Business Development Manager - AI & Application Security

Role Description:

At Fortinet we help organizations secure the rapidly evolving AI and application landscape with our innovative security solutions, including products such as FortiAIGate, FortiWeb, FortiAppSec Cloud and FortiADC.

We are seeking an experienced Business Development Manager, AI & Application Security for The Netherlands, to drive market development and adoption of our strategic AI and Application Security portfolio. Working with Fortinet’s Dutch sales organization and partner ecosystem, this role will develop and execute go-to-market (GTM) initiatives, generate new business opportunities and accelerate growth across enterprise, public and midmarket customers.

Your Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the GTM and business development strategy for AI Security and Application Security in the Netherlands, expanding existing customer relationships and creating new market opportunities.

• Work closely with Fortinet account managers, channel teams, distributors, and partners to identify opportunities, generate qualified pipeline and accelerate strategic sales pursuits.

• Drive customer-facing activities, including executive briefings, discovery workshops, use-case discussions and solution presentations that connect security challenges to business outcomes.

• Design and deliver enablement programs for Fortinet sales teams and partners, covering portfolio capabilities, customer use cases, competitive differentiation and effective sales positioning.

• Advise customers on securing AI adoption and modern applications, including AI governance, runtime protection, LLM guardrails, shadow AI, web application firewalls (WAF), API security and bot mitigation.

• Initiate and develop strategic opportunities with enterprise and midmarket customers, building business cases that demonstrate risk reduction, operational value and return on investment.

• Engage and activate Fortinet’s reseller, integrator, and service-provider partners through joint business plans, demand-generation initiatives and partner-led pipeline development.

• Build trusted relationships with customer decision-makers, including CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, cloud and application leaders and development and AI stakeholders.

• Coordinate with local sales leadership, channel, marketing, and product management to prioritize target markets, execute campaigns, monitor pipeline and refine GTM messaging.

• Represent Fortinet as a thought leader in the Dutch market, promoting secure AI adoption and application protection at customer meetings, partner events and industry forums.

Your Experience

• Minimal a bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, computer science, or a related field preferred.

• 7+ years of experience in cybersecurity sales, business development, or solution-led GTM roles, with relevant experience in AI, cloud and/or application security.

• Proven track record of creating new business opportunities, building qualified pipeline and influencing complex enterprise sales cycles to deliver measurable growth.

• Demonstrated ability to engage senior executives, including CIOs, CISOs, and CTOs as well as cloud, application security and development stakeholders.

• Strong understanding of generative AI, large language models (LLMs), Agentic AI, AI governance, and associated security risks, with the ability to communicate business value.

• Knowledge of modern application security, including web application and API protection (WAAP), WAF, bot mitigation, vulnerability testing, and cloud-native applications.

• Experience collaborating with channel partners and building joint GTM initiatives; familiarity with the Dutch cybersecurity partner ecosystem is an advantage.

• Excellent written, verbal, presentation and stakeholder management skills in Dutch and English.

• Strong understanding of public cloud platforms (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) and modern application architectures.