Sales Director

Ascentria Search Partners; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Ascentria Search Partners is assisting a growing laboratory automation company in identifying a Director of Sales. The role leads the global sales organization, shaping commercial strategy and driving bookings, revenue growth, and customer expansion.

The position requires hands-on leadership, strategic deal execution, and the ability to partner with Technical Operations to ensure alignment of delivery capacity with commercial commitments. Travel will be involved.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive sales, commercial, or business development experience with significant leadership responsibility.
• Experience selling technical, complex solutions to enterprise accounts in life sciences/pharma or related fields.
• Proven ability to build, scale, and coach a high-performing sales organization.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the global sales strategy across hardware, software, and services.
• Build and develop the sales organization with clear roles, territories, and performance expectations.
• Shift to consultative selling to uncover business objectives and value.
• Maintain disciplined CRM usage, forecasting, and pipeline management.

Skills

Leadership

CRM management

Strategic selling

Stakeholder management

Negotiation

Job description

Our client is a growing laboratory automation company backed by a global life sciences platform. The organization develops bespoke, integrated hardware and software solutions that automate complex laboratory workflows for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, genomics, and research organizations worldwide.

Position Summary

The Director of Sales will lead the global sales organization and drive bookings, revenue growth, and customer expansion. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, this leader will shape commercial strategy and build the team and processes needed for the company’s next stage of growth.

This is a hands-on, player-coach role in a flat organizational structure, with direct involvement in strategic customer opportunities and close partnership with the Head of Technical Operations. The mandate is to strengthen how the organization sells and serves customers while ensuring commercial commitments align with technical capabilities and delivery capacity. The role offers potential for broader commercial leadership responsibility as the business grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the global sales strategy across laboratory automation hardware, software, services, and support; expand existing accounts, win new customers, and bring market insights into company and product planning.
• Build and develop the sales organization, defining roles, territories, processes, and performance expectations; recruit, coach, and retain a team with clear accountability for results.
• Shift customer engagement from reactive order taking to consultative selling that uncovers business and scientific objectives, develops appropriate solutions, and clearly communicates customer value.
• Establish disciplined qualification, CRM usage, forecasting, and opportunity prioritization. Balance smaller, shorter-cycle projects that generate near-term wins with larger strategic opportunities; track pipeline health, conversion, bookings, forecast accuracy, and revenue growth.
• Build senior-level relationships within enterprise pharmaceutical R&D and other target markets. Navigate scientific, technical, business, and procurement stakeholders through vendor qualification, purchasing processes, and contracting.
• Partner with Technical Operations to validate scope, resources, delivery capacity, and execution risk before customer commitments are made. Train sales staff on solution capabilities, delivery constraints, and approval requirements.
• Personally advance strategic and complex deals through proposals, negotiations, and closing, maintaining discipline around pricing, discounts, gross margin, commercial terms, and deal approvals.
• Design a consistent customer experience from discovery through delivery and ongoing support, establishing clear expectations, communication, and handoffs between Sales and Technical Operations; help resolve customer issues when needed.
• Contribute to company strategy and business priorities as part of the Senior Leadership Team, and represent the organization with customers, strategic partners, and at relevant industry events.

Qualifications and Experience

• 10+ years of progressive sales, commercial, or business development experience, including significant leadership responsibility.
• Experience in laboratory automation, scientific instrumentation, life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceutical markets, or a related technical industry strongly preferred.
• A track record of building, restructuring, or scaling a sales organization, including hiring, coaching, and implementing effective sales processes.
• Success selling complex technical solutions through discovery, solution development, proposals, negotiation, and closing across multiple stakeholders and extended sales cycles.
• Experience developing enterprise customer relationships and navigating procurement and purchasing processes within pharmaceutical organizations.
• Strong command of CRM-based pipeline management, opportunity qualification, forecasting, and resource prioritization, supported by measurable commercial results.
• Experience improving a team’s consultative selling approach and strengthening customer engagement throughout the sales and delivery lifecycle.
• Ability to partner with engineering and technical leaders, translate capabilities into customer value, and develop the team’s understanding of what can be delivered.
• Sound commercial judgment across pricing, gross margin, project economics, contract terms, and risk, combined with strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• A demonstrated willingness to lead through direct involvement in deals, team development, and practical problem solving; ability to travel domestically and internationally as required.