Director of Sales

Elessent Clean Technologies; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Elessent Clean Technologies is seeking a Director of Sales, Americas – Cleaner Refining to lead the regional Sales and Technical Services teams, strengthen customer relationships, and drive profitable growth across refining technology and aftermarket portfolio.

The successful candidate will bring strong refining industry experience, proven sales leadership, and the ability to build and motivate a technically proficient team while pursuing proactive business development, collaboration, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, or related discipline.
• Minimum 10 years' refining or petrochemical industry experience.
• Proven leadership of a sales or business development team.
• Strong understanding of the North American refining market.
• Experience selling proprietary process equipment or licensed technologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Americas Sales and Technical Services teams, establishing clear expectations and accountability.
• Develop and maintain relationships with refinery customers across multiple organizational levels.
• Drive profitable growth in installed base and pursue new capacity, tech licensing, and expansion opportunities.
• Collaborate with Product Management, Technology, Engineering, and Project Execution to align on strategy.

Skills

People leadership

Strategic selling

Refining industry knowledge

CRM proficiency

Cross-functional collaboration

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, or related discipline

Tools

CRM software

ERP systems

Job description

Elessent Clean Technologies is a global leader in process technologies to drive sustainability and carbon neutrality in the metal, fertilizer, chemical, and oil refining industries with an unwavering commitment to customer support. We provide extensive global expertise across our portfolio of offerings in key applications – MECS® sulfuric acid production, STRATCO® alkylation, BELCO® wet scrubbing, and IsoTherming® hydroprocessing. Offering critical process equipment, products, technology, and services, we enable an array of industrial markets, including phosphate fertilizer, non-ferrous metals, oil refining, petrochemicals, and chemicals, to minimize their environmental impact and optimize productivity. We are dedicated to helping our customers produce high-quality products used in everyday life in the safest, most environmentally sound way possible, with a vision to make the world a better place by creating clean alternatives to traditional industrial processes.

The Director of Sales, Americas – Cleaner Refining is responsible for leading the regional Sales and Technical Services teams, strengthening customer relationships, and driving profitable growth across Elessent's refining technology and aftermarket portfolio.

The role requires strong refining industry experience, demonstrated sales leadership, and the ability to develop and motivate a technically experienced team. The successful candidate will build upon established customer relationships while driving proactive business development, collaboration, and effective sales execution across both maintenance and reliability (M&R) and new capacity opportunities.

Reporting Structure:

Reports directly to the Vice President, Cleaner Refining.

Responsible for leading the Americas Sales and Technical Services organizations, working closely with Product Management, Technology, Engineering, and Project Execution.

Key Responsibilities:

Sales Leadership and Team Development:

• Lead, coach, and develop the Americas Sales and Technical Services teams, establishing clear expectations, priorities, and accountability while fostering a collaborative and supportive team environment.
• Build strong relationships with team members, understanding their individual capabilities, development needs, and motivations.
• Establish an effective cadence of individual coaching, team meetings, customer engagement, pipeline reviews, and business planning.
• Develop the team's commercial and technical capabilities through mentoring, customer visits, knowledge sharing, and collaboration with internal subject matter experts.
• Encourage initiative, proactive customer engagement, and ownership of opportunities while providing appropriate guidance and support.

Customer Relationships and Commercial Growth:

• Maintain and strengthen relationships with existing refinery customers, ensuring Elessent continues to be viewed as a trusted technical and commercial partner.
• Develop relationships across multiple levels of customer organizations, including operations, maintenance, reliability, turnaround teams, engineering, technical management, and procurement.
• Drive profitable growth in the installed base through proactive identification of maintenance, reliability, replacement equipment, revamp, and debottlenecking opportunities.
• Work with Product Management and the sales team to identify and pursue new capacity, technology licensing, and expansion opportunities.
• Expand relationships with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, licensors, and other industry partners to identify and influence opportunities earlier in their development.
• Lead strategic customer discussions, commercial negotiations, and escalations as appropriate.

Sales Strategy and Execution:

• Translate regional business objectives and product strategies into actionable sales plans, customer priorities, and growth initiatives.
• Establish clear expectations for proactive business development while maintaining the strong customer relationships that support the existing M&R business.
• Lead regional pipeline management, forecasting, and sales planning, ensuring visibility into opportunity quality, timing, probability, and commercial risks.
• Use customer account plans, installed-base information, sales history, and share-of-wallet analysis to identify opportunities and guide resource allocation.
• Promote consistent and effective use of CRM, ERP, and sales reporting tools, with an emphasis on improving sales effectiveness rather than creating unnecessary administrative work.
• Monitor sales performance against signings, revenue, margin, and other business objectives, identifying gaps and developing corrective actions.
• Ensure opportunities are actively advanced and customer commitments are followed through to completion.

Technical Services and Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Provide leadership and direction to the Americas Technical Services team, ensuring effective customer support, technical responsiveness, and alignment with commercial priorities.
• Work closely with Product Managers to align sales activities with technology strategy, market opportunities, and growth priorities.
• Facilitate collaboration across customer accounts, geographic territories, EPC relationships, and technology groups to maximize commercial opportunities.
• Coordinate with Technology and Engineering to ensure timely, practical support for customer needs and early-stage opportunities.
• Support resolution of customer issues involving technical performance, commercial commitments, project execution, and ongoing account relationships.
• Promote capture and sharing of customer knowledge, operating history, and lessons learned to strengthen continuity and organizational effectiveness.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, or a related discipline preferred. Equivalent experience in refinery operations, technical sales, or commercial leadership will be considered.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in the refining or petrochemical industry, including refinery operations, technical sales, engineered equipment, or related commercial roles.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing a sales or business development team.
• Strong understanding of the refining market, customer organizations, refinery operations, maintenance, reliability, and capital project decision-making.
• Experience selling proprietary process equipment, aftermarket products, technical services, or licensed technologies preferred.
• Established relationships within the North American refining industry preferred.

Skills and Capabilities:

• Strong people leadership skills, with demonstrated ability to motivate, coach, and develop teams.
• Ability to build trust and credibility with experienced technical salespeople and refinery customers.
• Commercially driven, with a demonstrated ability to identify and develop new business rather than relying exclusively on established accounts.
• Effective communicator who listens, seeks input, and builds alignment across diverse teams.
• Structured and organized, with the ability to establish clear priorities and maintain accountability without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Collaborative leadership style and willingness to work across functions and geographic responsibilities.
• Strong analytical and commercial judgment, including the ability to assess opportunity value, customer economics, and business risks.
• Comfortable using CRM, ERP, and reporting tools to support effective sales management and decision-making.
• Willingness to travel regularly throughout the Americas to support customers and develop the sales team.

Location:

United States, preferably Houston, Texas, or Overland Park, Kansas.

Travel:

Approximately 30–40%, based on customer and team needs.

Positions are open to candidates authorized to work in the United States for any employer. Elessent Clean Technologies is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.

Recruitment Fraud Notice

Elessent does not ask applicants to pay fees, purchase equipment, deposit checks, or provide banking information as part of the recruiting process. Official recruiting communications will come from an Elessent email address or through our authorized recruiting partners.

Applicants should be cautious of individuals or websites posing as Elessent recruiters, especially if they request payment, personal financial information, or urgent action outside of our normal hiring process.

To verify a job opportunity, please review current openings on our official careers page or contact HR at [e-mail].

Positions are open to candidates authorized to work in the United States for any employer. Elessent Clean Technologies is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.