We are looking for a Head of Business Development to build Stendr's commercial presence across European defence.

Stendr is building a vertically integrated European defence company focused on sovereign systems for the modern battlefield.

Our first product is a distributed radar network designed to provide resilient, persistent sensing across large areas. The architecture is passive-by-default and built around distributed, low-cost nodes rather than a small number of exquisite systems, making the network harder to detect, harder to suppress and easier to deploy at scale.

Radar is our entry point. Our broader ambition is to build across the defence stack: sensing, software, effectors and the infrastructure required to connect them.

We are moving rapidly from development into operational deployment, with Ukraine as an important validation environment and the High North and NATO's eastern flank as natural markets for expansion.

We are assembling a team of exceptional engineers and operators from companies including Palantir, Helsing and other leading technology and defence organisations.

The role

This is not a traditional account-management role.

At our stage, the job is to create trust, gain access to the right decision-makers and turn operational capability into real programmes, deployments and contracts.

You will work directly with the CEO, CPO and technical leadership to identify where Stendr can have the greatest operational impact, develop relationships with governments and military users, and build the commercial pathways that take the company from field validation to scaled procurement.

The initial geographical focus will be the Nordics and NATO's eastern flank, particularly Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland and Ukraine. Norway is already a core market for Stendr, while Germany will initially be developed alongside our German-based product leadership.

Over time, you will help determine where Stendr builds deeper country-level commercial teams.

What you will do

• Build senior relationships across European Ministries of Defence, armed forces, procurement organisations and relevant government institutions.

• Open doors that would otherwise take an early-stage company years to access.

• Develop Stendr's go-to-market strategy across the Nordics, Poland, Ukraine and other priority European markets.

• Identify operational problems where Stendr's sensing architecture can create immediate value, particularly around airspace surveillance, counter-UAS, border protection and protection of strategic areas.

• Move opportunities from initial military interest through trials, LOIs, contracts and scaled procurement.

• Build relationships with primes, defence technology companies and other ecosystem partners where partnering creates a faster route to deployment.

• Work closely with users and technical teams to translate operational requirements into product priorities.

• Spend meaningful time with customers in the field rather than operating primarily through conferences and procurement processes.

• Develop a rigorous commercial pipeline and maintain clarity on stakeholders, procurement pathways, budgets and decision processes.

• Represent Stendr with senior military, government and industry stakeholders.

• Help shape Stendr's broader European commercial organisation as the company scales.

What we are looking for

There is no single background that defines the right candidate, but the strongest candidates will combine credibility, access and commercial intensity.

You are likely to have:

• A deep network across European defence, particularly within the Nordics and/or Eastern Europe.

• Established relationships with senior military officers, Ministries of Defence, procurement organisations or national security stakeholders.

• Experience inside an armed force, Ministry of Defence, defence prime, defence technology company or a combination of these.

• A strong understanding of how European defence procurement actually works: formally and informally.

• Experience navigating complex, long-cycle government sales while maintaining urgency.

• Evidence that you can originate opportunities rather than simply manage existing accounts.

• The ability to understand technically complex products and communicate their operational value without needing to be the engineer in the room.

• Strong judgement about when to pursue formal procurement, operational trials, partnerships or alternative routes to deployment.

• The presence and credibility to operate comfortably with generals, government officials, engineers and founders.

• Excellent English. Additional European languages are valuable.

Direct experience selling radar is not required. Deep understanding of defence customers, trust within the ecosystem and the ability to create and close opportunities matter more.

The person

Stendr operates differently from a traditional defence company.

We move quickly, operate with incomplete information and expect senior people to create structure rather than wait for it.

We are therefore looking for someone who:

• Has exceptional agency and operates without needing a large organisation around them.

• Is commercially aggressive without becoming transactional.

• Builds genuine long-term trust rather than relying on persistent account management.

• Is comfortable personally opening doors, developing opportunities and closing deals.

• Can move between strategy and execution without seeing either as beneath them.

• Is intellectually curious enough to quickly develop a strong understanding of radar, sensing and the modern kill chain.

• Is willing to spend significant time travelling and with customers. Wants to build the commercial organisation of a major European defence company rather than inherit one.

We value people who can think from first principles. For this role, however, existing defence credibility and relationships are a significant part of what we are hiring for.

What success looks like

• Stendr has direct and trusted relationships with the critical defence stakeholders across its priority European markets.

• Operational validation has been converted into a credible pipeline of government programmes, trials and procurement opportunities.

• Stendr has secured its first meaningful commercial agreements and established clear routes toward larger programmes.

• We understand which European markets deserve dedicated commercial investment and which can be served regionally.

• Customer feedback is flowing directly into product development and helping determine where Stendr expands next.

• Stendr is increasingly viewed not simply as an emerging radar company, but as a credible European defence technology partner.

Why Stendr

European defence is undergoing a structural change.

Governments need substantially more capability, faster procurement and sovereign European alternatives.

At the same time, technologies proven in recent conflicts are changing how sensing, command-and-control and effectors are built and deployed.

Stendr has been created to take advantage of that transition.

You would join at the point where the technology begins moving from development into operational deployment, with significant responsibility for determining where and how it reaches the market.

This is an opportunity to build the commercial foundations of a European defence company from the beginning rather than optimise an existing sales organisation.