Sales Leadership & GTM Search in Cybersecurity
I search for the sales leaders and go-to-market teams of cybersecurity vendors in DACH, the Nordics and Europe. Country Managers, VPs and Sales Directors come first, then the Account Executives, Sales Engineers and Solution Architects they build their teams with. I sold enterprise infrastructure and data protection for 25 years and was the first employee in Europe or DACH for five US tech vendors, among them the storage security vendor Decru. One of my leadership searches in this field was a VP DACH for a leading cybersecurity vendor.
The roles I fill in cybersecurity
1. Country Manager, VP Sales and Regional VP
The leader who owns the number for DACH, a Nordic country or EMEA, builds the team and works with a headquarters that is often abroad. I look at the track record behind the numbers: comparable deal sizes and sales cycles, the people they hired, how they forecast, and how they would approach your market in the first 90 days.
2. Sales Directors and Account Executives
Enterprise and public-sector sellers who can sell security to the CISO and to the board. I check how they build pipeline in their territory, which deals they closed themselves and why they want to move.
3. Business Development, SDRs and Customer Success
The roles that open doors and keep customers renewing. I usually fill them as part of a team build, once the sales leader is in place.
4. Marketing Managers for security vendors
Field and product marketing for technical security products, usually as part of a market entry or a regional build-out.
5. Sales Engineers and Solution Architects
Presales for security products: discovery, demos and proofs of concept, often in regulated customer environments. I assess technical depth against what your product and your buyers really require.
Why cybersecurity vendors work with me
Security buyers are sceptical, sales cycles are long, and a wrong hire shows up in the pipeline months later. Some of my client relationships with security vendors run beyond ten years, with repeat placements across that time. 97% of my placements are still in role after 12 months.
What you get:
An operator's judgment: 25 years in enterprise IT sales, as a seller and as a hiring manager.
One person on your search: I run the briefing, the direct approach, every interview and the offer myself.
A written 6-month replacement guarantee on every placement.
If you are hiring a sales leader or building a security sales team in DACH, the Nordics or Europe, let's talk.
Hiring for a cybersecurity vendor?
A 30-minute call, confidential and without obligation.
Sales Leadership & GTM Search in Cybersecurity: FAQ
How do you assess a sales leader for a cybersecurity vendor?
Against the job, not the CV. I look at the teams they built and how those teams performed against a security quota, their forecast and pipeline discipline, how they hire, and how they would approach your market in the first 90 days. References come from people who worked for them as well as from their former managers.
What makes cybersecurity sales hiring different from general IT sales hiring?
The buyer is different, so the seller has to be. Cybersecurity deals run through CISOs, security architects and SOC teams, technical buyers who spot a generalist immediately. A security seller has to be credible on threat models, compliance drivers and platform consolidation, not only on a pitch deck. I test that credibility directly, because a candidate who cannot hold a security conversation will not get a second meeting.
Which cybersecurity roles do you fill?
Sales leadership first: Country Manager, VP Sales, Regional VP and Sales Director. Then the team they build: Account Executives, Sales and Presales Engineers, channel and alliance managers and SDRs. Across network security, endpoint and EDR, cloud and SaaS security, IAM, SIEM and SASE or zero trust, for vendors selling to enterprise, mid-market and public sector customers in DACH, the Nordics and Europe.
How do you check whether a candidate can really sell to security buyers?
I assess the sales motion, not the logos. Did they win new customers or grow existing ones? Did they sell to security teams or to IT generalists? Did they carry and hit a real security quota, or support someone who did? After 25 years in enterprise IT sales, I can tell a seller who closed seven-figure security platforms from one who was carried by a strong product.
How long does a cybersecurity search take?
A qualified shortlist usually comes within 5–10 days, and most searches close within 14 to 45 days, depending on seniority and how scarce the profile is. Leadership searches sit at the longer end. Top security sellers and leaders are passive and almost never on job boards, so the speed comes from direct outreach to a network built over 25 years as an operator and 19 years in search.