Founding Commercial Director
Primarily remote | Around two days per week initially | Ideally based near London or Paris
A hands-on senior commercial role for someone who can originate, win and close high-value advisory work and help build Sustenra for the long term.
Build the commercial function from the beginning
Sustenra is an independent advisory firm working with corporate foundations, philanthropic funders, financial institutions, impact investors, corporate social responsibility teams, environmental, social and governance teams and other institutions responsible for significant funded programmes and portfolios.
We help clients strengthen governance, oversight, delivery confidence and long-term performance. Our work may begin before funding is committed, continue during delivery, or start when a programme is under pressure, relationships are strained or the original plan no longer makes sense.
We are looking for a Founding Commercial Director to work directly with our Founder and Managing Director and the other two founders. The central requirement is simple: you must know how to originate, win and close substantial paid advisory work.
This is a hands-on senior commercial role. There is no established sales team or inherited pipeline. You will help shape how Sustenra approaches the market, but you will also be expected to execute: create opportunities, get in front of the right people, run discovery, shape paid engagements, discuss fees, negotiate and close.
What you will do
- Originate and close paid advisory mandates
- Create opportunities where none currently exist, rather than relying only on inbound leads or an existing network
- Turn relevant founder relationships and warm introductions into qualified commercial opportunities
- Identify and approach senior decision-makers, referral partners and strategic relationships
- Lead discovery conversations and identify the underlying problem a prospective client will pay to solve
- Translate Sustenra’s programme, field and institutional experience into a clear commercial case for private-sector, philanthropic and institutional buyers
- Shape proposals, scopes of work, pricing and commercial terms
- Handle objections, fee discussions, negotiation and closing
- Build and manage a focused commercial pipeline and practical customer relationship management process
- Identify new buyer groups, partnerships, services and routes to market where there is a credible path to revenue
- Help decide which opportunities Sustenra should pursue and which it should walk away from
You may be speaking with foundation chief executives, corporate foundation directors, corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance leaders, sustainability teams, portfolio directors, trustees, investment committee members, financial institutions and other senior decision-makers responsible for funding, governance and programme performance.
We understand what happens when strategy meets delivery reality
Sustenra’s leadership has worked across programme funding, implementation, research, evaluation, governance, policy and delivery, including in complex international settings.
A programme can look credible at proposal or board level and still struggle when it meets delivery reality: weak systems, changing funding conditions, institutional capacity, partner relationships, governance problems, political change or local implementation constraints. We understand that gap from direct experience.
Our independence is central to our work. We are not there to sell additional programme implementation or recommend partners for a referral fee. Our value depends on giving clients an objective view of whether programmes, partners and investments are likely to deliver what was promised, where material risks sit and what needs to change.
The Commercial Director must be able to turn that into a compelling reason for a client to engage Sustenra, while also recognising work we should refuse where accepting it would compromise our independence or positioning.
A proven closer who can also build from zero
We are particularly interested in people who can demonstrate that they have personally:
- originated and closed significant paid consulting, advisory, professional-services or other complex business-to-business work
- taken opportunities from initial conversation through discovery, scope, pricing, negotiation and signed agreement
- sold complex or intangible expertise to senior decision-makers
- generated business without relying solely on a major brand, inbound leads or an established sales infrastructure
- translated technical or specialist expertise into a proposition a buyer understands and values
- handled difficult conversations about value, scope, fees and objections
- adapted their approach when a pipeline, market or proposition was not converting
- worked independently and taken personal responsibility for commercial outcomes
Experience spanning both private-sector and public, philanthropic, international-development or social-impact environments would be particularly valuable. Relevant backgrounds may include consulting, professional services, corporate foundations, philanthropy, sustainability and ESG, financial services, impact investing, development finance, government or international development.
An established network is useful, but a network alone is not what we are hiring for. We are looking for evidence that you can turn access, expertise and conversations into paid work and can also build opportunities beyond the network you already have.
Commercial traction that turns into paid work
During the first six months, we would expect to see a sharper proposition for priority buyers, founder networks used intelligently, new senior relationships developed, a focused pipeline of credible opportunities and clear evidence about which markets and propositions are gaining traction.
Most importantly, we expect the role to contribute to significant new paid client work being secured.
An initial six-month trial, with the intention to grow the role
The role will begin at around two days per week and with an initial six-month trial period.
It is intended to sit alongside other employment, consultancy or portfolio work initially. You will have considerable flexibility over when and where you work, provided that agreed responsibilities, meetings and deadlines are met.
Our usual collaboration window is between 10:00 and 16:00 UK time, Monday to Thursday. This is when we try to arrange team meetings and shared work, rather than a requirement to work throughout those hours.
The commission structure will be agreed before the role begins and set out clearly in writing.
For someone who makes a sustained contribution and becomes a long-term part of Sustenra, there will also be the potential for equity participation, subject to agreed terms and formal documentation.
Experience from inside funded programmes
Sustenra was founded by three women with experience across programme funding, delivery, research, evaluation, policy and institutional governance.
Between us, we have worked within or with organisations including the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research, the United Nations Population Fund, Karolinska Institutet, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Our experience comes from working inside funded programmes and the institutions responsible for them, including settings where infrastructure fails, political conditions change and the original plan stops making sense.
Apply through LinkedIn
Please apply through the LinkedIn job posting by submitting your CV and answering the application questions.
We care much more about what you have actually sold than how polished your CV sounds. Please use specific examples wherever possible, particularly one or two significant pieces of paid work you personally originated and helped close. We want to understand the type of client, approximate value or scale, how the opportunity began, your own role and how you helped move it to signed agreement.
You do not need to disclose confidential client names, private contact details or other commercially sensitive information.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage early applications and may begin interviews before the closing date.
Interested in building Sustenra with us?
Apply through LinkedIn by Friday 28 August 2026. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis.