Automation Sales Representative - Interior BC

Kinetic Search Group; Kelowna; On-site; CAD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Kinetic Search Group is seeking a Technical Sales Representative for a leading Canadian engineering organization expanding across Western Canada. The role focuses on mining and heavy industrial power solutions within the BC Interior, combining strategic account management with technical sales and project-based selling.

You will engage with industrial clients to identify reliability and efficiency improvements, coordinate with internal specialists, and drive long-term relationships across capital

Qualifications

• Significant experience in industrial B2B sales.
• Strong understanding of mining and heavy industrial environments.
• Proven ability to develop strategic account plans and maintain long-term customer relationships.

Responsibilities

• Manage and grow an established portfolio of industrial accounts in the BC Interior.
• Identify capital projects, plant upgrades and modernization initiatives early in the buying process.
• Develop relationships with maintenance, electrical, engineering, and operations personnel.
• Coordinate internal engineering and resource teams to prepare compelling solutions and proposals.
• Maintain a robust pipeline of short-, medium-, and long-term opportunities.

Job description

Our client is an established Canadian engineering and industrial technology organization specializing in advanced automation, motor control, power distribution, drive systems and engineered electrical solutions for demanding industrial environments. For decades, the organization has helped industrial customers improve equipment reliability, production performance, energy efficiency and operational uptime through a combination of application engineering, technical product expertise, custom-engineered systems and field support. Its capabilities extend well beyond traditional electrical distribution. Customers rely on the organization for solutions involving variable frequency drives, medium-voltage drive systems, motor control, automation and controls, engineered control panels, power distribution, data and monitoring technologies, and integrated electrical systems.

The company supports customers operating in technically demanding industries including mining, forestry, pulp and paper, water and wastewater, energy, manufacturing and other heavy industrial markets. As the organization continues to expand its presence throughout Western Canada, it is adding a Technical Sales Representative focused on its mining and industrial power solutions to develop the BC Interior territory. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced industrial sales professional who understands how complex industrial facilities operate and enjoys developing technically driven, long-term customer relationships.

This position combines strategic account management, technical sales and new business development. You will assume responsibility for an established portfolio of industrial customers while identifying opportunities to expand relationships, penetrate new accounts and increase the organization's involvement in capital projects, modernization programs and ongoing maintenance requirements. Mining will represent a significant component of the territory, with particular emphasis on applications involving medium-voltage and low-voltage drives, high-horsepower motors, motor control, automation, power distribution and engineered electrical systems.

You will develop relationships throughout customer organizations, understand how facilities operate, identify operational and reliability challenges, uncover upcoming projects and work with internal engineering and technical resources to develop appropriate solutions. The objective is to become a trusted commercial and technical resource to customers throughout the BC Interior.

Responsibilities

Strategic Account Development

• Manage and grow an established portfolio of industrial accounts throughout the BC Interior.
• Develop relationships with maintenance, electrical, engineering, reliability, operations, procurement, project management and site leadership personnel.
• Understand each customer's facilities, production processes, installed equipment, operational challenges and future investment priorities.
• Develop structured account plans that identify stakeholders, current business, competitive position, upcoming projects, and growth opportunities.
• Conduct regular site visits, technical discussions, account reviews and project follow-up.
• Protect established business while identifying opportunities to broaden the products, technologies and services supplied to each customer.

Business Development & Territory Growth

• Identify and develop new customers throughout mining, forestry, pulp and paper, aggregates, municipal infrastructure and other heavy industrial markets.
• Build a strategic prospecting and territory-development plan rather than relying solely on incoming opportunities.
• Establish relationships with industrial end users as well as relevant OEMs, engineering organizations, systems integrators, contractors and project partners.
• Identify capital projects, plant upgrades, modernization initiatives, reliability programs and maintenance requirements early in the decision-making process.
• Build a sustainable pipeline of short-, medium- and long-term opportunities.
• Increase market penetration across both established and underserved areas of the territory.

Mining & Heavy Industrial Power Solutions

A major focus of this position will be supporting mining and other process-intensive industrial customers.

You will develop an understanding of customer applications involving areas such as:

• Crushing and grinding
• Conveying and material handling
• Pumps and pumping systems
• Ventilation
• Dewatering
• Process equipment
• High-horsepower motor applications
• Plant electrical and power distribution systems

You will work with customers to identify opportunities where modern drive, motor control, automation and electrical technologies can improve:

• Equipment reliability
• Process performance
• Energy efficiency
• Operational safety
• Maintainability
• Lifecycle operating costs

Medium-Voltage & Motor Control Solutions

An important growth area for this territory involves technically sophisticated motor and power applications.

Working alongside application engineers and technical specialists, you will help develop opportunities involving:

• Medium-voltage variable frequency drives
• Low-voltage variable frequency drives
• High-horsepower motor applications
• Soft-start and motor-starting technologies
• Motor control systems
• Engineered electrical and control panels
• Automation and process control
• Packaged electrical solutions
• Integration with existing plant electrical infrastructure

You do not need to engineer these systems yourself. However, you should be technically curious and capable of understanding the customer's application well enough to identify opportunities, ask intelligent questions, and bring the appropriate technical resources into the discussion.

Consultative & Project-Based Selling

Many opportunities will involve complex applications and longer sales cycles rather than transactional product sales.

You will:

• Investigate customer operating challenges and project requirements.
• Understand the technical and commercial stakeholders influencing a purchasing decision.
• Help define project scope and customer requirements.
• Coordinate internal engineering and application resources.
• Position appropriate technical solutions.
• Support proposal development and commercial strategy.
• Maintain ownership of customer communication throughout the sales process.
• Follow projects from initial discovery through quotation, negotiation, award and execution handoff.

For larger engineered opportunities, you will help establish competitive positioning early and ensure the organization is engaged before specifications and purchasing decisions are finalized.

Collaboration & Technical Support

One of the strengths of this opportunity is the technical infrastructure supporting the sales organization.

You will work closely with professionals across:

• Application Engineering
• Electrical and Controls Engineering
• Operations
• Field Service
• Project Execution
• Manufacturing
• Technical product specialists
• Key technology and manufacturing partners

This allows the Technical Sales Representative to concentrate on developing customers and opportunities while drawing upon specialized technical expertise when required. You will remain commercially accountable for the customer relationship while ensuring technical and project information is transferred accurately to the teams responsible for quotation, engineering and execution.

We are interested in speaking with experienced industrial sales professionals who have built their careers around technically sophisticated products, systems or services.

The ideal candidate will bring:

• Significant experience in industrial B2B sales, technical sales, account management or business development.
• Experience selling into mining, mineral processing or comparable heavy industrial environments.
• Established knowledge of the industrial marketplace throughout Interior British Columbia.
• Experience developing both existing strategic accounts and new customers.
• Exposure to technically complex or engineered sales processes.
• The ability to build relationships with trades and maintenance personnel through engineering, procurement, operations and senior site leadership.
• Experience managing longer-cycle projects and opportunities.
• Strong commercial instincts combined with the ability to understand technical applications.
• Experience using CRM systems for account management, opportunity tracking and forecasting.

Experience with VFDs, medium-voltage equipment, motor control, electrical distribution, automation, control systems, engineered panels, motors or related industrial electrical technologies would be particularly valuable.

A technical diploma, an electrical or instrumentation background, engineering education, a trade qualification, or equivalent hands-on industrial experience would be an asset but is not necessarily required for someone with strong industry experience.

This is an opportunity to represent a technically sophisticated organization in a territory containing some of Western Canada's most important industrial operations. Rather than competing solely on price or selling commodity electrical products, you will have access to engineering expertise, application support, custom solutions, field service capabilities and advanced automation and power technologies that allow you to solve meaningful customer problems.

For an industrial sales professional who enjoys mining, technology, complex applications and long-term relationship development, the position offers the opportunity to build a significant territory while becoming a trusted resource to some of British Columbia's leading industrial organizations.