About The Role
Imagine being the technical force behind some of the most complex defense proposals in Europe. The Senior Sales Engineer is an internal technical lead and expert for proposal development, solution architecture, and bid execution across all Destinus product families (Interceptor programs, RUTA, KRYLA, and future systems). This role provides central support to Heads of Commercial Product, local Business Development teams, and the wider Commercial organisation, ensuring technically sound, compliant, and competitive solutions for government and defence customers.
At Destinus, we are revolutionizing the defense industry with cutting-edge Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Our innovative technologies are designed to meet the unique demands of modern defense operations, delivering unparalleled speed, precision, and cost effectiveness. Destinus partners with government agencies and defense organizations worldwide to provide advanced solutions for mission-critical operations, enabling a new era of efficiency and technological superiority. Join us in shaping the future of defense with groundbreaking aerospace innovations.
What You’ll Do
Capture and proposal execution
- Own the technical response strategy and architecture for major RFI/RFP/RFQ submissions across all product lines.
- Lead development of technical solution narratives, compliance matrices, technical volumes, and SoW/SoT annexes.
- Coordinate inputs from Engineering, Operations, Finance, Program Management, Legal, and Export Control into coherent, compliant proposals.
- Support pricing strategy with cost-informed technical trade-offs, clear assumptions, and sensitivity analysis.
- Prepare technical briefing materials and position papers for use by BD and Product Heads in customer engagements.
Central tooling and knowledge management
- Own and continuously improve the central bid toolchain - ROM pricing models, BoM templates, standard SoW/SoT blocks, service/ILS options, integration reference architectures.
- Maintain a central library of validated performance claims and technical evidence (test data, combat data, TRL status) that Product Heads and BD must use in customer engagements and proposals.
- Ensure naming, specifications, and technical claims are consistent across all product families and validated with Product and Engineering.
- Develop and maintain standard proposal templates, compliance checklists, and bid process playbooks to improve speed and repeatability.
Governance and quality assurance
- Chair internal technical bid reviews (gate 0/1/2) for major pursuits to de-risk commitments before submission.
- Ensure proposed solutions align with product baselines, TRL status, industrial capacity, export constraints, and delivery timelines.
- Validate that technical content matches what Product and Engineering can deliver, preventing over-commitment or under-pricing.
- Drive continuous improvement through post-bid reviews and lessons learned across pursuits.
Support to Heads of Commercial Product
- Take content from Product Heads (market doctrine, roadmap, TRL, pricing logic, service concepts, integration options) and operationalize it into standard, reusable bid assets.
- Build and maintain product-line proposal annexes, performance evidence packs, and standard integration options for each major system and variant.
- Support Product Heads in developing ROM pricing ranges, service/ILS packages, and partnership structures for use in early customer shaping and qualification.
- Ensure periodic client reports (TRL, certification, performance updates) produced by Product Heads are supported by consistent, bid-ready materials for follow-on proposals.
Cross-functional collaboration
- Partner with Engineering and Operations to ensure feasibility and compliance of proposed solutions.
- Provide structured market and customer feedback to Product and R&D teams based on tender requirements, competitive gaps, and recurring objections.
- Work with Legal and Export Control to ensure all technical content, demonstrations, and data sharing comply with applicable regulations (ITAR, EU dual-use, national restrictions).
- Coordinate with Finance on cost baselines, pricing assumptions, and margin guidance for complex bids.
Mentorship and enablement
- Mentor Sales Engineers on proposal quality, technical storytelling, solution discipline, and compliance best practices.
- Act as escalation point and design authority for complex technical questions during pursuits.
- Train Product Heads, BD teams, and junior SEs on use of central bid tools, validated claims, and baseline pricing logic.
- Foster a culture of technical rigor, accountability, and continuous improvement within the broader Commercial organization.
Technical competitive intelligence
- Own the technical competitive landscape for Destinus systems - build and maintain battle cards, competitive comparisons, and technical differentiation messaging.
- Monitor evolving defence doctrines, procurement frameworks (NATO, EU, national MoDs), and emerging threats to inform solution positioning.
- Arm BD and Product Heads with clear, factual technical differentiation for use in customer engagements.
Requirements
What You’ll Need
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field; master’s degree preferred.
- 10+ years of experience in defence, aerospace, or national security sectors, ideally including unmanned systems, missiles, guided weapons, or air defence systems.
- Proven track record supporting and winning complex government RFP/RFQ/RFI captures, with direct responsibility for technical volumes and solution architecture.
- Deep understanding of defence procurement processes, compliance frameworks, and relevant standards (NATO STANAGs, MIL-STD, EU regulations).
- Experience working across multiple product lines and coordinating inputs from engineering, operations, finance, and legal functions.
- Strong analytical and systems-level thinking: ability to assess technical feasibility, cost trade-offs, and risk.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; additional European languages (German, Spanish, French, Dutch) a strong advantage.
- Regular travel to other Destinus locations for internal coordination and bid preparation (up to 30%)
Who You Are
You think strategically and know how to turn complex opportunities into structured capture and bid strategies. You are comfortable shaping technical solutions and integration approaches while coordinating multiple stakeholders across engineering, operations, finance, and commercial teams. You naturally bring structure and discipline to complex processes, balancing risk, cost, and technical feasibility without losing sight of the details that ensure compliance and quality. You enjoy mentoring others, sharing knowledge, and raising the overall standard of how teams approach bids and technical solutions.
Security screening is an integral component of the selection process, ensuring that candidates meet the organization's security standards and safeguarding against potential risks.
Providing a Certificate of Conduct (VOG) is a standard part of the application process at Destinus.