Sales Manager — United Kingdom

About Founda Health

Founda Health operates a healthcare interoperability platform that lets hospitals, health information exchanges, clinics, digital health applications, PACS and EHRs exchange data through open standards — IHE, HL7, FHIR and DICOM. Our mission is to dramatically improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare by commoditizing healthcare data availability across the ecosystem.

The platform runs on two complementary stacks. XDS, our document and image exchange core, was acquired from Philips and serves more than 50 customers across the Netherlands, Germany and beyond. The Health Platform and FHIR CDR is our modern API layer, connecting digital health applications and data consumers — GPs, AI companies, research, payers — to legacy healthcare data. We are the only vendor combining proven XDS document and image exchange with a modern FHIR layer; competitors have one or the other.

Our positioning: Founda delivers radical simplicity in healthcare data exchange, empowering every actor in the ecosystem to focus on outcomes — not infrastructure. We are the open, vendor-agnostic alternative, with an AI-ready architecture.

Founda is Amsterdam-headquartered, remote-first, The Netherlands and Germany are our core markets; the UK is an active expansion market.

Why this role exists

Founda has a proven platform and a strong European footprint, but no senior commercial presence inside the UK public sector. The NHS does not buy interoperability the way a Dutch or German hospital group does: requirements are shaped through national programmes, shared care record strategies, clinical safety and standards assurance, and framework agreements — usually long before anything reaches a tender portal. By the time a specification is published, the outcome is often already decided.

We are hiring someone to be in those rooms early. This person represents Founda at central government, NHS England and trust level, builds the relationships that give us visibility into what is coming, and shapes specifications, frameworks and procurement routes so that the ground we bid on fits a standards-based, vendor-agnostic platform. They then convert that position into signed business against their own number.

This is the first senior UK hire. There is no existing UK team, no inherited pipeline and no established brand recognition with NHS buyers. The right candidate sees that as the attraction.

Core responsibilities

Shaping the market before the tender

- Build and hold Founda's relationships at national level — central government health digital policy, NHS England and relevant arm's-length bodies, and the national programmes that set direction for data sharing.
- Track policy, consultations, standards work and funding announcements, and translate them into a view of where the buying will happen over the next 12 to 36 months.
- Influence specifications, framework scopes and procurement routes ahead of formal competition, so that open, standards-based interoperability is the shape of the requirement.
- Secure Founda's position on the procurement routes UK health bodies actually buy through — national and regional framework agreements, dynamic markets under the Procurement Act 2023, and direct award routes where they apply.

Winning business

- Own the UK public sector pipeline end to end: identify and qualify ICBs, trusts and national bodies, run the full cycle through to contract signature and handover to delivery, against an individual quota.
- Lead complex, multi-stakeholder pursuits involving clinical, digital, information governance, procurement and finance stakeholders — and the incumbent suppliers already embedded in the account.
- Run competitive bids and tender responses, coordinating the internal contributors a credible NHS submission needs.
- Negotiate and commit commercial terms within agreed pricing bands; anything outside band goes to the CCO.

Defining how Founda sells into the UK

- Own the UK public sector go-to-market approach — qualification criteria, segmentation, partner and channel choices, bid/no-bid discipline and the commercial patterns that work in this market.
- Be the recognised internal authority on UK public sector: the person Product, Marketing, Delivery and leadership come to before committing anything UK-specific.
- Feed what you hear in policy and procurement back into Product, pricing and delivery planning so the roadmap reflects real UK requirements rather than assumptions.
- Maintain an accurate pipeline and forecast in HubSpot that leadership can plan against.

Representing Founda

- Act as Founda's face in the UK market — at NHS and health-tech events, in standards and interoperability communities, and with the partner ecosystem.
- Work alongside Solution Architects, Customer Success, Product, Legal and Marketing so that what is promised commercially holds up technically and contractually.
- Mentor more junior commercial colleagues as the UK presence grows, without line management responsibility.

What this role is not

Worth being explicit, so we screen for the right person:

- Not a people management role. There are no direct reports and no team to build in year one. Candidates whose next step must be a leadership title are not the right fit.
- Not a pure public affairs or policy role. Influence is the method; signed revenue is the outcome. The person carries a number.
- Not a global business development role. Opening new countries, and global technology alliances, sit with our EVP Business Development. This role is the UK, in depth.
- Not a transactional or high-volume sales role. Expect long, consultative public sector cycles with many stakeholders, not monthly close rates.
- Not a roadmap-committing role. Product commitments are made by Product and the CCO. This person shapes them with market evidence; they do not promise features in a bid.

Experience we are looking for

Essential

- A demonstrable, current NHS network at senior level — named relationships at NHS trusts, ICBs, NHS England or central government health digital bodies that the candidate can describe concretely.
- A track record of selling complex technology into the UK public health sector, with evidence of deals personally led from origination to signature.
- Genuine command of NHS and UK public sector procurement: framework agreements, dynamic markets and the Procurement Act 2023, clinical safety and assurance expectations, and how business cases actually get approved inside a trust or ICB.
- Experience influencing requirements before a tender is issued, not only responding to one — and able to give examples.
- Comfort with the technical substance of healthcare interoperability: standards-based data exchange, integration with EHR and PACS estates, and why architectural choices matter to a buyer.
- Carried and hit an individual quota in an enterprise or public sector context.
- Able to operate as the only person in a market, in a remote-first company, with the self-direction that requires.

Strongly preferred

- Working knowledge of FHIR, HL7, DICOM, IHE or XDS, and of NHS standards and assurance expectations such as FHIR UK Core, SNOMED-CT and DCB0129 / DCB0160 clinical risk management.
- Familiarity with shared care records, regional imaging and data-sharing programmes, and the suppliers already embedded in them.
- Experience at a scale-up or challenger vendor competing against entrenched incumbents, rather than only at a large established supplier.
- An existing presence in UK health-tech and interoperability communities — speaking, standards participation, or a recognised professional profile.

Nice to have

- Experience in the devolved nations (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) alongside NHS England.
- Exposure to European health data regulation and how it is influencing UK suppliers and buyers.
- Prior first-hire or market-entry experience for a non-UK vendor.

What good looks like

First 3 months

Mapped the UK landscape — priority trusts, ICBs, national programmes, incumbents and partners. Reactivated or built a first tier of senior relationships. Formed a clear point of view on where Founda can win and where we should not play.

6 months

A qualified UK pipeline in HubSpot with named opportunities and realistic dates. Founda visible in the right national conversations. A recommendation on procurement routes and framework positions, with the work to secure them under way.

12 months

First UK public sector contracts signed against quota. Founda positioned on the procurement routes that matter. Product and leadership acting on UK market evidence this person brought in.

24 months

A repeatable UK public sector motion, reference customers that open the next tier of accounts, and a credible case for what the UK team should become.