Director Commercial Road - Europe - Automotive

At DP World, we are currently recruiting for a Director Commercial Road - Automotive , with a European scope. Being part of a leadership team, the Director Commercial Road Europe - Automotive is responsible for meeting and exceeding all budgeted sales goals without exceeding the approved selling expense budget. Another key task is to commercially manage the existing book of business with regional accounts and ensure all renewals are successful.

Really understanding and knowing the Automotive vertical is crucial for this role, as nearly every service provider is selling into this vertical, and the Business Development Director must know how to differentiate themselves and DP World’s service offering to be attractive for the Automotive decision-makers. To know how to do this, a long history within the vertical is necessary or you must possess exceptional quick learning skills.

Building up trust at all levels and having the capabilities to create strong customer solutions is key for success and makes the job highly complex. This is a role for a mature businessperson with charisma and the ability to solve complex challenges outside the box.

About the role

How you will contribute

1. You are accountable for leading an engaged team of operational sales managers (business development managers) of the assigned industry vertical, providing direction and promoting collaboration while ensuring they are enabled to carry out the goals and objectives of the business.
2. Furthermore, you have to work with Global and Regional Account Managers on a peer level.
3. You develop and execute a comprehensive plan for the respective industry vertical for new opportunities and expanding business (share of wallet).
4. You generate effective leads and opportunities, ideally based on your existing network and book of business.
5. You meet and exceed financial growth targets for the assigned industry vertical and expand DP World’s geographic and solutions offering footprint with these accounts across DP World’s service portfolio.
6. You identify and develop relationships with key decision-makers at all levels within a customer.
7. You maintain understanding of customers’ expectations relative to operational solutions, costs, and results and ideally are aware of some of their challenges before they are.
8. You understand the customer's business (strategically, operationally, financially) and their buying process, identifying all influences and intimately understanding their requirements.
9. You possess a really good understanding of all Automotive-related transport regulations, challenges, and opportunities.
10. You have an in-depth understanding of the Automotive market.
11. You maintain an up-to-date pipeline of current and future opportunities, quantifying number of opportunities, value of the opportunity, and managing/increasing the probability to win.
12. You coordinate RFQs for new business opportunities and renewals of existing business with assigned customers, engaging other functions as required and owning the commercial relationship and contract negotiations with the customer.
13. You follow the internal commercial process, procedures, and thresholds.
14. You foster a close cooperation between Account Management, Operations, Operational Excellence, and all other functions (IT, HR, Finance).
15. You partner with colleagues in other regions on broader opportunities for selected global customers.

What you will bring

1. Degree or equivalent in business administration or transport/logistics.
2. Proven track record of having consistently achieved on a sales quota at a relevant scale.
3. Minimum +5 years-experience within the transport, logistics or freight forwarding industry (or similar service industry) with focus on Automotive vertical.
4. Significant value-selling experience.
5. Leading and managing a team.
6. Experience in Automotive road-freight sales and existing book of business.

Your Skills

1. Strong communication skills: You are an exceptional listener. You know how to ask the right questions which provide answers beyond the ordinary. You communicate clearly. You write exceptionally well and you speak eloquently. You can explain just about anything to anyone. You’re comfortable on the phone or to groups of people – at any level. You are incredibly tactful when delivering the facts.
2. Problem solving: You enjoy solving problems and getting to the root cause. You love taking on difficult challenges and finding creative, innovative solutions. You don’t get flustered easily. If you don’t know the answer, you’ll dig until you find it.
3. Detail oriented: You pay strong attention to the details as it is one of your core qualities. As far as you are concerned, anything worth doing is worth doing right, every single time. You stay focused and nothing falls through the cracks on your watch.
4. Exceptional critical thinking skills: You can identify gaps in logic and underlying causes of issues; you think on your feet. You like learning new things, and you can learn quickly.
5. Strong collaborator: You can work independently because you self-manage, with limited direction and guidance, but you also enjoy collaborating across dynamic and multi-cultural teams and are personable, helpful, and incredibly organized.
6. Results oriented: You are proactive in handling competing priorities and meet your deadlines and commitments; you always demonstrate a “can do” positive attitude.
7. Confidentiality: You consider and protect the confidentiality of company data at ALL times.
8. IT skills: You are highly proficient in the full Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook; plus you are a good administrator when it comes to CRM-tool management.
9. Flexibility to travel: You are ready to travel as needed, but at least between 30 - 60% of the time.
10. Languages: You speak and write fluent English – additional languages are a bonus.