DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENCE

The Role’s Purpose

National security is a core area of Plexal’s mission and a sector where we have enjoyed significant growth over the past 3 years. To build on our existing momentum to date, Plexal are seeking a Director of National Security and Defence to lead and grow Plexal’s market presence in a highly strategic sector for Plexal over the coming years.

Reporting to Plexal’s Chief Commercial Officer, this role will be highly varied and enjoy significant accountability for scaling Plexal’s existing experience and credentials, shaping and delivering innovative go-to-market strategies, and driving tangible future customer growth and commercial impact. In addition, the role will have the potential to take on broader leadership responsibilities within Plexal’s Innovation leadership team as the company continues to scale.

What You’ll Do

• Leading Plexal’s continued growth in the national security and defence sectors, building on Plexal’s existing presence and relationships with multiple government departments, agencies and private sector partners to deliver ambitious and scalable growth.
• Owning the full sales cycle for national security and defence opportunities, utilising a strategic partnering mindset and a focus on establishing long-term relationships with Plexal customers and partners.
• Understanding and navigating complex stakeholder, procurement, security and compliance requirements to drive tangible commercial impact.
• Designing and implementing creative and innovative go-to-market strategies to enable Plexal to meet or exceed its scaling ambitions.
• Building strategic relationships with go-to-market partners, including relevant consulting, systems integrators, primes and technology partners.
• Continually developing your professional knowledge with respect to emerging policy, technology, adoption and venturing, building on an intrinsic hunger and obsession to drive national technology and mission impact.
• Actively contributing to and building Plexal’s company culture and operational effectiveness, merging market intelligence to shape Plexal’s propositions in line with evolving customer needs, and driving the implementation of playbooks and best-practices which help us progress as an organisation.
• Serving as a leader within the wider Innovation management team, nurturing and developing colleagues to achieve their potential whilst setting the pace and leading by example in the context of a scaling business.

Your Skills

Essential: 

• Strong security background (12+ years) with demonstrable high performance in strategy, innovation and/ or commercial roles within a national security context
• GTM, commercial and partnering expertise with strong influencing ability and demonstrable track record of designing, shaping and negotiating significant (£1m+ / multi-year) commercial engagements to meet complex customer needs
• Tangible and relevant networks encompassing government and private sector decision makers across the defence and security ecosystem and industrial base
• Team leadership and management experience with hands-on experience in building functions and scaling teams

Highly desirable: 

• Experience in relevant defence and security advisory, startup or tech environments
• Experience spanning both public sector and private sector roles in defence and security
• First-hand experience in supporting government users to develop and adopt new digital or platform capabilities (e.g. cyber, AI, cloud)

Who You Are

• Has the ability to thrive in ambiguous scenarios and to work in a high-pace environment
• Adept at working in secure environments alongside customers, with a willingness to undertake regular national travel (>40%) and occasional international travel
• Due to the nature of the role, this role is open to UK Nationals who hold or are eligible for full (DV) security clearance. For more information about clearance eligibility, please see https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/united-kingdom-security-vetting