Azelis is seeking a dynamic and commercially driven Sales Director to lead our Agricultural Formulation business across the United States. This role is responsible for driving profitable growth, expanding strategic supplier partnerships, and leading a high-performing sales team focused on delivering innovative formulation solutions to customers in the agrochemical and crop protection markets.
The Sales Director will play a critical role in shaping and executing the commercial strategy, strengthening Azelis’ market position, and ensuring best-in-class customer engagement.
Key Responsibilities
Commercial Strategy & Growth
- Define and execute the US sales strategy for the Agricultural Formulation segment aligned with global and regional objectives
- Deliver against revenue, gross profit (GP1), and margin targets
- Identify and capitalize on new market opportunities, including new product introductions and application areas
- Develop and manage a robust sales pipeline and forecasting process
Customer & Market Leadership
- Build and maintain strong relationships with key customers in agrochemical, crop protection, and related markets
- Drive a solutions-based selling approach, leveraging Azelis’ technical and innovation capabilities
- Monitor market trends, regulatory developments, and competitive dynamics to inform strategy
Supplier Management
- Strengthen relationships with principal suppliers and act as a strategic commercial partner
- Lead joint business planning and ensure alignment on growth initiatives
- Identify and onboard new principals to expand the portfolio
Team Leadership & Development
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of sales professionals across the US
- Foster a high-performance, accountable, and collaborative culture
- Partner closely with technical, marketing, and operations teams to deliver integrated solutions
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Innovation & Technical teams to align on formulation capabilities and customer needs
- Collaborate with supply chain and operations to ensure service excellence (e.g., OTIF performance) and management of working capital
- Partner with pricing and finance teams on pricing strategy and profitability
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Agriculture, Business, or related field (MBA preferred)
- 10+ years of experience in the agrochemical, crop protection, or specialty chemicals industry
- Proven track record of leading sales teams and delivering strong commercial results
- Deep understanding of agricultural formulations, ingredients, and market dynamics
- Experience managing principal/supplier relationships
- Strong leadership, negotiation, and influencing skills
Key Competencies
- Strategic thinking with strong execution focus
- Commercial acumen and financial literacy (GP1, margins, NWC)
- Customer-centric and solutions-oriented mindset
- Ability to lead through complexity and drive change
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
Travel
- Approximately 40–60% travel required (customer visits, supplier meetings, internal collaboration)
What We Do
As a leading global innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, we are committed to creating value for principals and customers whilst providing a great work environment and career opportunities. Azelis has 4,200+ employees across 65 countries worldwide. We work with around 2,800 principals to provide a diverse range of innovative products/services to 63,000+ customers. Our industry-dedicated sales teams have specialist product and application knowledge, combined with business know-how, enabling us to add value in all business relationships. We’re always looking to add new talent to our team and encourage and support the personal and professional growth of all employees. Specialties include: Life Sciences: Personal Care, Home Care & Industrial Cleaning, Pharma & Healthcare, Food & Nutrition, Animal Nutrition, Agricultural & Environmental Industrial Chemicals: CASE, Electronics, Essential Chemicals, Fine Chemicals, Advanced Materials & Additives, Chemicals, Lubricants & Metal Working Fluids, Other Applications, Textiles, Leather & Paper At Azelis, our partnerships with customers and principals remain at the heart of our activities. As a leading global innovation service provider, our entrepreneurial approach to doing business is reflected in our can-do attitude. Across our network of more than 70 application laboratories, our award-winning staff help develop formulations and provide technical guidance along the customers’ product development process. We combine a global market reach with a local footprint to offer a reliable, integrated and unique digital service to customers and attractive business opportunities to principals. Striving to create a positive impact on the environment and communities around the world, we are top-industry-rated by Sustainalytics. Azelis is a leader in sustainability. We aim to provide effective, sustainable, and reliable solutions. Our business is your business
