Sales Director France Benelux DACH

Sector: Chemicals, Petrochemicals & MaterialsReference: Sales 01 The West Region Regional Sales Director is accountable for the full commercial performance of the West region (FR, Benelux, DACH), including revenue growth, margin delivery, pricing discipline, customer profitability, cash collection and DSO, credit-risk awareness, forecasting, customer retention, new business development and strategic market positioning. Leads regional strategy execution, drives commercial excellence, and builds sustainable talent pipelines. 1. Sales Strategy Development : Develop and execute a comprehensive regional commercial strategy aligned with Group priorities, driving revenue growth, market share expansion, and sustainable profitability. Full accountability for sales revenue, profitable sales growth, cash collection, credit discipline and sales forecasting. Deliver growth through customer retention, share of wallet increase, new business wins, pricing discipline, discount control, portfolio optimisation, product mix improvement and customer segmentation management. 2. Leadership and Organisational Capability : Lead and develop a multi-country sales organisation (9 direct Sales Managers), setting clear direction, expectations, and accountability to achieve performance targets. Manage the regional Customer Service /inside sales organisation to optimise sales effectiveness, improve customer satisfaction and NPS, reduce claims and complaints, accelerate issue resolution and strengthen service responsiveness. Build a strong leadership pipeline and succession bench, while embedding a high-performance, results-driven culture through coaching, development, and robust performance management. 3. Commercial Excellence, Market Growth & Governance: Drive commercial effectiveness and sustainable growth by standardizing sales practices and embedding strong commercial discipline and performance management across the region. Enhance forecast accuracy, pipeline management, and CRM utilization to improve visibility, accountability, and decision-making. Develop customer relationships, while driving new business acquisition and market expansion opportunities aligned with Business Unit priorities. Own account mapping, customer segmentation and account management, ensuring differentiated commercial priorities, service levels and resource allocation based on customer value, growth potential and profitability. Oversee major customer negotiations, including pricing, rebates, payment terms, framework agreements and other commercial conditions, ensuring contractual risk and margin impact are properly assessed and governed. Drive structured market intelligence across the region, including competitor pricing, demand trends, customer signals and territory opportunities or threats, converting insights into actionable commercial decisions. Partner with Innovation to commercialize new products and solutions, ensuring NPI launch execution, customer adoption, mix improvement and measurable contribution to profitable growth. Ensure robust performance and governance frameworks, driving KPI delivery: Margin over Polymer/Contribution Margin, Cash collection, forecast accuracy, reporting discipline, and data-led decision-making, while proactively identifying and mitigating commercial risks Ensure strong commercial governance across pricing execution, price increases and decreases, discount approvals, customer profitability, overdue debt escalation, payment terms discipline and CRM compliance. Maintain full compliance with Group policies, competition law, anti-bribery requirements, contractual governance and ethical commercial standards in all customer and market interactions. 4. Cross-Functional & Strategic Alignment: Collaborate with Innovation, Operations, and Finance to ensure alignment of commercial priorities and delivery of end-to-end business performance. Act as the senior commercial interface between the region and business unit, contributing to wider BU strategy and execution. Key Performance Indicators · Revenue growth, margin over polymer/contribution margin and customer profitability. · DSO, overdue debt reduction and cash collection performance. · Forecast accuracy, CRM compliance and pipeline quality. · Customer retention, churn reduction, share of wallet growth and new business wins. · Customer satisfaction/NPS, complaints, claims and service responsiveness. · Team performance, capability development and succession coverage. Essential · Demonstrated senior sales leadership experience, including multi-country responsibility in a complex, dynamic, transactional and highly competitive landscape, · Proven track record delivering revenue growth, margin improvement, share growth, customer retention, new business wins, cash collection, credit discipline and forecast accuracy. · Strong capability in pricing execution, major customer negotiation, customer profitability analysis, contract governance and market intelligence. · Strong financial acumen · Experience leading commercial transformation and organisational change · Demonstrated ability to build and lead high-performing teams · Strong influencing and stakeholder management capability at senior level, with the ability to drive alignment and results across a multi-country, cross-functional matrix beyond direct reporting lines. · Advanced user of CRM systems to drive forecasting, pipeline management, performance management, and data-led decision making · Strong understanding of European market dynamics and regulatory environments · Willingness to travel extensively across the region (70%) · Commercially sharp, hands-on and resilient, with the ability to operate effectively in a transactional, price-sensitive and highly competitive market. Desirable · Experience within industrial, manufacturing, chemicals, furniture or bedding sectors · Knowledge of foaming products, chemical formulations, and manufacturing processes. · Experience implementing or optimising CRM systems at scale across multi-country teams · MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification · Familiarity with EU market regulations and industry standards. · Certification in sales management or leadership (e.g., Certified Sales Professional, Leadership Excellence Certification). · Fluency in French, English and German.