Director of Sales, Middle East

About the Role:  

The Director of Sales, Middle East will be responsible for leading our regional sales organization, driving Planet’s Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy, and accelerating revenue growth across national security, defense, and government sectors. In this highly strategic role, you will lead high-performing teams, build executive relationships across defense ministries and key contractors, and position Planet's Earth observation platform as an essential capability for mission-critical operations. Ideal candidates are ambitious commercial leaders with deep defense domain expertise, exceptional strategic vision, and a passion for driving transformational business outcomes.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished sales leader with deep defense domain expertise and a track record of managing high-performing teams in the region. You will bring an established executive network across Defense Ministries, Intelligence Agencies, and key Prime Contractors/System Integrators. Combining strategic commercial acumen with an understanding of national security priorities, you will position Planet as a trusted capability provider for mission-critical operations.

This is a full-time, remote position based in the United Arab Emirates. If located near an office, you are expected to work from that office 3 days per week

Impact You’ll Own:

• Drive Strategic Revenue Growth: Own and execute a result-oriented Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy to build, negotiate, and close high-value, complex deals across sovereign defense and government sectors, consistently hitting or exceeding regional quota targets.
• Forecast Governance & Predictability: Maintain rigorous pipeline hygiene (Salesforce.com) and deliver accurate, data-driven revenue forecasts to executive leadership through disciplined deal inspection and pipeline management.
• Capture Strategy & Value Messaging: Engineer tailored capture strategies and high-impact executive narratives that align with agency-level priorities, resonate with key decision-makers, and win competitive procurements.
• Manage, Coach & Empower: Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing sales team, establishing a culture of accountability, operational excellence, and continuous professional development.
• Methodology Alignment: Train and inspect direct reports on core sales methodologies and capture frameworks (e.g., MEDDPICC, Shipley), coaching them on deal qualification, stakeholder mapping, and win strategies.
• Talent Bench & Scaling: Proactively recruit, onboard, and retain elite commercial and defense-domain talent to build a solid talent bench as the regional footprint expands.
• Cross-Functional Matrix Alignment: Orchestrate seamless collaboration across internal matrix teams—including Government Affairs, Product, Engineering, and Field Marketing—to align corporate capabilities with regional market opportunities.
• Technical & Post-Sales Win Alignment: Partner closely with Pre-Sales/Solutions Engineering to secure technical wins, and collaborate with Post-Sales teams to ensure flawless customer onboarding, retention, and long-term expansion.
• Deal Cadence & Executive Escalation: Communicate deal velocity transparently across internal business units, mobilizing executive sponsorship and cross-functional support when needed to de-risk complex pursuits.

What You Bring:

• 8+ years of experience with a track record of driving revenue growth, building high-performing teams, and consistently exceeding multi-million-dollar individual & team quotas.
• 6+ years of progressive leadership and management experience.
• Ability to recruit, mentor, and retain top-tier talent, instilling a high accountability culture and coaching direct reports through complex, multi-year deal cycles.
• Deep experience establishing pipeline discipline, accurate revenue forecasting, and thorough deal inspection using Salesforce.com and modern sales methodologies (e.g., MEDDPICC).
• Extensive background navigating complex government and defense procurement frameworks across the Middle East, with a primary focus on key markets including the UAE, KSA, Oman, and Bahrain.
• An established, C-level network across Ministries of Defense, Intelligence Agencies, and Tier-1 Prime Contractors / System Integrators in the MENA region.
• Deep understanding of how commercial technology and advanced data feeds support sovereign defense, intelligence, and national security missions.
• Success collaborating across internal matrixed teams (Government Affairs, Product, Engineering, Legal) to align corporate capabilities with regional opportunities.
• A strategic, self-directed leader with sound commercial judgment, adept at leading teams through dynamic, high-growth, or startup-like market environments.

What Makes You Stand Out:

• 5+ years of progressive sales leadership and enterprise business development experience within the defense, national security, or government technology sectors, with a track record of building high-performing teams and consistently exceeding revenue targets.
• Deep operational understanding of defense domain priorities, sovereign procurement frameworks, and agency decision-making processes across the UK and EMEA regions.
• Experience managing complex, multi-year deal cycles, with the ability to lead sales teams through disciplined capture frameworks, pipeline governance, and accurate revenue forecasting.
• Fluency in both English and Arabic is a solid plus, enabling the candidate to articulate complex strategic value propositions effectively to senior government ministers, agency leaders, and internal executives.

Application Deadline:

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. This posting may be removed earlier than projected if a suitable pool of applications has been received. For this reason, we recommend applying as soon as you are able to.

Benefits While Working at Planet:

These offerings are dependent on employment type and geographical location, based upon applicable law or company policy.

• Paid time off including vacation, holidays and company-wide days off 
• Employee Wellness Program 
• Home Office Reimbursement
• Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
• Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
• Equity 
• Volunteering Paid Time Off

This role is also eligible to receive commission.