Sales Manager

Job Description

About Busuu

Joining Busuu means being part of one of the top EdTech companies in the world, a multiple award-winner recognised for its innovation and impact in language learning.

Busuu's vision is to empower people through languages. We are the world's largest online community for language learning, with 120+ million registered users. We make learning a language easy by combining AI-powered courses with feedback from our global community of native speakers  and lesson content designed for real life.

Today, Busuu is a performance partner, not just a language app. We get every learner ready to use language in the moments that matter (the presentation, the client call, the difficult conversation) and give organisations a clear picture of the impact. For the first time, learners build language and professional skills together, from workplace communication to project management, so they don't just communicate better, they thrive at work.

More than 700 organisations already use Busuu for Business across 14 languages. Knowledge is free. Capability is not. That is the gap we close: we measure what people can actually do in the situations that count, not how many lessons they completed.

Busuu is part of the global Chegg family. Chegg is the leading student-first connected learning platform and a NYSE-listed company.

Why This Role Exists

Organisations across Europe are investing in language capability, and we have a team of Business Development Managers who can open doors and win new logos. What we need now is someone whose whole job is to make that team better: sharper discovery, tighter qualification, more pipeline, a forecast leadership can bank on, and more new customers every quarter.

You will also be joining at exactly the right moment. Busuu is evolving from a language learning app into a performance partner across languages and business skills, and that changes the conversation your team has with every buyer. We no longer compete on course quality. We compete on performance readiness. The first question is no longer "how much do your people already know?" It is "what are the situations your teams have to perform in?" You will make sure every rep on your team can lead that conversation with a CHRO or Head of L&D, and win it.

This is not a player-coach role. Your number is the team's number, and you hit it by building reps who hit theirs. You will get into the big deals when it matters, as a coach and executive sponsor, not as the closer who takes the deal off the rep's desk.

The team is remote and distributed across Europe, covering our core markets. That means leading through rhythm, inspection and trust, not by walking the floor.

Your Mission

Take a remote team of BDMs working across two of three core regions (France, Italy & Spain, strong command in at least one of the languages is a requirement) and turn it into the most predictable new business engine in Busuu for Business: consistent pipeline, an honest forecast, and reps who sell Busuu as a performance partner, not a language app, and are measurably better at their craft than when you found them. A big focus will be for you to take a team from mid-market to enterprise and drive AOV by selling on value over features.

What You'll Do:

• Own the team number: You are accountable for new business bookings across the team. You set the targets, track the run rate and make the calls early when something is off track.
• Lead the shift in how we sell: Take the performance partner story to market. Equip your team to sell outcomes, not licences and lessons: people ready for their highest-stakes moments, language and professional skills built together, and capability evidence that leadership can actually see. Turn early wins into references and plays the whole team can repeat.
• Coach, every week: Deal reviews, call reviews, pipeline inspection. MEDDPICC is how we qualify, and you will make it a working discipline in every deal, not a box-ticking exercise in the CRM.
• Call the forecast: Run the weekly and quarterly forecast for the team. Commit means commit. You know the difference between a deal that is real and a deal a rep wants to be real, and you say so.
• Drive pipeline generation: Make sure every rep has the coverage to hit their number. Reps self-source most of their pipeline, and you will help them build repeatable outbound plays by market and segment, working with Marketing on everything above that.
• Collaborate & align strategy with SDRs: BDMs are partnering with regional SDRs. Your job is to make sure this team delivers as one team, with excellent collaboration and laser focus on target account strategy execution.
• Step into the deals that matter: Support live on strategic opportunities, help navigate pricing, procurement and legal, and unblock deals internally. The deal stays with the rep. Your job is to make them win it.
• Hire, develop and performance-manage: Build the bench. Set clear expectations, run individual development plans, and have the difficult conversations early and fairly.
• Shape the market playbook: Work with your Director to prioritise markets, segments and ideal customer profile, and turn what works in one market into something the whole team can repeat.
• Lead a remote team well: Strong 1:1 and team cadence, clear written communication, and regular travel to spend time with your team and their customers in person.

How You Will Work Across the Business

New business does not win on its own. You will be the team's point of connection with the rest of Busuu for Business.

• Marketing: Agree where pipeline comes from and feed back on lead quality, campaigns and messaging by market.
• Customer Success & Strategic Account Management: Make sure every new customer is handed over cleanly and set up to grow. A deal that churns in year one is not a win.
• Revenue Operations & Finance: Keep HubSpot data clean, the forecast accurate and the commercial terms sensible.
• Product: Bring back what the market is telling us: what customers are asking for, where we lose, and why.
• Leadership: Give an honest, evidence-based view of the team and the pipeline, including when the news is not good.

What You'll Bring

• 10+ years in quota-carrying B2B SaaS sales, with at least 2 years leading a team of new business closers.
• A track record of team attainment, with the numbers to hand. We will ask how your team performed against target in each of your last four quarters, and why.
• Proof you are a coach, not a super-rep. Examples of reps you have hired or developed who went on to outperform.
• Forecasting discipline and fluency in a qualification methodology (MEDDPICC, MEDDIC or similar) and sales methodologies (Challenger, Value Selling or similar) 
• Experience leading remote or multi-country teams, and the habits that make that work.
• Commercial credibility with senior stakeholders. You can hold your own with a CHRO, a Head of L&D or a divisional MD and talk about business outcomes, not licences.
• A data-driven approach and comfort with a CRM as a discipline, not a chore (HubSpot or Salesforce, plus tools like Outreach).
• High EQ and low ego. You read people well, give direct feedback and take it too.
• Excellent written and spoken English, and the ability to travel across Europe as needed.
• You speak English and at least French, Spanish or Italian at C2 level.

Nice to Have

• Experience selling into HR, L&D, Talent or People functions.
• Proficiency in one or more additional European languages.
• Experience building or scaling a sales presence in a new market.
• A background in EdTech, HR tech or learning platforms, ideally through a repositioning or new-category launch.

What We Offer

At Busuu we want to ensure that you have access to some great benefits:

• A great Private Health Insurance scheme.
• Flexible working hours and remote working, to support your work-life balance.
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave.
• Plenty of ways to stay connected as a team, including socials and quarterly team and company events.

Our Commitment to You

Busuu's platform and our workplace are for everyone. We embrace our differences, whether cultural, racial, religious or otherwise, and we want every employee to have a voice in a safe, judgement-free environment. We welcome applications from everyone.