Key Skills

Job Description

About Hoverise Universities, accelerators and regional development agencies run programmes to develop entrepreneurs — and can only report who turned up. We make what actually changed measurable, so entrepreneurial potential stops going unnoticed. We work with institutions and programme operators across the Netherlands and Germany, and we’re building toward the operating system for entrepreneurial development. About the role Hoverise has been founder-led commercially since the start. Institutions are using the product. This is the first commercial hire, and it’s a founding one. You’ll own revenue — and you’ll own how revenue gets made here: the qualification, the procurement path, the pricing, the forecast. There is no playbook. Writing it is most of the job. You’ll work directly with the founder, and alongside the research and institutional partners who give us credibility inside universities. The playbook you write here is how we enter Germany. The first three institution-wide contracts set the pattern for everything after them. Responsibilities Close institution-wide contracts. Not departmental pilots — agreements that cover a faculty or a whole hogeschool and renew annually Own the procurement path. Verwerkersovereenkomsten, DPIAs, security questionnaires, inkoop desks, FG and CISO review, framework and DPS admissions. In this market the deal is often won in the paperwork Expand inside accounts. One department to eight. Our revenue comes from depth, not from logo count Build the function. Set pricing and discount rules, qualification criteria, the forecast, the proposal and tender-response templates, and the CRM discipline. Decide what we stop doing Run the renewal cycle. Dutch institutions review in July and decide in February–March. Own that rhythm: the annual review, the evidence pack, the expansion conversation Shape the product. You’ll be closest to what institutions actually require, and that should change the roadmap Minimum qualifications 5+ years in B2B software sales, with at least 3 selling into public institutions — HBO, WO, MBO, government Personally closed deals in the €25K–150K range and carried a number against them Can carry a deal across a budget cycle, and know when an institution decides, when it pays, and what to do in the months between At least one long stint somewhere — you’ve seen the consequences of deals you structured two years earlier Comfort joining early. Hands-on, structured, and able to build process where none exists yet Dutch at native or near-native level, English professionally Nice to have German, or the willingness to learn it — part of our market is across the border Experience with public tenders or dynamic purchasing systems Experience turning informal pilots into structured contracts A background in or close to education, research or public innovation Practical requirements A degree, or equivalent experience. You’ll be in rooms with deans, lectoren, programme directors and procurement officers — what matters is being at ease there, not where or what you studied Dutch work authorisation. We can’t sponsor visas Driving licence and willingness to travel. Institutions are spread across the Netherlands and you’ll be on site regularly Based in the Netherlands, preferably region Limburg. What this role is not There’s no marketing team, no inbound, no existing process and no manager above you. If those are what you’re looking for, this will frustrate you. Logistics Employed by Hoverise B.V. in Venlo. Hybrid — roughly two days a week in Venlo, the rest wherever you are or with customers. Start: early 2027, or sooner for the right person. We’ll discuss the package openly in the first conversation, before either of us invests time in a process. If you meet most of this but not all of it, write anyway.

Core Responsibilities

Close institution-wide annual contracts, manage complex public-sector procurement and renewals, and expand revenue within existing accounts. Build the commercial function—including pricing, qualification, forecasting, proposals, tender responses, and CRM practices—and inform the product roadmap based on institutional needs.

Requirements

Requires at least five years of B2B software sales experience, including three years selling to public institutions, with personally closed deals worth €25,000–€150,000 and responsibility for a sales target. Candidates should be comfortable building processes in an early-stage company, speak Dutch at a native or near-native level and professional English, have Dutch work authorization, and be based in the Netherlands with a driving licence and willingness to travel.