Most people in Lisbon who look at English speaking roles assume everything is a support queue. It is not. One of the six briefs open in the city is a straight sales desk, Monday to Friday, office hours, no weekends and no nights. If you are weighing up B2B ad sales jobs in Lisbon, the honest summary is that the base is the same as the support briefs, the commission is what changes everything, and the job rewards organisation far more than charisma. Here is what the week actually looks like, how a deal moves from a list to a signed budget, and how commission reaching 2 000 euros a month is built.
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What the job really is, day to day
You are selling advertising space and advertising solutions to businesses, almost always small and medium companies, on behalf of a global platform. Your market is a defined list of accounts in a language region, and your job is to get those businesses to spend their advertising budget well and to spend more of it on your platform. In practice that means outbound calls and emails to companies that already advertise or have tried once, a discovery conversation about what they sell and who they sell to, a concrete recommendation on budget, audience and creative format, then a follow up until the campaign is live and performing.
What surprises newcomers is how technical it is. You are not reciting a script, you are reading a dashboard and explaining why a campaign spent 300 euros and produced nothing. Half of the credibility comes from understanding the product, and the platform trains you on it for around 15 days, paid, before you touch a live account. The other half comes from being the person who calls back when they said they would. There is no cold pressure selling of a product nobody wants: these businesses already want customers, and your value is in making their spend work.
A week from Monday to Friday, hour by hour
Because the brief runs on office hours, your week has a shape, which is rare in this sector. Most people on the desk build the rhythm below within a month.
| Time slot | What you are doing | Why it sits there |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 to 09:30 | Dashboard review, pipeline cleanup, priorities for the day | Decide before the phone starts ringing |
| 09:30 to 11:00 | Outbound calls to new accounts | Best pick up rate of the day |
| 11:00 to 12:30 | Scheduled discovery calls and product walkthroughs | Businesses are open and focused |
| 12:30 to 13:30 | Lunch, canteen or outside, meal card | Clients are at lunch too |
| 13:30 to 15:00 | Proposals, campaign setups, written follow ups | Quiet block for careful work |
| 15:00 to 17:00 | Second calls, objection handling, closing | Decision makers free up late afternoon |
| 17:00 to 18:00 | Logging in the CRM, next day preparation, coaching | What protects tomorrow’s numbers |
The sales cycle, from a list to a signed budget
The cycle on small and medium business advertising is short compared with enterprise sales. Expect between one and four weeks from first contact to a campaign that is live and spending, with most deals landing in two. Five stages matter. Prospecting is a volume game and your list is given to you, so the skill is prioritisation rather than hunting. Qualification is where you find out whether the business has a budget, a decision maker and a product that can be advertised. Discovery is the real conversation: margins, seasonality, what they tried before and why it failed. The recommendation is a written proposal with a budget range, an audience and a format. Then comes activation and the part nobody mentions in job adverts, the check in two weeks later, because a campaign that performs is the only thing that produces a second, larger budget.
Your numbers are reviewed weekly against a quota, and the quota is built from the market you were given rather than invented. Good desks are transparent about this: you can see your pipeline, your conversion rate and where you sit against target at any point in the month. If you have never worked with a quota before, the first month feels exposed and the third feels like a game.
Fixed pay and commission, explained simply
This is the part worth reading twice, because it is where the sales brief separates from the support briefs. The announced package starts at 1 248 euros gross per month, which already includes the holiday and Christmas allowances spread across the year plus a meal card. On top of that sits the variable: commission on the advertising budgets you bring in and grow, reaching up to 2 000 euros per month on a strong month on this brief. Commission is calculated on performance against quota, so it is not a flat percentage of everything that moves, and it ramps: the portion of your quota beyond the target pays better than the portion below it. The first two months, during and just after training, are usually protected or lightly weighted so you are not punished for learning.
| Element | Amount | How it behaves |
|---|---|---|
| Announced base package | From 1 248 euros gross per month | Fixed, allowances spread monthly, meal card included |
| Sales commission | Up to 2 000 euros per month | Variable, driven by budgets won and grown against quota |
| Performance bonus on support briefs | Up to 200 euros per month | For comparison, quality driven rather than sales driven |
| Paid initial training | Around 15 days | Paid, before you handle live accounts |
| Holiday | 22 working days plus 13 public holidays | Portuguese employment contract |
| Schedule | Monday to Friday, office hours | No nights, no weekend rotation on this brief |
| Positions open | Around 50 on the brief | Several training intakes |
Two practical points. Commission is paid through payroll and taxed like the rest of your income, so compare gross with gross when you talk to friends on other desks. Your contributions are declared monthly in your name to Seguranca Social, which is also where you check what those contributions entitle you to. And a realistic expectation beats a fantasy: most people reach a steady commission level in month three or four, not in week two.
Who succeeds on this desk, and who does not
The best performers on advertising sales desks are rarely the loudest people in the room. They are the methodical ones. They keep a clean pipeline, they call back exactly when they said they would, they write short emails, and they are genuinely curious about other people’s businesses. Resilience matters, because four conversations out of five end in no, and the ones who last treat a no as information rather than as a verdict. Coming from retail, telephone work, hospitality, recruitment, real estate or any job where you spoke to strangers all day is excellent preparation, and plenty of good sellers arrive with no sales title at all.
It goes badly for people who dislike being measured, who cannot stand repetition, or who want a job where nobody looks at a number. That is not a criticism, it is a compatibility question, and the support briefs suit those profiles far better. If you prefer a queue and a quality score to a quota, look at the day shift AI support brief or the advertising support brief for small and medium businesses instead.
The English expected, and the skills to prove
The official requirement on the brief is C1 and the people who pass are native speakers or solid C2, because you are writing proposals that represent a global brand and speaking to business owners who judge you in the first twenty seconds. Spelling, punctuation and a calm, neutral delivery matter more than any particular accent. Portuguese is not required and is not tested. Beyond language, there is a short list of things an interviewer will try to verify, and each one is much easier to prove with a number than with an adjective.
| Skill expected | Weak answer | Strong answer in interview |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience with rejection | I am very motivated | About 60 calls a day, 4 real conversations, I logged every no and reworked my opening |
| Commercial curiosity | I like talking to people | I asked every client their margin before recommending anything, it changed what I proposed |
| Organisation | I am well organised | I blocked 09:30 to 11:00 for calls only and my follow up rate went from 50 to 90 percent |
| Written clarity | Good communication skills | I keep proposals under 150 words with one recommendation and one number |
| Comfort with data | I can use a computer | I built a weekly tracker and could say which source produced my best clients |
| Coachability | I learn fast | My manager changed my call opening in week two, I applied it and conversion doubled |
Who can apply, and how
This brief is for people already living in the Lisbon area, since the role is on site on the Oriente or Entrecampos campus with no remote option. The first condition is that you are already allowed to work in Portugal: EU citizenship, a valid Portuguese residence permit that allows professional activity, or a Portuguese work permit. A card issued by another European country does not replace a Portuguese one. The second is English at native or C2 level. Add secondary school completed and availability from Monday to Friday on office hours, and you are eligible. Expat-U does the pre-selection, tests your English, explains the brief honestly and presents your file, while the interview and the contract are handled directly with the employer. If you want to see how advertising sales roles are described and paid elsewhere on the continent before you commit, the EURES portal is the official comparison point. Browse the six briefs on the Lisbon job offers page, read the business to business advertising sales brief in full, and send your file through the Lisbon application form. It takes four minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need previous advertising or sales experience?
No. The brief trains you on the product for around 15 days, paid, and recruits regularly from retail, hospitality and telephone roles. What is tested is your English, your reaction to a role play and whether you can explain a decision with a number rather than an adjective.
Is the 2 000 euros commission realistic or a headline figure?
It is the top of the range on a strong month against quota, not a monthly guarantee. Ask for the current average on the desk and the ramp rules for your first two months during the interview process, and compare gross with gross. Most people settle into a steady level around month three.
Are the hours really Monday to Friday?
Yes on this brief, which is the exception among the six. Business clients work office hours, so the desk does too. The support briefs in the same buildings run day shifts, strict nights and full 24/7 rotations, so check which pattern a brief carries before you apply.
