Sales Development Representative - UK & I

About Pleo

Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we're changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike - with a vision to help all businesses ‘go beyond’.

The word ‘Pleo’ actually means ‘more than you’d expect’, and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years.

Now, we’re at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high. With great ambitions driving us forward, we can’t say we’ve got this whole thing figured out. And frankly, that’s half the fun! What we can say is that we’re a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together.

We’re looking for Sales Development Representatives to join our Sales Hub in Lisbon and support our growing customer base in the UK&I Region.

In this role, you'll help drive Pleo’s growth and be part of the team responsible for expanding our footprint in spend management solutions as we scale our cutting-edge SaaS platform.

You'll be based in our vibrant Lisbon office, home to our fast-paced and dynamic Sales Hub. Already in Portugal? Great! Not there yet? No worries, we’ll support you with a full relocation package, including both practical and financial help.

What you’ll be doing

As a Sales Development Representative you will:

• Build a pipeline through cold calling, social and email outreach to senior finance leaders.
• Qualify potential deals before passing them to Account Executives.
• Nurture relationships with Prospects.
• Use best in class tools for creative prospecting.
• Enable others and share best practices to learn as a team.
• Work towards achieving daily and weekly revenue targets and key performance

What you bring

You’ll thrive in this role if you have:

• Previous professional experience in a customer-facing or sales-related role (preferably sales, finance, consulting)
• Driven and ambitious individual looking to grow quickly in sales
• Proactive and ready to take on own initiatives to drive results
• Comfortable with cold calling & getting out of your comfort zone
• Thrive on sales targets and constantly seek new ways to go the extra mile where needed
• A team player who goes out of their way to help colleagues succeed
• Entrepreneurial and creative mindset, ready to learn and grow every day
• Thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment and excited to grow alongside the company
• Fluent in English (company language)

Who you’ll be working with and reporting to

• You’ll report to our SDR Manager Central Europe and work closely with our Account Executives, as well as our marketing and partnerships teams. Our team of 7 is highly collaborative and dedicated to business growth.

How you’ll develop in this role

• In your first 6 months at Pleo, you’ll:
• Lead initiatives to drive impact in expanding Pleo’s presence in the DACH market.
• Grow your skills in sales and outbound strategies, taking on new challenges as the company continues to scale its operations across DACH.
• We’re committed to helping you develop your career, whether that means taking on bigger projects, stepping into leadership, or acquiring new skills in sales.

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
• Comprehensive private healthcare - depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan or Médis
• 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
• Access to LinkedIn Learning - acquire new skills, stay abreast of industry trends and fuel your personal and professional development continuously
• 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

The interview process

We want to ensure you are set-up for success and understand what will be expected of you. If your application is successful, our interview process is as follows:

1. Intro call: A 30-minute chat with our Talent Partner to discuss the role and your background.
2. An Interview with the Hiring Manager
3. Our Pleo Challenge - a case study/role play with our panel to demonstrate your ability
4. A bar raiser interview - to allow you to showcase what extra value you can add to Pleo's growth journey!

Transparency is important to us so we also wanted to share some insights about what we’re looking for in applications to ensure you can set yourself up for success!

Last time we hired for SDRs, we received many applications but only a few were selected for an intro call. Some of the key reasons why previous candidates didn’t make it past the application screening stage include:

• CV writing and content: we receive a lot of CVs, and many of them are AI-generated. We love seeing people leverage AI—it’s a big focus for us internally too—but without human intervention, these CVs can sometimes become generic and fail to show a candidate in the best light. What we're really looking for is the specific details of real impact that only you know from your previous experience. A top tip from us is to use the “Achieved X, as measured by Y, by doing Z” formula (credit: Laszlo Bock, ~2014) to give a really clear picture of what you’ve worked on. A final note: including links to your previous companies' websites is a huge help and allows us to truly understand your background!
• Application care: every single application we receive is reviewed by a human (yes, hundreds of them) because we believe that candidates' efforts should be matched by an equal level of human care. This means that we expect a similar level of attention put into your application. Read and answer the application questions carefully, they make a huge difference in our decision-making process.
• Profile to role fit: highlight most important aspects of the role, points that might get misunderstood, any specific industry requirements etc.

About your application

• English first. Since it's our company language, please submit your application in English. You’ll be using it a lot if you join us.
• A fair look for everyone. Our talent team reads every single application to ensure the process is fair. To keep things running smoothly, we only accept applications through our system—our support team can’t pass on calls or emails.
• Diversity drives us. We can only reach our goals if our team reflects the world around us. That starts with you hitting apply, even if you don't tick every single box. We encourage people from all backgrounds and experiences to join us.
• Interview at your best. We want you to feel comfortable throughout the process. If you have any accessibility requirements or need a specific format, email belonging@pleo.io. We’ll design a process that works for you.
• Your data is safe. When you apply, we process your personal data as a data processor. For more information on how Pleo processes personal data, read our Privacy Policy here.
• Applying for multiple roles? Nothing is stopping you, and we assess every role independently. However, we do look for alignment, so make sure you can explain why your interest and experience are right for each specific role.
• Reapplying. If you’re applying for the same role again, please wait six months from your last decision before hitting submit.