Director of the Business Unit (BU) - Home and Industrial Solutions (Sales)

Job Description

The Director of the Business Unit (BU) Home and Industrial Solutions (Sales) is accountable for the overall direction, strategy, and performance of the business unit and/or business segment for the entire AMERICAS including: •Developing current and long-range objectives, policies, and procedures for the business unit/segment •Leading and coordinating the efforts of a team of executives with a focus on strategy development •Assessing and reporting on company performance and developing strategies for improvement •Representing the business unit/segment to its customers, the financial community, and the general public.

Essential Functions

• Contribute to the short and long-term strategies of the region through a review of business requirements, and lead the development of a responsive, integrated commercial strategy that is aligned with those requirements
• Provide effective, hands-on leadership to the team
• Lead various functional areas within the Business Unit including Sales, Engineering, Quality, Program Management, Purchasing, and Finance
• Direct, coordinate, and drive all sales/commercial activities and functions while ensuring proper staffing, training, and organization of the function
• Design, implement and monitor effective sales and marketing strategies, including evaluating new technologies, business models, industry trends and competitive programs in order to recommend new programs to target
• Prepare business development plans/activities at current and target customers seizing on both pre-RFQ and RFQ activities
• Create and deliver a compelling value proposition to target customers across their areas of purchasing, R&D, and engineering to ensure aggressive short and long-term revenue growth is achieved and meets or exceeds functional profitability goals and objectives
• Proactively manage regional annual productivity/pricing negotiations for each customer, leveraging opportunities for cost reduction, or other alternatives, in place of price reductions
• Forge excellent relationships with superiors, peers and subordinates, both regionally and globally
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across all facets of the Business Unit
• Benchmark internally and externally drive the organization towards best-in-class performance
• Direct sales forecasting activities and midterm planning to establish performance goals based on forecasting results
• Lead the efforts of cross-functional teams responsible for meeting expectations of specific customer requirements
• Establish and cultivate strategic long-term relationships with existing and prospective customers
• Foster a cohesive company culture and direct efforts to acquire and integrate new business
• Organizing project teams, assigning individual responsibilities, developing project schedules and determining resource requirements for ongoing and new upcoming programs
• Focus on improving and developing new products and systems according to project requirements
• Monitor product development outcomes to ensure technical, functional, cost and timing targets are met
• May perform other duties and special projects assigned by supervisor

Required Skills and Knowledge

• Proven, firsthand leadership ability with a history of building highly functioning teams that effectively partner with the other functional areas of the company
• Effectively coach and function as an example for the Business Unit
• Lead with an open, direct, and candid communication style, and the sense of urgency necessary to meet and exceed objectives
• History of aggressively but professionally addressing and closing all commercial issues with an aim towards increasing margins on current and future business, while maintaining a positive relationship with the customer
• Strong persuasive sales and negotiations skills with the ability to influence buying decisions, along with the ability to organize thoughts and priorities under a considerable amount of pressure
• Excellent communications skills, both spoken and written
• Ability to prepare reports and/or presentations for effectively communicating information to top management
• Ability to apply an analytical, process-driven approach to include appropriate KPI’s in order to be proactive in all sales/commercial matters across the region
• Must possess the ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions
• Possess the agility and capability to work in a multicultural and multi-disciplinary global business environment

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or business administration
• 10+ years’ experience in product development, program management or technical sales
• 5+ years’ sales management experience
• Any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
• Ability to speak German and Spanish fluently is a plus

Supervisory Responsibility

• This position supervises a staff of engineers, sales account managers/inside sales and program managers
• Develop Role of Business Unit Home and Industrial Solutions (e.g. competency, skills, sales efficiency)

What We Offer:

• Innovative products and diverse customer base
• Competitive compensation and paid vacation annually plus personal time.
• Generous benefits (medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, 401k with matching)
• Support and resources to continue learning and training.
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Amazingly smart and fun teammates and a management team invested in your development and success
• Supplier discounts at major OEMs