Business Manager

Blackbook Recruitment; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive remuneration

Blank-page strategy

Growth target with investment

ELT seat

Strong team

Major building products group

Job summary

Blackbook Recruitment seeks a Business Manager to lead a fast-moving division with full P&L ownership and to set a new distribution strategy for a market-leading hardware solutions group.

You will lead 40+ people, drive growth, and sit on the Executive Leadership Team, shaping strategy and culture across the business. A blank-page plan and robust funding underpin a clear growth trajectory.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of B2B sales leadership with top-line growth.
• Experience with a market-leading distributor of own-brand or home-brand products.
• Strong strategic account planning, pipeline management and negotiation.
• Commercial acumen with pricing, margin forecasting and data-backed decisions.
• Ability to guide teams through change and drive engagement.

Responsibilities

• Own the numbers: revenue, gross margin, opex and profitability.
• Build and execute the distribution strategy and launch the value range.
• Lead 40+ people across Category and Sales and drive performance.
• Set game plans for new business targets, call plans and key account coverage.
• Coach in the field through joint customer visits to win orders.
• Use sales/margin data to target the right customers and products.
• Adjust plans with market shifts and collaborate with marketing, supply chain, finance.

Skills

B2B sales leadership

Market-leading distributor experience

Strategic selling

Commercial acumen

Collaborative leadership

Accountability

Integrity

Job description

About the company

Every home relies on the details nobody notices until they don’t work. Our client makes sure they always work. They’re a market-leading B2B distributor of hardware solutions supplying to customers who range from SME's to multinationals. They’ve invested heavily in a new brand journey. The portfolio now runs from premium products through to mid and value market brands that make up a new value offering. The products are ready. What they need now is someone to build the distribution strategy that takes them to market.

You will have the muscle of a major organisation with a business unit that moves fast and gives its leaders real ownership.

About the role

This is a “run it like it’s yours” role. As Business Manager and 2IC to the Executive General Manager, you’ll lead the division with full P&L ownership. You’ll set the distribution strategy and launch the value range, with a clear goal to capture a specific market segment and growrevenue.

You’ll lead 40+ people across Category and Sales. Your job is to build on their existing high performance and train the team to sell new product lines and growing a true hunter skill set, so the team goes out and wins new business as well as keeping existing customers happy.

You’ll also sit on the Executive Leadership Team, shaping strategy and culture across the wider business.

What’s on offer

• Competitive remuneration package
• A blank-page strategy: you’ll build the distribution plan from scratch
• A clear growth target, with real investment already behind it
• A seat on the ELT, where your voice shapes what’s next
• A capable, technically strong team ready to step up
• The stability, resources and career runway of a major building products group

What you’ll be doing

• Owning the numbers: revenue, gross margin, opex and profitability
• Building and executing the distribution strategy, and taking the value range to market
• Leading your team through change, training and developing and genuine sales culture
• Setting the game plan for new business targets, call plans and key account coverage
• Coaching in the field through joint customer visits focused on winning the order
• Using sales and margin data to go after the right customers and products
• Pulling the commercial levers (pricing, rebates and mix) to grow margin and cut cost-to-serve
• Watching competitor, supplier and demand shifts and adjusting plans to stay a step ahead
• Working with marketing, supply chain, operations and finance on service, inventory and working capital
• Setting clear goals and addressing performance gaps early and fairly

About you

You’ve done this before. You’ve taken a capable team through change and turned it into one that wins. You lead from the front with energy and optimism, and you see what a business could become rather than settling for what it is today. You also have the humility to make it a team effort.

You’ll bring:

• B2B sales leadership: a record of top-line growth through clear strategy and disciplined execution (B2B is essential, but the product matters far less)
• Ideally, experience with a market-leading distributor of own-brand or home-brand products
• Strategic selling chops: account planning, pipeline management, negotiation and closing
• Commercial acumen: confidence with pricing, margin, forecasting and decisions backed by data
• Respect for what’s already there: you value deep technical expertise and take people with you through change
• A collaborative streak: a trusted 2IC and a generous peer who shares the credit and the ownership
• Accountability: you own the result, good or bad, and hold others to the same standard
• Integrity: you treat everyone fairly, embrace diversity and address issues honestly and early