Placing an Account Executive in Cyber Security Strategic Defence

The Challenge

The client identified defence as a substantial growth opportunity but lacked internal expertise to engage with this specialised market. The confidential nature of the search made identifying and engaging qualified candidates extremely challenging. The client sought an individual with defence or military experience and strong new business sales drive, a rare combination in a slow moving market.

Our Solution

We delivered a creative and highly targeted approach to overcome the niche complexities of the brief.

• Mapped the market with comprehensive research across competitor organisations, adjacent technology sectors, and public sector and military institutions across Europe.
• Leveraged networks by tapping established industry relationships, engaging referrals, and using proprietary databases to access individuals not actively on the market or easily identified through standard methods.
• Applied tailored strategies with a consultative and solutions focused methodology, including mapping military career transitions into sales roles to uncover unconventional but highly relevant profiles.

The Outcome

The search delivered multiple high calibre candidates in an extremely limited market. The selected individual brought over twenty years of experience in the Marines combined with ten years of commercial sales expertise, offering a blend of sector credibility and business development capability. Their European defence network, leadership experience and adaptability suited the client’s expansion plans within EMEA, providing immediate access to defence opportunities, short term new business wins, and long term leadership in a previously underdeveloped vertical.