Senior Director of Sales

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute sales strategies aligned with plant capacity, capabilities, and margin objectives
• Balance new business development objectives with profitability goals
• Ensure customer orders align with manufacturing capabilities, lead times, and cost structures
• Partner with Operations and Plant Sales to support S&OP and demand planning processes
• Lead inside sales, customer service, and sales operations teams
• Establish standardized processes for quoting, order entry, pricing approvals, market share validation, and contract management
• Improve responsiveness, accuracy, and customer communication throughout the order life cycle
• Drive accountability for order quality and commercial execution
• Own pricing strategy and margin performance
• Ensure quoted and booked business meets profitability targets
• Collaborate with Finance, Engineering, and Operations on cost-based pricing
• Identify opportunities to maximize price with an overall view to increasing margin across the businesses
• Own sales forecasting and demand signals feeding plant production planning
• Drive forecast accuracy to support capacity planning and inventory management
• Ensure customer compliance with contractual obligations
• Identify demand risks, mix challenges, and opportunities early
• Partner with Production and External Customers on backlog and schedule alignment
• Serve as senior commercial owner for strategic customers and long-term programs
• Lead contract negotiations across multiple sites with a clear objective to maximize profit while maintaining market share
• Manage customer escalations impacting delivery, pricing, or quality
• Ensure customer commitments are realistic and operationally executable
• Cross-Functional Leadership
• Collaborate closely with Plant Leadership, Engineering, Quality, and Supply Chain
• Provide market and customer insights to support capital investment and capacity planning
• Align commercial priorities with safety, quality, cost, and delivery objectives
• Support continuous improvement initiatives tied to customer performance
• Talent Development & Leadership
• Develop high performing inside sales and commercial teams
• Set performance standards, KPIs, and development plans
• Build bench strength for future sales and commercial leadership roles
• Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, and customer focus

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Engineering, Operations, or related field. MBA/advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in manufacturing-based sales or commercial leadership
• Strong understanding of plant operations, capacity planning, and cost structures
• Proven experience leading inside sales, sales operations, or customer service teams
• Demonstrated success in pricing, margin management, and forecasting
• Able to operate effectively in complex, make-to-order environments
• Experience in metals, forgings, machining, industrial components, or heavy manufacturing
• Familiarity with ERP systems (SAP, Oracle)
• Experience supporting aerospace or industrial customers