Case Study: Building Eloqua's
EMEA Sales Operation from the Ground Up
Client: Eloqua (acquired by
Oracle) Sector: Marketing
Automation SaaS Regions: UK,
Germany, Benelux
Eloqua, a pioneer in marketing automation software, enables organisations to run targeted campaigns across email, web, video, and mobile channels. Headquartered in Toronto, Eloqua was a fast-scaling SaaS business preparing for global expansion. This critical European expansion and business-building challenge was successfully executed by Andy and his team at his previous role, transforming a seven-person regional outpost into Eloqua's top-performing region globally.
With a newly opened office on Old Bond Street in London, Eloqua's leadership team set its sights on building a high-impact EMEA business and needed the right team on the ground to make that vision a reality. In 2012, the company was acquired by Oracle.
To successfully launch in Europe, Eloqua needed enterprise sales professionals who could not only close deals but also build the business from the ground up. The ideal candidates had to be entrepreneurial, autonomous, and commercially sharp.
Needed autonomous operators who could execute with minimal HQ support
Transform a seven-person regional outpost into market-leading operation
Every hire had to move the needle—no room for hiring mistakes
Required commercially sharp professionals with enterprise closing skills
Sales, pre-sales, marketing, customer success, and professional services
Talent placement across UK, Germany, and Benelux markets
High-performing professionals with proven enterprise sales capability
Build a fully functioning, high-performing regional business
With a strategic Old Bond Street location and ambitious European expansion goals, Eloqua positioned itself to become the leading marketing automation platform in EMEA, requiring exceptional talent to execute this vision successfully.
Eloqua engaged Andy and his team to lead a retained executive search project focused on building out the EMEA operation. Andy worked closely with leadership across the UK, Germany, and Benelux to identify, engage, and deliver top-tier commercial and operational talent across key functions.
Comprehensive retained search across sales, pre-sales, marketing, and customer success functions to build a complete EMEA operation.
Close collaboration with EMEA leadership to define ideal candidate profiles and ensure perfect market positioning alignment.
Targeted searches specifically focused on entrepreneurial operators with proven enterprise sales capability and autonomous execution skills.
Comprehensive end-to-end hiring support from initial sourcing through to successful candidate onboarding and integration.
Recruited across all key functions
Successfully recruited 35 executives representing 75% of Eloqua's EMEA sales team, building a fully functioning regional business from a seven-person outpost that became the company's top-performing region globally.
The partnership transformed a seven-person regional outpost into Eloqua's top-performing region globally, directly contributing to the company's successful acquisition by Oracle in 2012.
The team played a pivotal role in helping Eloqua scale its European business at a critical moment. By delivering entrepreneurial, high-impact talent across functions and geographies, they helped turn a seven-person regional outpost into a market-leading commercial operation.
Transformed 7-person outpost into fully functioning regional powerhouse
EMEA became the company's top-performing region worldwide
Strong EMEA performance contributed to successful Oracle acquisition
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