JOB PURPOSE:
Drive profitable growth and develop strategic customer relationships across Africa and the Nordics in the Filtration market, acting as the primary commercial force to execute the market strategy and deliver exceptional customer satisfaction.
KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Ensure compliance with all safety protocols, educating internal and external teams on preventive measures to achieve our zero LTA and non-LTA safety ambitions.
- Drive Profitable Sales Growth (Revenue Management): Grow profitable sales based on a deep understanding of customer needs, competitive landscape, and value proposition across both existing and new accounts, directly influencing:
- Volumes
- Revenues (Circa €14M Annual Turnover)
- Price Effect
- Strategic Account Planning: Define and execute a robust commercial strategy and action plan for a portfolio of +/-140 customers in collaboration with Marketing and Technical Support functions (including budget proposals, commercial conditions, and profitability improvement initiatives).
- Lead Commercial Negotiations: Negotiate and secure price increases, surcharges implementation, increase share of wallet, and finalize commercial packages, along with associated terms & conditions (with legal support).
- Customer Engagement & Reporting: Maintain regular customer visits (up to 50% travel time across Africa and the North of Europe), documenting detailed sales visit/call reports in CRM, and preparing monthly performance analysis against the plan.
- Champion Customer Satisfaction (Customer Centricity): Proactively monitor and address significant customer complaints (information collection, communication of investigation progress and conclusion, and corrective actions) and be the key ear for the Voice of the Customers.
- Optimize Working Capital (Cash Management): Ensure timely cash collection and work to improve DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) and optimize Payment Terms.
- Gather Market Intelligence: Actively collect and document in CRM vital market intelligence, including mineral consumptions, performance requirements, competitors’ products/pricing, and future market trends.
- Fuel Innovation (New Business Generation): Generate and champion ideas for New Products to feed the innovation pipeline, based on key customer performance targets and future needs.
- Develop New Business: Actively pursue and close New Customers and Cross-Sell opportunities to improve the Conversion Rate for the opportunity pipeline.
- Financial Planning: Prepare, manage, and achieve accurate budget and forecasts for S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) and finance purposes.
JOB SPECIFICATIONS:
- Relevant experience in/serving the Filtration industry, specialised distributors, industry/chemicals in general, or some specific markets such as the Bleaching Earth industry
- 5+ years of experience in a Sales Manager position
- Strong customer sense
- Strong negotiation and communication skills
- Business acumen and technical appetite
- Good understanding of basic financial and legal concepts
- Outgoing, result oriented, concern for impact, good interpersonal skills
- Ability to positively influence others w/o direct reporting lines
Ideal background/ experience
- Engineering or Business school degree
- 5+ or more years of experience in Sales, Account Management or Business Development.
- Professional fluency in English is required; fluency in French is strongly preferred, and additional Western European languages (e.g., German, Spanish, Italian) are advantageous.
**Flexible within Western Europe. While France is the preferred base, we welcome applications from candidates located across Western Europe**
Position TypeFull time
and
PermanentOnly technical issues will be monitored through the below inbox:
recruiting.support@ imerys.com
PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT RESUMES OR APPLICATIONS TO THIS EMAIL, AS THEY WILL NOT BE REVIEWED.
To ensure fairness and legal compliance in our recruitment processes, only applications received through the online application process will be considered.
Skills Required
- Relevant experience in the filtration industry, specialized distribution, chemicals, or related markets
- At least 5 years of experience in a Sales Manager position
- At least 5 years of experience in sales, account management, or business development
- Strong customer orientation
- Strong negotiation and communication skills
- Business acumen and technical aptitude
- Understanding of basic financial and legal concepts
- Ability to influence others without direct reporting authority
- Engineering or business school degree
- Professional fluency in English
- Fluency in French
- Additional Western European language such as German, Spanish, or Italian
What We Do
We are a world leader in mineral-based specialties, offering high value-added solutions to many different industries, ranging from process manufacturing to consumer goods. Our value-added solutions are formulated to meet the technical specifications of each customer and contribute to the performance of a multitude of products in three categories: 1. Functional additives - added to the mineral formulation of customers’ products. 2. Mineral components - essential constituents in the formulation of customers’ products. 3. Process enablers - used in customers’ manufacturing processes, but not present in the end product. These serve many industries such as construction materials, mobile energy, steelmaking, agri-food, automotive, and cosmetics.









