COO, Europe West

About IFS IFS is the world’s leading provider of Industrial AI and enterprise software for businesses that service and power our planet. With over 7,000 employees and operations in 90+ countries, IFS serves more than 5,500 customers globally. We surpassed €1 billion in annual recurring revenue in 2025, with total revenue in excess of €1.5 billion and cloud revenue up 38% year-on-year. Our solutions deliver measurable business value, including significant capex savings, productivity gains, and sustainability benefits. IFS is recognized as a leader by Gartner and other industry analysts across ERP, EAM, FSM, and ITSM. IFS is backed by a consortium of leading global private equity and institutional investors, including EQT, Hg, and TA Associates, with additional minority investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). This strong and active investor base supports IFS’s ambitious growth strategy, innovation in Industrial AI, and continued expansion as a global software leader. The COO, Europe West will operate as a senior commercial and operational leader alongside the Europe West Managing Director, helping to drive regional execution, commercial performance, operational discipline and sustainable revenue growth across the UK, Ireland and Benelux. This role is broader than a traditional commercial or territory leadership role. It combines revenue accountability, pipeline generation, operational governance, performance management and cross-functional execution. The role will help create the operating rhythm, data discipline and execution framework required to support predictable growth across the region. While the role is not a traditional territory ownership position, it remains quota-carrying and aligned to the same commercial outcomes as the Managing Director. The Commercial Director will act as a trusted deputy and execution partner to the MD, helping translate regional strategy into clear operating priorities, structured governance and measurable commercial results. Key Responsibilities Strategic Commercial Leadership & Revenue Growth Partner with the Europe West COO to help define, execute and operationalise the commercial strategy for Europe West. Drive top-line growth through direct accountability for pipeline creation, revenue performance and commercial execution. Own and influence the regional demand and pipeline engine across net-new and install-base motions, with a strong bias toward net-new growth. Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of regional sales opportunities, ensuring opportunities are well sponsored, accurately staged and positioned for conversion. Support strategic deal progression, including executive sponsorship, deal governance, close planning and risk mitigation. Act as a senior commercial proxy for the MD where required, supporting key customer, pipeline and leadership discussions. Ensure regional commercial priorities are aligned to broader business objectives, growth plans and performance expectations. Operational Excellence & Commercial Governance Establish and manage a consistent regional commercial operating cadence across sales, BDR, digital sales, marketing and supporting functions. Drive structured operational rigor through weekly, monthly and quarterly business reviews, ensuring performance conversations are grounded in data, actions and accountability. Implement standardised commercial processes, operating routines and governance frameworks to improve productivity, focus and execution. Identify commercial bottlenecks, duplication, hand-off issues and execution gaps, then work with leaders to resolve them. Support the region in scaling effectively by embedding repeatable processes, tools and methodologies. Drive operational discipline across pipeline management, opportunity qualification, CRM hygiene, forecast accuracy and performance reporting. Foster a culture of continuous improvement, pace and accountability across the regional commercial organisation. Pipeline, Demand Generation & Deal Quality Own the end-to-end regional pipeline generation framework across BDR, marketing, digital sales and field sales. Build a repeatable demand engine with clear ownership, cadence, conversion metrics and measurable outcomes. Maintain appropriate pipeline coverage across net-new and install-base motions, ensuring consistent contribution from all relevant routes to market. Nurture early-stage opportunities so they are properly qualified, well sponsored and execution-ready before moving into current-quarter focus. Ensure opportunities transition with clear close plans, customer sponsorship, value drivers, next steps and realistic forecast assumptions. Challenge weak, low-quality or unsupported pipeline to avoid over-reliance on “thin air” opportunities. Improve hand-offs between BDR, marketing, digital sales, account executives and sales management. Performance Management, Data & Analytics Own the regional commercial performance management rhythm, ensuring leaders have access to high-quality data for planning, decision-making and execution. Develop and maintain KPIs, dashboards and reporting that provide clear visibility of pipeline health, coverage, conversion, stage integrity, forecast quality and performance trends. Use CRM, pipeline, win/loss, territory, market and rep performance data to identify risks, gaps and growth opportunities. Support preparation and governance of QBRs, monthly reviews and other key business performance forums. Track both lagging indicators, such as revenue and pipeline conversion, and leading indicators, such as customer engagement, account planning quality and strategic selling progress. Turn multiple data points into a clear commercial narrative that enables faster and better decision-making. Hold teams accountable through evidence, insight and structured follow-up rather than anecdote. Territory, Market & Growth Planning Support regional territory and coverage planning, ensuring focus is directed toward priority industries, sub-industries, accounts and growth markets. Partner with sales leadership to assess coverage models, market opportunity, account segmentation and resource allocation. Use market, pipeline, CRM and performance insights to inform go-to-market decisions and improve execution. Drive measurement and execution of targeted industry and solution business plans. Help ensure alignment between regional plans, global priorities and local market execution. Identify opportunities to improve regional productivity, commercial coverage and return on investment. Cross-Functional Leadership & Execution Act as a connector across sales, BDR, digital sales, marketing, operations, enablement and other relevant functions. Break down silos and improve collaboration, hand-offs and shared accountability across teams. Partner with Marketing to ensure pipeline generation activity is cost-effective, targeted and aligned to regional commercial priorities. Work with global and regional teams to implement tools, methodologies and resources that support deal progression, business planning and value demonstration. Support enablement of new solutions, methodologies and commercial processes across the region. Influence leaders and teams without relying solely on direct line authority, using credibility, clarity and commercial insight. Provide effective consultation on areas impacting market execution, including localisation, market development and operating model improvement. Team Leadership & Operating Discipline Lead, influence and support a regional commercial engine spanning BDR, digital sales and related demand generation functions. Set clear expectations, cadence and accountability across teams involved in pipeline creation and commercial execution. Create an environment where teams understand priorities, performance expectations and how success will be measured. Motivate teams through clarity, structure, pace and commercial focus. Build credibility with senior stakeholders by combining strategic perspective with strong attention to execution detail. Lead with gravitas, fairness and resilience in a high-pressure, performance-driven environment. Support leadership effectiveness and team development across the commercial operating model. Success Measures Regional pipeline growth, quality and conversion. Net-new and install-base pipeline coverage. CRM hygiene, stage integrity and forecast accuracy. Strength and consistency of commercial operating cadence. Quality of QBRs, monthly reviews and commercial performance reporting. Improved collaboration across sales, BDR, digital sales, marketing and supporting teams. Effectiveness of territory, market and growth planning. Deal readiness, close planning and executive sponsorship quality. Ability to identify and address commercial risks early. Trust and credibility with the MD, regional leadership team and cross-functional stakeholders. About You Experience Significant leadership experience in enterprise software sales, commercial operations or regional business leadership. Proven experience carrying or owning commercial targets in a complex enterprise sales environment. Strong understanding of long-cycle enterprise software sales, ideally within ERP, EAM, FSM, ITSM, Industrial AI or adjacent enterprise SaaS environments. Experience leading or influencing BDR, inside sales, digital sales, marketing or commercial operations functions at scale. Track record of building repeatable commercial operating rhythms, demand engines and performance management frameworks. Strong experience in pipeline management, forecasting, CRM discipline, QBR governance and commercial analytics. Proven ability to work across matrixed, international and fast-paced organisations. Experience partnering with senior sales, marketing, operations and regional leadership teams. Demonstrable ability to turn strategy into execution through clear priorities, process, data and accountability. Leadership Qualities Commercially strong, execution-focused and highly data-driven. Able to operate as a trusted deputy to the MD, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on execution. Comfortable holding senior stakeholders and teams accountable in a firm but fair way. Strong ability to influence without direct authority, using credibility, insight and commercial judgment. Resilient under pressure and comfortable working in a high-performance, PE-paced environment. Pragmatic and action-oriented, able to create momentum without waiting for perfect conditions. Strong attention to detail combined with the ability to see the bigger commercial picture. Confident navigating ambiguity, complexity and competing priorities. High energy, strong drive and a clear bias for action. Collaborative leadership style, able to bring teams together around common goals and measurable outcomes. The Environment This role operates in a fast-paced, performance-driven environment where pace, clarity and accountability are essential. The Commercial Director will need to move comfortably between strategic planning and detailed execution, working across multiple stakeholders, functions and markets. The role will require resilience, adaptability and the ability to operate effectively in a high-growth, commercially ambitious organisation. The individual must be comfortable working through complexity, driving structure where it is needed, and helping teams maintain focus on the activities that create measurable commercial impact. Why join IFS? By joining our team, you will have the opportunity to be part of a global, diverse environment; you will be joining a winning team with a commitment to sustainability; and a company where we get things done so that you can make a positive impact on the world. We are looking for innovative and original thinkers to work in an environment where they can #MakeYourMoment so that we can help others make theirs. If you want to change the status quo, we will help you make your moment. Join Team Purple. Join IFS.