Head of Sales Europe

Purpose of the role

As Head of Sales Europe, you will be responsible for translating the Global Strategy into a Regional Sales execution plan, driving the Regional Sales Team to achieve business objectives. The Head of Sales Europe is responsible for leading, deploying, and managing the resources in the Regional Sales Team to deliver sales activities. This senior position is critical for achieving budgeted sales revenue, expanding the customer base, and developing new business opportunities while ensuring customer satisfaction.

Accountabilities

Sales Strategy and Planning

• Develop and implement comprehensive sales strategies to meet regional objectives for Sales Revenue/Margin, Forecast accuracy, Competition (Re)gain, Pipeline growth/delivery and Key Account Management.
• Analyse regional market trends and competitor activities to identify opportunities and threats, providing insights and recommendations.

Team Leadership and Management

• Recruit, train, and drive a high-performing sales team.
• Deploy, manage, and coach the Sales Team towards organisational and Sales effectiveness through the setting of clear performance expectations.

Sales Budget Management

• Accountable for the overall regional sales budget – including New Opportunities delivery.
• Determine future demand by product for the existing buying accounts through demand reviews to establish clarity around demand forecast.

Customer Relationship Management

• Drive Key Account Management to build and maintain strong, long-lasting relationships with key clients, to develop cross-selling opportunities and to identify/capture any potential Competition (Re)gain opportunity.
• Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction through excellent service and support.
• Gather and utilise customer feedback to improve products, services, and processes.

Business Development

• Through the Regional Head of Business Development identify and pursue new business opportunities to expand the customer base through proactive lead generation and new customer/business acquisition strategies.

Sales Operations and Reporting

• Monitor and analyse sales performance metrics to track progress and make data-driven decisions.
• Prepare and present regular sales reports and forecasts.
• Ensure operational standards of excellence are maintained.

Collaboration and Coordination

• Work closely with senior stakeholders to align sales strategies and goals.
• Coordinate with the Technical Support (R&D), Marketing, and Customer Service (Supply Chain) teams to ensure cohesive operations locally.
• Represent the company at industry events, conferences, and trade shows.

Qualifications and experience

• The successful candidate should be able to lead, manage and coach our diverse European Sales Team to deliver growth within competitive markets.
• Application of in-depth working knowledge of market sectors and applications in relevant market sectors and demonstration of strong working knowledge of Commercial Excellence practices and processes is essential in the role.
• Maintaining clear discipline in reviewing targets and leads, resulting in an improved win rate for all regions.
• Demonstrable experience in Key Account Management, Territory Planning and Account based Marketing strategies with using relevant account planning, relationship mapping and forecasting tools.
• A technical or business degree is essential, MBA is desirable.
• Fluent negotiation skills in English are mandatory for this role, German would be a real plus, French and/or Italian language would be a welcomed addition.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of time.

What we offer

• A challenging and interesting position in a globally operating company.
• Flat hierarchies and a cooperative environment characterised by trust and openness.
• An attractive and competitive salary compared to the chemical industry benchmark.
• We support flexible working including the possibility to purchase additional holidays.
• We also provide a range of attractive benefits, including company pension and healthcare schemes.
• In addition we offer personal and professional development opportunities as part of our regularly organised, varied in-house training courses and free access to Linkedin Learning.