Head of Sales

About you
You're a commercially minded sales leader who thrives in growth environments. You've built and led successful teams in the French automotive space, consistently hitting ambitious targets.

You're a confident operator, strategic when needed, but equally comfortable rolling up your sleeves to drive revenue yourself. You have a deep understanding of the French automotive landscape, speak fluent French and English, and bring a strong network of dealers, collectors and industry partners.

Above all, you're driven by results, motivated by ownership, and excited to help a fast-growing company win the French market.

About the role
This is a player/coach position, leading and developing the French sales function while directly managing key client relationships. You'll be responsible for scaling Les Anciennes and Car & Classic in France, driving dealer and private advert volumes across marketplace and auctions to increase marketshare and revenue.

You'll coach and grow a high-performing team, ensuring consistent achievement of targets while shaping the structure, process, and culture of a rapidly expanding market. This is a high-impact role in which your success will directly influence Car & Classic's position as the leading classic and collectible vehicle marketplace in France.

About us
Car & Classic is one of the largest automotive marketplaces in the world. Launched in 2005 but under new, VC-backed ownership since 2018 and on an exciting double-digit growth journey to bring classic vehicle transactions online.

Our culture is incredibly important to us. We're lucky enough to have built the team from scratch with a focus on enjoying the day-to-day, diversity, inclusion and high performance. We're a fully remote team of builders, dreamers, and petrolheads using tech to connect enthusiasts with the machines that move them. If you're driven by passion and curious about shaping the future of classic motoring online, you'll fit right in.

We're looking for a Head of Sales who has good, relevant experience and wants to make their mark in a rapid-growth business where they can make a real difference whilst enjoying the environment and culture.

Role and responsibilities:
We're expecting this role to have a huge impact on our double-digit revenue growth throughout 2026 by tripling the number of auctions and auction sales in France through Les Anciennes and Car & Classic (FR). You'll achieve this by:

• Building, leading and coaching the French sales team to consistently achieve and exceed revenue targets.
• Defining and executing a market growth strategy for France in collaboration with the Commercial Director.
• Driving new business through proactive outreach, leveraging your industry network across dealers, collectors and partners.
• Personally managing key accounts and high-value clients to drive retention and growth.
• Working cross-functionally with Product, Marketing and Finance to align initiatives that accelerate growth.
• Overseeing the end-to-end auction and consignment sales process, ensuring best-in-class customer experience.
• Implementing performance management practices and sales metrics to track and improve individual and team results.
• Representing Car & Classic at relevant industry events, trade shows and networking opportunities to build brand awareness.

The skills, attributes and experience you must have:

• Leadership experience – proven record of building, leading and growing high-performing sales teams.
• Automotive experience – strong background in the French automotive landscape with ready-made industry connections you can bring to our platform.
• Go-to-market & strategy – experience designing and executing market-entry or growth strategies that deliver measurable commercial success.
• Sales performance – consistent record of hitting and exceeding ambitious revenue targets.
• Territory growth – hands-on experience developing and scaling a country or regional operation.
• People management – excellent coaching and motivational skills, fostering team success.
• Market expertise – deep understanding of the French automotive and auction ecosystem.
• Communication – fluent in French & English (written & spoken).
• Collaboration – confident influencing senior stakeholders and working cross-functionally to deliver results.
• Commercial mindset – data-driven decision-making with a focus on growth, forecasting and P&L performance.

The skills, attributes and experience it would be nice to have:

• Experience or a genuine passion in classic or collectible vehicles.
• Background in digital marketplaces or online auctions.
• Proven P&L ownership or revenue forecasting capability.
• Knowledge of automotive marketing and paid media.
• Established network across dealers, consignors and collectors.

This role probably isn't for you if:

• You prefer maintaining existing accounts over building a market from scratch.
• You're not comfortable being both a strategic leader and a hands-on seller.
• You need heavy structure or close direction, this role suits someone who thrives on autonomy and ownership.
• You lack understanding of, or interest in, the automotive industry.

What do you get (remuneration & benefits)?

• Competitive & benchmarked base salary
• Generous stock option scheme
• All the equipment you need to get the job done
• Flexible working - work where and when you want to get the job done
• Access to free counselling, therapy and mental health support via Spill
• Professional development allowance
• Life cover
• Smart Health
• Generous parental leave
• 33 days holiday (including bank holidays)
• Ability to make your mark on a fast-growing start-up

Our application process
Once you decide to apply you'll be presented with a series of questions. The answers to the questions are the difference between your application being progressed or not. Please do give them your time and effort when answering.

We want to hear from you, not AI, so if you use AI to write your answers, you won't be progressed.

Car & Classic Limited is an equal-opportunity employer
Equality, diversity and inclusion are integral parts of our culture. We recognise and celebrate the value and impact diversity brings to our company and are committed to ensuring this is a consistent focus, for which we hold ourselves responsible. We are committed to treating all applicants fairly and equally and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this role.

Good luck with your application and thank you in advance for your interest in joining us at Car & Classic.