At Pleo, we’re on a mission to revolutionise the way businesses manage company spending. No more outdated processes, clunky spreadsheets, or frustrating delays - we believe spend management should be seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike. We’re creating tools that promote autonomy, foster trust, and let businesses focus on what truly matters.

Our culture is built on transparency, collaboration, and a deep commitment to innovation - which is reflected in our spending solution. At Pleo, you’ll join a passionate team shaping the future of work, all while having some fun along the way.

About the role

We're looking for a Strategic Business Development Manager, DACH to join our strategic partnerships team at Pleo.

This is a manager-level, individual contributor role, ideal for someone who thrives on taking full ownership of a region and its partnership strategy, but prefers to be hands-on rather than managing a team. You’ll play a pivotal role in driving non-linear growth through strategic partnerships across accounting, consulting, and technology ecosystems.

It’s a great opportunity for an experienced partnership or business development professional ready to take on broader responsibility, or for someone coming from management consulting or investment banking who wants to bring their strategic and analytical skill set into the fast-paced world of SaaS and fintech.

If you love connecting with people, thinking strategically, and facilitating pipeline, this role gives you the freedom to shape your own approach and make a visible impact on Pleo’s growth in the DACH region.

What you'll be doing

As a Strategic Business Development Manager (DACH), you will:

Own the end-to-end partnership strategy and execution for the DACH region, from identifying opportunities to negotiating and launching partnerships that drive new business.
Assess and prioritise existing partnerships to determine which relationships can unlock non-linear growth for Pleo.
Source and build new strategic partnerships with key players across accounting, consulting, and technology ecosystems.
Collaborate closely with Sales, Marketing, and Product to ensure partnerships translate into pipeline and revenue.
Develop and execute go-to-market plans for new partnerships, including co-marketing campaigns and joint propositions.
Leverage data and insights to measure performance, forecast impact, and refine partnership strategies over time.

Represent Pleo externally at partner events, conferences, and in the broader fintech ecosystem, becoming a key face of Pleo in the region.

What you bring

You’ll thrive in this role if you have:

A strategic and analytical mindset, with the ability to translate insights into actionable growth initiatives.
A strong commercial drive, you’re energized by getting out there, meeting people, and turning conversations into tangible opportunities.
Can clearly formulate and articulate a joint-value proposition.
Outstanding communication and influencing skills, able to build trust with senior stakeholders and partners.
Experience in business development, strategic partnerships, or commercial strategy within SaaS, fintech, or B2B technology.
Or a background in management consulting or investment banking, with a desire to a high-impact commercial role in the tech industry where you can apply your strategic & analytical experience.
A structured, independent approach. You enjoy designing your own playbook and owning results.
Fluency in German and English (both written and spoken).

Willingness to travel up to 30% to meet internal and external stakeholders.

Nice to have:

Experience working with accounting, consulting, or technology partners in the DACH region.
Familiarity with ecosystem-led or channel growth models.

Who you'll be working with and reporting to

You’ll report to our Strategic Partnerships Lead and collaborate closely with senior leadership of Pleo and teams across Sales, (Partner)Marketing, and product. Our team is highly collaborative, fast-moving, and focused on driving measurable impact. You’ll have the freedom to define your own approach, supported by a team that shares insights and best practices across markets.

How you'll develop in this role

In your first 6 months at Pleo, you’ll:

Map and prioritise the DACH partnership landscape.
Take ownership of managing relationships with our existing high-impact partnerships such as Datev.
Lead new partnership conversations that create tangible commercial impact.
Activate partnerships through joint campaigns and go-to-market initiatives.
Build a scalable playbook for partnership success in the region.

We’re committed to supporting your growth whether that means expanding your scope, moving to a different problem space, taking on larger strategic initiatives, or developing toward a leadership position in the future.

Show me the benefits!

Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!)
Lunch is on us for your work days - enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office 🍜
We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays
For our Team, we offer both hybrid and fully remote working options
Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday through a salary sacrifice
We use MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and well-being support with great success so far ❤️‍🩹
Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work 👶

Why join us?

Working at Pleo means you're working on something very exciting: the future of work. Our mission is to help every company go beyond the books. Pleo itself means ‘more than you’d expect’, and it’s been the secret to our success over the last 8 years. So it’s only fitting that we’d pass this philosophy onto our customers to help them make the most of their finances.

We think company spending should be delegated to all employees and teams, that it should be as automated as possible, and that it should drive a culture of responsible spending. Finance teams shouldn’t be siloed from the rest of the organisation – they should work in unity with marketing, sales, IT and everyone else.

Speaking of working in unity, our values tell the story of how we work at Pleo. We have four core values, the first of which is ‘champion the customer’, which means we address real pain points that businesses face. Next up is ‘succeed as a team’, which highlights how our strength lies in our diversity and trust in each other. We also ‘make it happen’ by taking bold decisions and following through to deliver results. Last but not least, we ‘build to scale’, creating lasting solutions that address today’s challenges and anticipate tomorrow’s needs.

So, in a nutshell, that's Pleo. Today we are a 850+ team, from over 100 nations, sitting in our Copenhagen HQ, London, Stockholm, Berlin, Madrid, Montreal and Lisbon offices —and quite a few full-time remotes in 35 other countries! Being HQ'd out of Copenhagen means we're inspired by things like a good work-life balance. If you don't work in the office with us, we'll help you set up the best remote setup possible and make sure you still have time to connect with your team.

About your application

Please submit your application in English; it’s our company language so you’ll be speaking lots of it if you join 💕
We treat all candidates equally: If you are interested please apply through our application system - any correspondence should come from there! Our lovely support isn't able to pass on any calls/ emails our way - and this makes sure that the candidate experience is smooth and fair to everyone 😊
We’re on a mission to make everyone feel valued at work. That’s only achievable if our team reflects the diversity of the world around us - and that starts with you, hitting apply, even if you are worried you might not tick all the boxes! We embrace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply - regardless of race/ethnicity, colour, religion, nationality, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, neurodiversity, socio-economic status, culture or beliefs.
When you submit an application we process your personal data as a data processor. Find out more about how your data is used in the FAQs section at the bottom of our jobs page.

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