Local Placement Manager - Lisbon

Local Placement Manager — Lisbon

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Duration: Full-time

Application Deadline: 13th August

Start Date: September 2026

The Role

Combine your business development expertise with a passion for international education as the Local Placement Manager for Lisbon. In this role, you will take full commercial ownership of building, managing, and sustaining a high-performing city placement ecosystem. At its heart, this role combines placement execution, business development, relationship management, and commercial ownership. You are the dedicated, full-year owner of Lisbon's placement delivery, responsible for consistently securing high-quality internship matches that align with program demand and student goals.

Reporting to Regional Placement Leadership, you will drive the front-end sales pipeline during the sourcing season and transition into a relationship manager to ensure outstanding, sustainable outcomes. During peak placement cycles, you will also direct and prioritize the work of a seasonal Internship Placement Coordinator to support administrative execution and student mock interviews, while you retain final decision-making power over employer partnerships.

Employer-Facing & Business Development Responsibilities:

• Own and Scale the Lisbon Network: Run targeted business development activities to acquire new host companies, expand corporate partnerships, and consistently hit city-level placement targets.
• Execute Sustained Outbound Activity: Drive cold outreach, physical networking, and lead generation campaigns to build a diverse pipeline of local corporate partners.
• Target Strategic and Global Opportunities: Map local office locations of global host companies, identify nationality-specific business communities in Lisbon, and share cross-regional leads with Regional Placement Leadership.
• Develop Low-Season Collaborations: Source and develop Remote Project Studio projects with new companies during off-peak cycles, building a separate pipeline of project-based partnerships distinct from traditional internship host companies.
• Nurture and Retain Corporate Partners: Strategically leverage off-peak cycles to re-engage previous employer partners, secure early forward volume commitments, and strengthen long-term retention.
• Maintain CRM and Data Integrity: Manage a highly accurate, conversion-focused CRM pipeline in HubSpot, including utilizing account relationship tagging to systematically track account health.
• Provide Market Intelligence: Spot local market trends, corporate demand signals, and commercial opportunities, sharing these insights with Regional Placement Leadership to guide broader strategies.

Student Placement & Relationship Responsibilities:

• Execute High-Quality Placement Matching: Manage the end-to-end matching process, pairing international students with host companies to maximize placement quality, student satisfaction, and conversion.
• Manage Quality Assurance: Maintain and protect strict host company quality standards to guarantee safe, rewarding work environments that align with Absolute Internship's global brand expectations.
• Prepare and Coach Students: Support student interview preparation and placement readiness, ensuring they are positioned to make an impact on day one.
• Direct Seasonal Support: Supervise, mentor, and prioritize the daily work of the seasonal Internship Placement Coordinator, delegating administrative tasks and mock interviews to a high standard.
• Support Visiting Groups: Assist in coordinating Custom Experiential Programs when visiting student cohorts arrive in Lisbon helping to organize itineraries, coordinate host company visits, or arrange local cultural activities.
• Resolve Placement Issues: Act as the primary local point of contact to resolve student or employer placement related friction points dynamically, managing and mitigating risk before challenges escalate.
• Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Work closely with Student Experience, Operations, Program Delivery, and Regional Leadership to ensure a seamless, 360-degree journey for both students and employers.

Who You Are

• Commercial Mindset: 3+ years of experience in placement, recruitment, business development, sales, account management, or a comparable commercial environment with a proven track record of hitting targets.
• Resilient Hunter: Someone who is energized by building a network, highly comfortable with cold outreach, and disciplined with pipeline follow-ups.
• Relationship Builder: A natural networker who builds trust quickly, develops strong long-term partnerships, and balances commercial goals with an empathetic focus on student success.
• Bilingual Communicator: Fully fluent in both English and Portuguese (written and spoken) with the professional credibility to pitch to C-suite executives and support an international student base.

Ideal/Expected Qualities and Experience

• Demonstrated success hitting commercial, recruitment, placement, or sales targets.
• Strong proficiency in managing sales pipelines and tracking conversion metrics within CRM platforms (HubSpot preferred).
• Based in Lisbon with deep knowledge of the local corporate and business landscape.
• Highly organized, adaptable, and comfortable working autonomously with high organizational visibility.
• Collaborative professional who works well within concurrent ownership models and alongside seasonal coordinators.

What We Expect

• Unwavering professionalism, integrity, and credibility in all employer, university, student, and internal interactions.
• Exemplary conduct and prompt responsiveness across all communication channels.
• Positive, respectful, and highly collaborative attitude toward all colleagues and stakeholders.
• Proactive, resourcefulness, and creative problem-solving to address challenges before they escalate.
• Meticulous attention to detail and organized pipeline execution.

What You’ll Get

• Structured onboarding and continuous training in placement excellence, matching strategy, B2B sales/negotiation, CRM data literacy, and employer relationship management.
• Direct executive mentorship and a clear, defined path to grow into senior placement and regional leadership roles within a scaling global organization.
• A high degree of role autonomy where your business wins directly impact real students' career trajectories within the same season.
• A vibrant, international team culture that values flexibility, creativity, and entrepreneurial thinking.

Why Absolute Internship?

We are a pioneering global firm featured in The New York Times, BBC, and Bloomberg. We provide world-class international internship programs in premier global hubs like Barcelona, London, Tokyo, Singapore, and Lisbon. We are a mission-driven community built around opportunity, belonging, and impact. Alongside our core programs, we are actively building a foundation to expand access to education for 500 children worldwide by 2031.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Absolute Internship is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where diversity is valued, celebrated, and respected. Different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives strengthen our team and help us serve our global community better. We look forward to welcoming a passionate and skilled individual to our team!