Sales Director
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Sep 24, 2026. First seen by Alion on Jul 6, 2026. PCN scores B on the Alion truth index.
About the Company
Our client is a profitable, high-growth financial infrastructure business connecting applications directly to bank accounts across Europe and beyond - powering account-to-account payments, enriched financial data, and intelligent money movement at scale. Their customers include some of the world's largest technology companies, leading fintechs, and major payment platforms.
The market they operate in is about to get significantly bigger. New European regulation is expanding the scope of open banking and open finance, and agentic AI is starting to move payments and financial data on behalf of users - all of which runs on exactly the kind of infrastructure this company provides. They are scaling into their next chapter of growth and are hiring a Sales Director to help shape it.
The Role
You will own enterprise new business across the Payments vertical - PSPs, payment processors, acquirers, and enterprise financial institutions - while leading and developing a team of Account Executives. It's a player-coach mandate: you carry your own number, front the most strategic deals in the pipeline, and set the standard your team performs to. Your bonus is uncapped and weighted across both personal and team performance, reflecting accountability for the whole unit, not just your own book.
You'll report directly to the CEO, with the reporting line moving to a Chief Commercial Officer as the organisation grows. Beyond the pipeline, you'll act as a visible ambassador for the business at industry events and feed market intelligence back into product and go-to-market strategy.
This is emphatically not a caretaker role for a steady book of business. It suits someone who wakes up thinking about pipeline, who is genuinely obsessed with the payments landscape - fiat, crypto, stablecoins, and the rails that connect them - and who treats AI as a fundamental operating advantage rather than a buzzword.
Key Responsibilities
New business: originate, build, and convert a high-quality pipeline of strategic enterprise opportunities from first contact through to contract signature
Executive relationships: develop and maintain C-suite and senior stakeholder relationships across target accounts, and lead complex multi-stakeholder negotiations with confidence
Team leadership: coach, mentor, and hold a team of Account Executives accountable - creating a culture of ambition, rigour, and continuous improvement through your own behaviour and results
Cross-functional execution: partner with SDR, pre-sales, product, and leadership to land and expand enterprise accounts
AI-first ways of working: embed AI across account research, personalisation, proposal quality, competitive intelligence, and deal strategy - and set that benchmark for the team
Market presence: represent the business credibly in the payments ecosystem and channel market insight into the product and GTM roadmap
Your Profile
Significant enterprise sales experience (8+ years) in payments, open banking, or financial services, with a track record of closing large, complex deals
Fluent across the full payments stack - card schemes, A2A and real-time rails, stablecoin settlement, and crypto-native architectures - and able to speak the language of PSPs, acquirers, processors, and enterprise fintechs
Proven experience leading or developing sales teams, with a lead-from-the-front style
A demonstrable, hands-on commitment to using AI tools throughout your sales process - and the ability to show how it has raised your output
Comfortable navigating multi-stakeholder enterprise deals at C-suite level
Strong commercial acumen and exceptional storytelling: you can turn complex technical propositions into compelling business cases
Hungry, self-directed, and standard-setting - you don't wait to be managed
Early Success
Within the first three months, you'll be expected to have a clear view of the addressable pipeline and your own opportunities in motion, a coaching plan in place for every member of your team, credible C-suite conversations underway across new target accounts, and at least one meaningful market insight fed back into the product or commercial roadmap - all while visibly demonstrating what AI-powered sales execution looks like.
Why Join
A profitable, growing business at the centre of a market with strong regulatory and technological tailwinds
Genuine ownership: a senior commercial seat with direct CEO access and real influence on go-to-market strategy
A high-standard, fast-moving culture that prizes quality, curiosity, integrity, and bias to action
Uncapped earning potential across personal and team performance