Managing Director, Philippines

Job description

About Blackpanda Somewhere in Manila tonight, a server room is on fire. Not literally — though sometimes it might as well be. A ransomware note is blinking on a managing director's screen in a tower above Ayala Avenue. A family office in Rockwell is locked out of its own ledgers. A trading desk in Bonifacio Global City is running orders on paper. Across the bay in Entertainment City, a hospitality group has just learned its booking system isn't its own anymore. Somewhere — Binondo, Ortigas, Alabang, Quezon City, Cebu — a CIO is staring at the ceiling at three in the morning, wondering who to call. That call comes to us. Blackpanda is Asia's premier cyber crisis response firm — Lloyd's of London–accredited, regionally headquartered, and built for one purpose: to walk in when the worst has already happened, and walk out leaving the company still on its feet. We do incident response and digital forensics. That is it. No identity crisis about what we are. We are pure IR, and we like it that way. Three channels, one operating force. We reach the market in three ways, and every channel feeds the same unit. Consulting. Hourly, senior-led engagements for enterprises and board-level matters where complexity, sensitivity, or scale demand our most experienced operators. IR-1. Our proprietary fixed-cost subscription is sold through IT channels and underwritten on our own insurance paper. IR-1 puts a real response solution in the hands of mid-market and small companies who have never been able to afford traditional cyber cover — paid up front, before the breach, with our team on the other end of every activation. Traditional cyber insurance. Full-stack policies for the mature, board-level buyer, with our response practice on the inside of every claim. Not a panel. Not a vendor. Our own people. As a Lloyd's coverholder, the revenue arrives before the breach, not after it. Where traditional insurers park that float in markets, we pour ours straight back into the team — into people, training, tooling, and hours on the keyboard against real adversaries. Our gross margins run roughly two times those of traditional IR firms, and every point of that advantage compounds inside the unit. The Cyber In-Extremis Force. At the centre of everything is the CIF. Borrowed the term from the special operations world and you'll understand what we mean by it. In extremis describes the moment a situation has moved beyond the tolerance of conventional units. When the building is already burning. When there is no time, no margin, no second chance. In-extremis forces are the no-fail option — who you call when calling anyone else means accepting the loss. Blackpanda was founded by three former operators of the Commander's In-Extremis Force, one of five CIF teams the United States military positioned around the world, based out of Okinawa. They built this firm because they had served inside the original — and they know what right looks like. How the best are selected. How the best are trained. How the best stand ready when the call comes. They are building the cyber equivalent the only way they know how: same standards, same discipline, same refusal to compromise on who gets to wear the patch. We set a hard floor under who is allowed in the room. Every responder on the CIF roster holds — or is actively earning — multiple SANS Institute certifications, the most rigorous DFIR qualifications in the field. Network forensics, enterprise cloud, Linux, Windows, adversary tradecraft. The company pays for the coursework. The company pays for the certifications. The bar is not negotiable. By the end of 2026, Blackpanda expects to field 25 full-time incident responders — by a wide margin the largest pure-IR team in Asia-Pacific and Japan. You want to run with the best? You have to be trained by the best. We do this so that one day there is no question — inside the firm or outside it — about who is the best. Our Core Values • Sincerity — If we say we'll do it, it's as good as done. In combat, you have to know your right flank will be there at 0200 when they said they would. The work is the same. • Unity — Debate fiercely, then commit fully. We all row in the same direction. • Efficiency — Timing beats speed, precision beats power, leverage beats strength. • Humility — Humility forms the basis of honor. We listen, then we act, then we listen again. • Grit — We don't sugarcoat setbacks or bad news. We face challenges head-on and we don't quit when it gets hard. Our story: Blackpanda is Asia's leading cyber incident response company, delivering digital emergency response across three integrated channels: IR consulting, IR-1 assurance subscriptions, and Lloyd's of London-underwritten cyber insurance. Each is purpose-built for a different buyer, whether enterprise, mass market, or sophisticated risk-transfer clients, and each stands alone as full incident response. Together, these channels reach the entire commercial market, because our mission is to provide digital emergency response for everyone. Buy all three and they combine into the complete post-attack recovery solution: preparation in advance, response the moment you're hit, and financial recovery paid for by insurance. One local team to help you get ready, respond, and recover. Our Mission: To provide digital emergency response to everyone. Our Vision: Accessing cyber incident response is as universally accessible as dialing 9-1-1. What we are looking for: Blackpanda is seeking a Managing Director, Philippines to own and scale our business across the local market. As we move through to our Series B funding stage and expand our regional footprint, we are appointing a Managing Director to take full commercial ownership of the market: its revenue, its team, its partnerships, and its standing as the country's most credible cyber emergency response firm. Reporting directly to the Managing Director, South East Asia, you will own the Philippines revenue number across our incident response service lines, and you will own local market presence, client relationships, partner relationships, and elevate the local standard to which Blackpanda operates. You will co-lead a country team spanning sales, marketing, technology, and incident response, working in close concert with Blackpanda's regional functional leadership in Response, Customer Success, Revenue Operations, Marketing, Insurance, Finance and Technology. Incident response, insurance, and technology delivery quality remains functionally owned by the global heads based in our Singapore headquarters; you own the market, the customers, and the commercial outcomes. The ideal candidate is a commercially aggressive but operationally disciplined market leader who has built and run a business in the Philippines. You are comfortable with executive coverage across all commercial relationships in professional settings, as you are in a weekly forecast review defending your pipeline. You are fluent in English and Tagalog, and you understand that in this market trust is local, relationships compound, and credibility is earned. Responsibilities and Duties: Market Ownership & Commercial Accountability Own the Philippines business and revenue: deliver revenue targets across Blackpanda's incident response service lines, including retainers, on-demand response and subscription offerings. Work with the MD SEA, and C-Suite team on bi-annual target setting across your territory Build and own the Philippines market strategy, including territory prioritisation across all opportunities locally. Own forecast accuracy and pipeline integrity, in partnership with Revenue Operations, maintaining pipeline hygiene and stage discipline in our CRM as the single commercial system of record. Provide clear, defensible reporting on clearly defined business metrics — including the metrics required for Series B funding and subsequent investor diligence. Plan and manage the market's headcount and commercial investment within agreed budget and authority levels, in partnership with the MD SEA, CFO, and People & Culture team. Revenue Growth & Enterprise Sales Leadership Personally lead and close strategic enterprise and complex opportunities in the market — this is a player-coach role. Build, coach and hold accountable a local sales team, establishing accountability for clear quotas, territories, activity standards and performance management. Own executive-level relationships with CISOs, CIOs, Heads of IT, General Counsel, CFOs and Boards across the market's priority segments (Enterprise, Mid-Market, MSSP). Drive Blackpanda's A2I proposition in-market, translating assurance and response into a single commercial narrative that senior buyers act on. Establish a repeatable, documented sales motion for the market and enforce consistent commercial standards, pricing discipline and approval workflows. Channel & Partnership Development Own and grow the Philippines channel and alliance relationships, including global OEM and technology partners as they operate in-market. Identify, negotiate and onboard new local channel partners, MSSPs, resellers and professional services firms as routes to market. Build and maintain relationships across the local insurance and broker ecosystem in support of Blackpanda's wider business, coordinated with the insurance business line. Own partner-led revenue performance, ensuring joint pipeline, enablement, co-marketing and commercial terms are managed to agreed outcomes. Represent Blackpanda with regulators, industry bodies, law enforcement liaison channels and cyber ecosystem stakeholders in the market. Team Leadership & Country Build-Out Leads and manages the local sales team. Lead the Philippines market in a matrix organization as the senior leader for all local staff across marketing, customer success and response functions, while each function reports to respective global function heads. Influence the market's hiring plan in partnership with People & Culture, and the role’s respective function leaders: define roles, assess candidates, and build a talent pipeline that can scale with the business. Directly influence the market's marketing resource, including but not limited to local demand generation, brand presence, events and thought-leadership in coordination with regional Marketing. Coach first-line managers and emerging leaders; build a local leadership bench rather than a set of individual contributors dependent on you. Set the standard for Blackpanda's external brand in-market. Represent the standard for Blackpanda’s core values within the company. Delivery Partnership & Client Outcomes Act as the senior in-market escalation point for clients during live incidents, ensuring executive-level communication, expectation management and post-incident relationship continuity. Partner with the Head of Response and regional delivery leadership to ensure local response capacity, SLA commitments and readiness match what has been sold. Work with Customer Success and Revenue Operations to ensure clean handoffs from sale to provisioning to delivery to renewal, with accurate order, subscription and engagement data. Own renewal and expansion outcomes for the market alongside Customer Success, protecting retention as aggressively as new logo growth. Feed market intelligence, client requirements and competitive dynamics back into Response and company leadership to shape Blackpanda's regional offering. Governance & Operational Responsibility Serve as the senior in-market executive for Blackpanda's Philippines operations, working with Finance, Legal and external advisors on statutory, employment, tax and regulatory obligations. Ensure adherence to Blackpanda's commercial governance, data handling, client confidentiality and information security obligations — including the elevated confidentiality standards inherent to incident response and forensics work. Manage local vendors, premises and operational infrastructure within agreed authority. Support corporate initiatives including Series B diligence, audits, and any market-specific licensing or accreditation requirements. Qualifications and Experience: 12+ years' professional experience, including 5+ years in a country management, general management or senior revenue leadership role with full revenue ownership in the Philippines. Demonstrated record of building and scaling a business in the Philippines — including hiring, developing and retaining a local commercial team. Track record of consistently delivering and exceeding revenue targets in both enterprise and SME B2B services, cybersecurity, professional services or enterprise technology. Strong understanding of cybersecurity buyer behaviour and the incident response, DFIR or managed security landscape. Direct experience in incident response or DFIR is strongly preferred; deep credibility with security buyers is essential. Proven success building and monetising channel, OEM or MSSP-led routes to market in the Philippines. Experience operating in a high-growth, dynamic, pre-Series B environment where systems are still being built. Executive presence and credibility with C-level, Board and regulator audiences, including under pressure during live crisis situations. Commercially rigorous and data-literate: comfortable owning a forecast, interrogating pipeline data, and defending numbers to the MD SEA, C-suite, and rest of company leaders. Existing senior-level network across the Philippines enterprise, security, legal ecosystem and across the overall Philippines conglomerate business network is a significant advantage. Understanding of the cyber insurance industry is a significant advantage. Fluent spoken and written English and Tagalog is a must. Additional Asian language skills are advantageous, though not required. Based in the Metro-Manila, with willingness to travel across the country and to regional Blackpanda offices as required. What we offer: 40 days paid leave per year inclusive of public holidays, which may be taken at the discretion of the employee subject to compliance with our Leave Policy and the approval of their manager. Limited Work From Anywhere policy allotment, allowing for work from alternate locations contingent upon coverage provided by teammates and approved by manager for 5 days per quarter. Enrolment in the company's comprehensive corporate health plan that includes a large direct billing network for medical and dental coverage. Opportunities for inter-office travel, including a required annual week-long Tribe Onsite meet-up and quarterly week-long leadership Offsites. $5000 USD/year for professional training budget contingent on approval from manager with 12-month retention requirement Competitive base salary with performance-based variable compensation tied to market results, plus equity participation in Blackpanda's growth. Declamation: Candidates who successfully pass the Interview stage may be required to complete a Case Study, used to evaluate their technical knowledge and application of their skills in practical scenarios relevant to the role. Blackpanda is committed to building a culturally diverse company, and we value a broad set of opinions in our team. As we grow, we are looking to build a team with a range of viewpoints at its core, and we encourage applications from minority candidates and all genders however you identify (X/F/M). Blackpanda does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruitment agencies. We will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited candidates submitted by recruiters with whom we have not established explicit, written agreements for our job vacancies. By submitting any candidate information, recruiters agree to forfeit any claim to fees should their candidate be hired without an established agreement with Blackpanda.