Commercial Planning Manager

Role Overview

Commercial Planning Manager at Destinus. This is a cross-functional role based at Destinus, orchestrating the coordination of commercial activities to drive bid wins and business delivery.

Role Purpose

You will ensure Destinus' commercial ambitions are fast-tracked and realised by coordinating activities across Business Development, Programme Management, Legal and Operations. You will serve as the critical linking pin, bringing order to fast-moving environments and ensuring the lead up to commercial deals is validated, streamlined and successful.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Planning

• Maintain a rolling commercial calendar of bids, milestones, demonstrations and deliveries, proactively flagging conflicts, capacity constraints and resourcing risks
• Serve as the link between various teams within the organisation, ensuring commitments made during the sales process are handed over cleanly into delivery
• Align commercial plans with programme schedules, milestones and resource plans, surfacing risks and dependencies in both directions

Export Licensing & Trade-Compliance Administration

• Own all associated administration for licence applications, end-user certificates and classification requests, ensuring complete, accurate and audit-ready documentation
• Serve as main entry point into the legal team for export license applications
• Liaise with national export-control authorities, customs, and internal Legal and Compliance to resolve queries and keep applications moving
• Advise commercial colleagues on licensing implications early in each pursuit and maintain the export-control knowledge base

Demonstration Team Liaison

• Ensure demonstration activity is prioritised against the pipeline and that outcomes and lessons learned feed back into the commercial plan
• Act as the single commercial point of contact for the demonstration teams, translating customer and campaign requirements into clear demonstration briefs
• Plan and coordinate the commercial aspects of demonstrations, including scheduling, attendee management, and the approvals and export licences required

Factory Site-Visit Coordination

• Coordinate, on behalf of Commercial, all customer and partner visits to company sites and facilities
• Work with Manufacturing, Security and Programme teams to ensure visits are well prepared, compliant and aligned with commercial objectives

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Business Development, Manufacturing, Legal and Programme Management to keep commercial plans aligned with contractual, financial and delivery realities
• Support commercial teams during major pursuits by maintaining planning discipline under time pressure
• Serve as a point of contact for internal and external audits relating to export-control administration

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business Administration, International Trade, Law, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, or a related discipline
• 5–7 years of professional experience in commercial planning, sales operations, or commercial project management
• Experience in the defense or aerospace industry is a strong advantage
• Working knowledge of export-control regimes and hands-on experience with licence applications is a strong advantage

Skills & Competencies

• Strong planning skills and operate with high level of accuracy
• Excellent coordination and stakeholder-management skills
• Fluent in English
• Dutch, German or Spanish is a plus
• Structured, highly organised approach
• Ability to create clarity where there is ambiguity and keep many moving parts on track at once
• Planner's discipline combined with hands-on, pragmatic approach
• Comfort being the connective tissue between various internal and external stakeholders
• Diplomatic approach balanced with firmness to hold the line on deadlines and process
• Understanding of the seriousness of export controls and commitment to treating compliance as non-negotiable