, map stakeholders and buying centers, build an entry plan (accounts, partners, events, timelines), and keep it brutally prioritized.

International pipeline generation — Open doors, run discovery, qualify use cases, and build multi-stakeholder deals from scratch in new geographies.

Partner development (primes / integrators / channel) — Identify, sign, and activate strategic partners (teaming, joint offer, co-selling). Build win-win motions that unlock access to programs and tenders.

Capture & deal shaping (upstream influence) — Work early to influence requirements, define pilot scopes, secure sponsorship, and create a path to budget and procurement.

Bid & proposal strategy (when relevant) — Lead bid/no-bid decisions, teaming strategy, and proposal orchestration. You don't just "answer RFPs" — you shape the win plan.

Complex sales execution — Drive long-cycle institutional deals involving pilots, multiple stakeholders, security constraints, and complex decision processes.

Government & ecosystem relations — Build relationships across defense/security/public-sector networks internationally (including events, local advisors, and in-country ecosystems).

Product collaboration — Be the voice of the field. Work closely with the CEO and technical team to sharpen positioning, packaging, and the "why now" per country/use case.

Operational rigor — Own CRM hygiene, pipeline reviews, forecasting, and reporting. If it's not in the CRM, it doesn't exist.

What we're looking for

• 5+ years in international BD / strategic sales in defense, security, aerospace, critical infrastructure, or adjacent complex B2G/B2B2G.

• You've opened new markets (not just expanded existing ones) and can show concrete outcomes (pipeline → pilots → contracts).

• Strong experience with partner-led motions (primes/integrators/channel): agreements, joint offers, co-selling, and bid teaming.

• Comfortable with complex stakeholder environments and long cycles; you can drive clarity through ambiguity.

• Procurement/tender experience is a plus, but not the core of your identity.

• Strong writing + executive communication in English. French is a plus. Additional languages are welcome.

Don't worry if your profile doesn't match every point—if this mission feels right, we'd like to hear from you.

How we work

• Boldness is encouraged, we'd rather break the rules than follow them blindly.

• We share both successes and failures openly: learning fast means failing fast.

• We value initiative, agility, and ownership. Everyone is encouraged to take the lead and help move things forward.

• We care personally and challenge directly: honest feedback early and often, without ego.