About Wise Pirates
Wise Pirates is a leading Digital, Tech, and AI Business Partner, operating in over 80 countries from Portugal. With a team of 100+ professionals, we are a Martech-independent agency at the forefront of innovation in Southern Europe. Our ambition is to lead an AI-first marketing ecosystem, blending human creativity with the power of artificial intelligence.
We are dynamic, forward-thinking, and driven by data, automation, and meaningful customer experiences. We believe that our people are our most valuable asset, and we are committed to fostering a culture where they can grow, innovate, and thrive.
About the Role
We are looking for a European Digital Sovereignty Strategist to design and lead one of our most strategic new service offerings: helping European brands and institutions reduce their dependency on non-EU technology providers, migrate to compliant stacks, and build sovereign-first digital experiences from the ground up.
This is a senior, cross-functional role sitting at the intersection of EU policy, enterprise consulting, and applied technology. You will translate a fast-moving regulatory landscape (AI Act, DMA, DSA, NIS2, Data Act, GDPR) into concrete client roadmaps, while shaping Wise Pirates' point of view on what "European by design" means for marketing, data, and AI.
A distinctive part of the role is funding: you will also lead applications to EU Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe, and adjacent grants — work that can partly fund the practice itself and create co-investment opportunities with clients and partners.
Key Responsibilities
● Service Design: Define and continuously evolve Wise Pirates' Digital Sovereignty offering — audits, migration roadmaps, governance frameworks, and "sovereign-first" experience design.
● Sovereignty Audits: Lead structured assessments of client dependencies on US-based infrastructure, SaaS, AdTech, and AI providers, mapping risks and viable EU alternatives.
● Migration Strategy: Build phased roadmaps to EU-compliant stacks (e.g., OVHcloud, Scaleway, Mistral, Aleph Alpha, Outscale, IONOS) with realistic cost, risk, and capability trade-offs.
● Regulatory Advisory: Translate the AI Act, DMA, DSA, NIS2, Data Act, and GDPR into practical implementation playbooks for marketing, data, and martech teams.
● Sovereign-First Brand Experiences: Partner with our creative, data, and AI squads to design customer journeys, data flows, and AI use cases that are sovereign by design.
● EU Funding & Grants: Lead applications to Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe, CEF Digital, and national co-funding instruments. Build consortia with partners, research centres, and clients.
● Ecosystem Engagement: Represent Wise Pirates within GAIA-X, EUCS, EU Cloud Code of Conduct, and relevant industry working groups.
● Thought Leadership: Produce points of view, frameworks, and public content that position Wise Pirates as a reference in digital sovereignty across Southern Europe.
What We're Looking For
● 3+ years of relevant experience in strategy consulting (Big4 or equivalent), EU policy, digital regulation, or institutional affairs.
● Solid command of EU digital regulation: AI Act, DMA, DSA, GDPR, NIS2, Data Act, Data Governance Act.
● Fluency in sovereignty frameworks: GAIA-X, EUCS, EU Cloud Code of Conduct, PCEI-CIS, and the broader European cloud and AI ecosystem.
● Hands-on experience writing successful grant applications to Horizon Europe, Digital Europe Programme, or equivalent EU instruments.
● Working knowledge of the EU technology landscape — cloud, AI, data infrastructure, and martech alternatives to US providers.
● Comfort engaging C-level stakeholders, public institutions, and consortium partners.
● Excellent written and spoken English. Working French, German, or Spanish is a strong plus.
Behavioral Skills
● Strategic Vision: Ability to connect long-term policy shifts to concrete, fundable client roadmaps.
● Comfort with Ambiguity: Energy to build a new practice from scratch, not just to operate an existing one.
● Stakeholder Influence: Strong presence with executives, regulators, and partner ecosystems.
● Cross-Functional Collaboration: Works naturally with technologists, creatives, legal, and finance, translating across domains.
● Kindness: At Wise Pirates we promote and admire kindness, independently of rhythm, intensity and efficiency.
● Analytical Mindset: Capable of putting data first and obsessed with insight building, always with client satisfaction and business results in mind.
● AI Readiness: Interest and nativeness in using AI as a partner to deliver efficient value, respecting security and privacy regulations.
● Innovation Lover: Someone seeking permanent growth and desiring to be part of innovative solutions.
● Results-Oriented Zeal: An unwavering commitment to the client's bottom line — pushing boundaries to deliver maximum value in every interaction.
● Vendor Neutrality: You stay focused on what each client actually needs and on regional compliance, without ideological attachment to any vendor, origin or geography. Wise Pirates works with both EU-native and international providers, and you should be naturally comfortable recommending whichever stack genuinely serves the client.
Nice to Have
● Previous engagement with EU institutions, national digital agencies, or industry consortia.
● Published thought leadership on digital sovereignty, EU tech policy, or data governance.
● Track record of leading successful Horizon Europe or Digital Europe Programme proposals as coordinator or lead writer.
● Experience working with regulated sectors (finance, health, public sector, telco).
● Background in or close exposure to martech, AdTech, or AI vendor landscapes.
What We Offer
● A front-row seat in a growing agency placing AI — and digital sovereignty — at the centre of how we work and how we serve our clients, both in service and products.
● A culture of autonomy, where you own your projects end-to-end and have real space to experiment and shape a new practice.
● Direct exposure to a wide range of use cases, industries, and clients across 80+ countries, with real impact on what gets shipped.
● Continuous learning alongside a cross-functional team of automation, data, media, and creative specialists.
● Competitive Salary: Salary conditions that reflect your seniority and impact.
● Flexible Work: A Hybrid Work Model designed for balance.
● Elite Tech Access: Fast access to advanced AI tools and hardware.
● Rest & Resilience: Up to 30 vacation days for resilient and top performers.
● Global Projects: Opportunity to work with top-tier national and international brands.
● Growth Mindset: Real career growth, continuous learning, and access to certifications/bootcamps.
● Family First: Enhanced Parental Leave.
● Pirate Life: A collaborative culture with "Pirate Crew Socials" and unforgettable team moments.