Sales Director

EA First; Maidstone; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

EA First is seeking an exceptional Commercial Director / Sales Director to own the full commercial function and work directly with the Founder to scale revenue. This role is not traditional; you will be a hands-on player-coach who opens doors, closes significant partnerships and shapes the strategy.

You’ll improve CRM discipline, pricing, and analytics while building a structured sales process and leading an existing junior team.

Qualifications

• Experience building a commercial engine in an SME or scale-up.
• Proven track record in growing revenue and closing significant partnerships.
• Ability to design and implement a data-driven sales process.

Responsibilities

• Overall revenue ownership, commercial planning, pipeline and forecasting.
• Lead major new-business opportunities and strategic partnerships.
• Build a structured, repeatable sales process and robust CRM discipline.
• Review pricing, propositions and identify new revenue opportunities.
• Develop and leverage a junior sales team to scale performance.
• Utilise AI, automation, data and modern sales technology to boost productivity.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Business development

Executive relationships

CRM leadership

AI & automation

Job description

International Membership, Events & Partnerships Business

I'm working exclusively with a founder-led international business that has built an impressive global community and customer base across the automotive industry. The business already has the product, audience, brand, corporate relationships and international reach. What it doesn't yet have is a genuinely high-performing commercial engine behind it.

I'm looking for an exceptional Commercial Director / Sales Director who can take ownership of the entire commercial function, working directly with the Founder to build something significantly bigger.

This is not a traditional Sales Director role where you inherit a large team and manage from a distance. You'll need to be a player-coach.

Someone capable of setting the commercial strategy, but equally comfortable personally opening doors, creating opportunities, speaking to senior decision-makers and closing significant partnerships.

You'll take responsibility for:

• Overall revenue ownership, commercial planning, pipeline and forecasting
• Personally leading major new-business opportunities and strategic partnerships
• Building a structured, repeatable sales process
• Improving CRM discipline, reporting, KPIs and commercial analysis
• Reviewing pricing, propositions and identifying new revenue opportunities
• Developing and getting more from an existing junior sales team
• Using AI, automation, data and modern sales technology to dramatically improve productivity and effectiveness
Building the commercial team and infrastructure as the business grows
• Ultimately taking day-to-day ownership of sales away from the Founder

I want to meet commercially-minded people who are genuinely interested in how AI, automation, CRM and data can change the way sales teams operate, from prospecting and pipeline management through to follow-up, account intelligence, forecasting and performance analysis.

You'll probably have already built, transformed or led a commercial function within an SME, scale-up or entrepreneurial business.You may currently be a Commercial Director, Sales Director, Head of Sales or Commercial Lead. Your sector background is less important than your track record.

Experience across B2B events, memberships, communities, media, sponsorship, partnerships or professional services would be particularly relevant, but I'm open to people from outside these markets who can demonstrate exceptional commercial performance. Most importantly, you will still have the fire to sell.

There is significant flexibility around location and ways of working for the right individual. The Founder is far more interested in outcomes than presenteeism and is open to discussing what working arrangement enables an exceptional person to perform at their best. Likewise, the overall package has flexibility.

This is a rare opportunity to join a business where much of the difficult groundwork has already been done. The audience exists. The customers exist. The products exist. The opportunity exists. Now they need someone exceptional to commercialise it properly.

If you've built a sales function before, understand modern technology-led selling, still love winning business personally and want the autonomy to shape something rather than simply inherit it, I'd be very interested in speaking with you.