Manager, Sales UKI (Emerging Market-SMB)
Pleo · London, England · Lisbon, Lisbon
ABOUT PLEO
Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we're changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike - with a vision to help all businesses ‘go beyond’.
The word ‘Pleo’ actually means ‘more than you’d expect’, and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years.
Now, we’re at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high. With great ambitions driving us forward, we can’t say we’ve got this whole thing figured out. And frankly, that’s half the fun! What we can say is that we’re a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together.
ABOUT THE ROLE
As a Manager, Sales (Emerging) at Pleo, you'll own the operational execution and revenue growth of an outbound sales team of 7 Account Executives. We are looking for an operational force multiplier, a hands-on sales leader who takes full ownership of daily sales rhythms, pipeline mechanics, and deal execution.
In this role, you will lead from the front, freeing executive leadership to focus on long-term growth by stepping in to run tight operational cadences, conduct high-impact deal coaching, and close business alongside your reps.
WHO YOU’LL BE WORKING WITH AND REPORTING TO
You’ll report to our Senior Manager of Sales and work closely with teams in Marketing, Revenue Operations, and Customer Success. Our highly collaborative team of 7 Account Executives (AEs) is dedicated to acquiring small-and-medium business accounts in these regions. You’ll also have the chance to partner with teams across our global offices to ensure success.
WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING
As a Manager, Sales you will:
- Lead, coach and accelerate: manage, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of 7 outbound SMB Account Executives. Drive team impact through active deal-level coaching, pipeline reviews, and call shadowing to directly increase average deal size and shorten sales cycles.
- Take complete ownership of day-to-day sales cadences, pipeline rigor, and forecast accuracy. Serve as an operational force multiplier who optimizes daily sales execution and frees executive leadership from operational friction.
- Actively step into the sales process. Pick up the phone, lead multi-threaded sales calls, and help negotiate and close key SMB deals alongside your reps.
- Analyze pipeline metrics, conversion rates, and sales velocity to identify bottlenecks, unlock growth opportunities, and reliably hit hyper-growth targets.
- Serve as the local face of Pleo Sales in the region. Build strong ecosystem ties by hosting and participating in community Meetups, startup events, and industry conferences.
WHAT YOU BRING
You’ll thrive in this role if you have:
- Direct experience leading a dedicated SMB outbound sales team with quantifiable, verifiable quota attainment.
- Demonstrated proof of direct rep development, specifically evidenced by increased average deal size, accelerated sales velocity, and rep promotion records.
- Deep mastery of pipeline management, deal mechanics, forecasting, and CRM execution.
- Willingness to roll up your sleeves, jump into active sales cycles, and lead by example on customer calls.
- Ability to translate performance data into concrete coaching strategies and tactical pipeline adjustments.
- Strong business acumen to align outbound strategy with Marketing, RevOps, and Customer Success.
- Understanding of the regional B2B SaaS landscape, buyer behaviour, and SMB sales motions.
- Native or bilingual proficiency in English, any other language will be a plus
WHY IS THIS ROLE A GOOD FIT FOR YOU
This role is a good fit for you if:
- You genuinely love coaching and watching early-career sales professionals grow into star performers
- You want to have complete ownership of different regions like Spain, Netherlands and Nordics
- You are an "entrepreneur at heart" who thrives on ownership, fast-paced environments, and leading from the front line.
This role is not a good fit for you if:
- You prefer a highly corporate, hands-off management style where you no longer interact with customers or pick up the phone.
- You do not have a strong foundation in B2B SaaS sales or deep familiarity with the Spain, or Netherlands, or Nordics business landscape.
- You are looking for a fully remote position (this position requires to come to the office, on a hybrid set up)
HOW YOU’LL DEVELOP IN THIS ROLE
In your first 6 months at Pleo, you’ll:
- Lead your team of 6 AEs through strategic onboarding and coaching programs to maximise their outbound sales velocity
- Collaborate with Regional Marketing and Growth teams to refine our local GTM strategy. Maximising pipeline yield for the regions you'll be responsible for
- Grow your skills in international business leadership, managing a critical territory for a top-tier, rapidly expanding fintech leader in the European market.
THE LOCATION
Please note: We can hire on a hybrid set-up in any of the locations listed on the advert but you will need to be physically based in the country of your choice with a valid right to work. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role in any of the listed locations.
SHOW ME THE BENEFITS!
- Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!)
- Lunch is on us for your work days - enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office
- Comprehensive private healthcare - depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan or Médis
- We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays
- For our Team, we offer both hybrid and fully remote working options
- We use MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and well-being support with great success so far
- Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work
THE INTERVIEW PROCESS
We want to ensure you are set-up for success and understand what will be expected of you. If your application is successful, our interview process is as follows:
1. Intro call: A 30-minute chat with our Talent Partner to discuss the role and your background.
2. Hiring Manager Interview: A 45 mins chat to deep dive into your experience with the hiring manager
3. Pleo Challenge and Team Interview: We will send you a take home test and invite you to present during a 60 minute team interview. This is an opportunity to show us how you would handle the day to day of the role
4. Final Interview: A final interview with a senior leaderTransparency is important to us so we also wanted to share some insights about what we’re looking for in applications to ensure you can set yourself up for success!
Transparency is important to us so we also wanted to share some insights about what we’re looking for in applications to ensure you can set yourself up for success!
Last time we hired for this role, we received a vast number of applications but only a few were selected for an intro call. With this in mind, we want to help you understand what we really care about when reviewing your application:
- CV writing and content: we receive a lot of CVs, and many of them are AI-generated. We love seeing people leverage AI—it’s a big focus for us internally too—but without human intervention, these CVs can sometimes become generic and fail to show a candidate in the best light. What we're really looking for is the specific details of real impact that only you know from your previous experience. A top tip from us is to use the “Achieved X, as measured by Y, by doing Z” formula (credit: Laszlo Bock, ~2014) to give a really clear picture of what you’ve worked on. A final note: including links to your previous companies' websites is a huge help and allows us to truly understand your background!
- Application care: every single application we receive is reviewed by a human (yes, hundreds of them) because we believe that candidates' efforts should be matched by an equal level of human care. This means that we expect a similar level of attention put into your application. Read and answer the application questions carefully, they make a huge difference in our decision-making process.
- Profile to role fit: highlight most important aspects of the role, points that might get misunderstood, any specific industry requirements etc.
ABOUT YOUR APPLICATION
- English first. Since it's our company language, please submit your application in English. You’ll be using it a lot if you join us.
- A fair look for everyone. Our talent team reads every single application to ensure the process is fair. To keep things running smoothly, we only accept applications through our system—our support team can’t pass on calls or emails.
- Diversity drives us. We can only reach our goals if our team reflects the world around us. That starts with you hitting apply, even if you don't tick every single box. We encourage people from all backgrounds and experiences to join us.
- Interview at your best. We want you to feel comfortable throughout the process. If you have any accessibility requirements or need a specific format, email belonging@pleo.io. We’ll design a process that works for you.
- Your data is safe. When you apply, we process your personal data as a data processor. For more information on how Pleo processes personal data, read our Privacy Policy here https://www.pleo.io/en/legal.
- Applying for multiple roles? Nothing is stopping you, and we assess every role independently. However, we do look for alignment, so make sure you can explain why your interest and experience are right for each specific role.
- Reapplying. If you’re applying for the same role again, please wait six months from your last decision before hitting submit.