Global Sales Director

Conex Bänninger; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Conex Bänninger - UK & Middle East is seeking a Global Sales Director to drive sustainable global sales growth, challenging BUDs to achieve budgets and delivering cross-functional excellence across regions.

The role expects regular international travel, language proficiency in English, and a strong track record in strategic account management, pricing, and leadership across marketing, sales and supply chain functions.

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of international B2B sales leadership experience.
• Proven track record of delivering multi-region sales growth and exceeding budgets.
• Strong leadership, coaching and people-management skills.
• Demonstrated success in strategic account management, pricing management and cross-functional leadership.
• Excellent analytical, negotiation, communication and presentation skills.
• Experience reporting to CEOs and Boards of Directors.

Responsibilities

• Support regional sales plans and forecasts; challenge BUDs to meet budgets.
• Lead global sales excellence and customer development to maximize growth and satisfaction.
• Provide strategic leadership of global marketing and RO MI measurements.
• Establish executive-level relationships with strategic customers and partners.
• Oversee weekly/ monthly reporting to the CEO and Board; manage pricing and tenders.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain, Marketing, Engineering and Manufacturing for successful launches.

Skills

International B2B sales leadership

Strategic account management

Cross-functional leadership

Pricing management

Negotiation

Communication

Presentation skills

Leadership

Board reporting

Job description

The Role:
Drive sustainable global sales growth by supporting and challenging Business Unit Directors (BUDs) to achieve or exceed budgeted sales, profit, and market share objectives. Lead global sales excellence, customer development, market intelligence, opportunity identification, and cross-functional coordination to maximize profitable growth and customer satisfaction.

The Global Sales Director has no direct regional P&L ownership but is accountable for ensuring that all regions consistently deliver against approved budgets and strategic growth plans and the company’s quality standards and customer expectations.

The role requires regular international travel to support regional teams, develop strategic customer relationships and represent the company globally. As the business operates internationally, excellent written and spoken English communication skills are essential.

• Support, review, and challenge regional sales plans and forecasts.
• Ensure each BUD has a documented action plan to achieve or exceed budget.
• Conduct monthly performance reviews with all BUDs.
• Identify risks and opportunities and implement corrective actions.
• Drive sales best practices, key account management, and commercial discipline globally.

Market & Growth Development

• Monitor global and regional market conditions, trends, customer developments, and competitor activity.
• Identify new customers, markets, products, applications, and business opportunities.
• Develop and maintain a rolling 24-month global opportunity pipeline.
• Recommend strategic growth initiatives to the CEO and Board.
• Provide strategic leadership and oversight of the company’s global marketing activities, ensuring alignment with commercial objectives and business strategy.
• Work with the marketing team to develop and implement global marketing plans, digital marketing initiatives, exhibitions, product promotions, and lead generation programmes.
• Ensure marketing activity supports new product launches, market expansion, customer acquisition, and brand development.
• Measure and report on marketing effectiveness, return on marketing investment (ROMI), and lead generation performance.

Customer Relationship Management

• Establish and maintain executive-level relationships with strategic global and regional customers.
• Conduct regular customer visits and business reviews.
• Ensure customer satisfaction, retention, and long-term partnership development.

Commercial Management

• Work closely with the Commercial manager/Director to:
• Protect margins.
• Ensure timely communication of price changes.
• Support contract negotiations and major tenders.

Operations & Supply Chain Coordination

• Work closely with the Supply Chain Director to improve service levels, delivery performance, and customer satisfaction.
• Escalate and resolve major customer service issues.

Product Development

• Coordinate with the Group Manufacturing Director and relevant teams regarding:
  • New product development.
  • Product introductions.
  • Customer-driven innovation opportunities.
• Actively participate in New Product Development (NPD) projects, representing the voice of the customer and ensuring commercial requirements are incorporated throughout the product development process.
• Work with Engineering, Manufacturing, Marketing and Sales teams to ensure successful market introduction of new products and achievement of launch objectives.

Reporting & Governance

• Provide weekly sales and opportunity updates to the CEO.
• Prepare and present monthly Board reports covering performance, forecasts, risks, opportunities, and strategic initiatives.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Financial Performance:

• ≥100% of approved annual sales budget
• Target: 102–105% of budget.
• Gross Margin Achievement:
  • Maintain or exceed approved budgeted gross margin percentage.
    No more than 1% adverse variance versus budget.
• Forecast Accuracy:
  • Monthly forecast accuracy within ±5%.

Growth

• Organic Revenue Growth:
  • Minimum 3% above market growth rate.
  • Or annual target approved by Board.
• New Business Development:
  • New customer sales ≥10% of annual sales growth.
  • Minimum 5 significant new customer wins annually.
• Opportunity Pipeline:
  • Qualified pipeline value maintained at minimum 3x annual growth target.

Customer Performance:

• Customer Retention:
  • ≥95% retention of strategic accounts.
• Customer Satisfaction:
  • Customer satisfaction score ≥90%.
  • No unresolved major customer complaints beyond 30 days.
• Minimum 50 strategic customer visits annually.
• Quarterly reviews with Top 20 global customers.
• Realized pricing within ±1% of approved pricing strategy.
• 100% implementation of approved price increases.

Leadership & Organizational Development

• BUD Performance Support
• 100% of BUDs reviewed monthly.
• Documented action plans for all underperforming regions.
• Talent Development:
  • Annual development plan for all direct reports.
  • Succession plan maintained for all key commercial positions.

Operational Support

• Customer Service Performance:
  • Support achievement of ≥95% On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) delivery.
• 100% of approved new product launches supported by commercial plans and customer targeting.

Internal Communication Requirements

• Weekly CEO review meeting.
• Monthly performance review with each BUD.
• Monthly Commercial Review with Commercial Manager/Director.
• Monthly Service Review with Supply Chain Director.
• Quarterly Strategic Review with Manufacturing Manager/Director.
• Monthly Board reporting.
• Immediate escalation of material risks impacting budget, profitability, customer retention, or reputation.

External Communication Requirements

• Maintain executive-level relationships with strategic customers, distributors, and industry partners.
• Represent the company at key customer meetings, trade events, and industry forums.
• Ensure professional, timely, and proactive communication with customers regarding pricing, service, product developments, and market conditions.

Experience & Qualifications

• Ideally, experience within the Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (PHAR) sector or a closely related building products, HVAC industry.
• Minimum 15 years of international B2B sales leadership experience.
• Minimum 5 years in a Global Sales Director, VP Sales, Commercial Director, or equivalent role.
• Proven track record of delivering multi-region sales growth and exceeding budgets.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and people-management skills.
• Demonstrated success in strategic account management, business development, pricing management, and cross-functional leadership.
• Strong analytical, negotiation, communication, and presentation skills.
• Experience reporting to CEOs and Boards of Directors.

Success Definition
The Global Sales Director is considered successful when:

• Global sales exceed budget.
• Gross margins are protected or improved.
• Strategic customers are retained and expanded.
• New business opportunities continuously enter the pipeline.
• BUDs consistently achieve or exceed their targets.
• The company gains market share and profitable growth across all regions.