Senior Business Development Manager, Pliant
Travel
+ performance-based incentives
Digital corporate credit card solutions
Open for applications
Digital corporate credit card solutions
101-200 employees
Open for applications
+ performance-based incentives
101-200 employees
Company mission
To empower businesses to grow by providing a smart payment option that grows with their business.
Role
Who you are
- Proven experience (3-5+ years) in a sales and/or business development role within the travel, fintech, SaaS, or financial services industries, with net new logo acquisition experience
- A solid understanding of the travel industry, as well as the underpinnings of credit, lending, and B2B payments
- An intimate understanding of the B2B travel payments value proposition
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to interact effectively with stakeholders at all levels
- Experience in launching and scaling products or services in new markets, ideally within the UK
- Demonstrated track record of sourcing, managing and winning the most complex client deals
- Self-motivated and goal-oriented, with the ability to work autonomously in a fast-paced startup environment
- Strong analytical and reporting skills, with the ability to assess market opportunities and identify key growth levers
- A strong network within the UK travel industry
- Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required
What the job involves
- You will support Pliant as (Senior) Business Development Manager, Travel - United Kingdom (m/f/d) and help build up our commercial unit in the UK with a strong emphasis on B2B Travel
- Use cases. You will convince our prospective customers from the travel industry that Pliant's card and payments platform is the best partner for their supplier payments. You will work closely with your colleagues from Customer Success, Underwriting and Product Management to successfully deliver on KPIs
- Customer Acquisition & Retention: Identify, engage, and build strong relationships with key prospects across the UK. Convert leads into customers, while managing and nurturing long-term client relationships to maximize retention and satisfaction
- Pipeline Management: Oversee the full sales cycle from prospecting and qualification to negotiation and closing. Ensure you follow a structured, efficient process and consistently achieve targets
- Thought Leadership: Serve as a market expert for Pliant, representing the brand at industry events, networking opportunities, and client meetings. Advocate for Pliant’s vision and technology within the UK travel industry network
- Market Understanding: Stay up to date with the latest developments in the UK fintech & travel landscape, competitors’ offerings, and customer needs. Provide valuable market insights and recommendations for product enhancements and go-to-market strategies
- Go-To-Market Strategy: You are spearheading the UK expansion and helping define our local strategy as well as shape the product for specific market needs
- Collaboration & Reporting: Work closely with sales, growth and rev ops teams to ensure alignment with business goals. Regularly report progress, insights, and results to senior management
Salary benchmarks
Our take
The corporate credit card industry, historically dominated by giants like AmEx, has seen rapid disruption and growth over recent years. An influx of VC investment boosted smaller outfits like Divvy and Brex Inc. to multi-billion dollar operations, and this has cracked open the market to a host of smaller fintech startups.
Pliant is a German company entering the scene, but it’s a competitive one. It's hoping to stand out by prioritising seamless software integrations, competitive cashback, and a new optional feature offsetting travel-related CO2 emissions. The latter is incredibly novel and has undoubtedly won the company some press in an increasingly sustainability-oriented climate.
Plaint’s offering of both physical and digital cards, as well as its suite of advantages and services have enabled the company to be highly adaptable within the growing payments market. The company has, thus far, entered seven additional European markets and expanded its customer portfolio sixfold. Following successful funding rounds, Pliant is set to further expand operations and its business reach.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
233% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Apr 2025
$39.7m
SERIES B
Apr 2024
$20.3m
SERIES A
Total funding: $118.7m
Company benefits
- Home office and remote work
- Flexible working hours
- Mobility discount
- Budget for professional development and training
- Railcard
- Monthly food allowance
- Gympass
- Weekly mindfulness sessions
- Team events
Company HQ
Kollwitzkiez, Berlin, Germany
Leadership
Fabian Turner
(CPO/COO)Previously the Head of Operations at Lendico, and went on to serve as CPO at FinCompare.
Malte Rau
(CEO)Previously a Portfolio Manager and Head of Fintech Investments at Global Growth Cap, they then went on to found Geldspeicher GmbH.
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