Sales Manager – France/Southern Europe

Title: Sales Manager, France/Southern Europe

Reporting to: Director of Sales and Business Development

Location: On-site: France/Southern Europe

Sales Manager – France/Southern Europe

G&H is a world leader in optical designing, testing and manufacturing. As experts in the technology of light, G&H works with OEM customers worldwide to provide optical systems, assemblies, and components for demanding applications, often for deployment in harsh environments. Our products are based on six core technologies: acousto, crystal, electro, fiber and precision optics, and optical systems.

We are currently recruiting for a Sales Director in France. This role is for an experienced sales manager to develop business at key customer accounts as well as to manage our distribution network in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Portugal. Working alongside the product & business development managers and acting as both the technical and commercial liaison between the customer and site engineering/manufacturing teams. This role requires a combination of both applications engineering knowledge and commercial acumen as they relate to the G&H product portfolio. As such the successful applicant will be responsible for identifying and nurturing opportunities to win and grow company sales in Europe. The ideal candidate is a motivated, well-organized individual who has a deep understanding of prospecting and developing strong relationships with customers. 

Responsibilities include;

• Be a primary contact for customers. Provide presentations, RFQ responses and liaise with key customer technical staff and decision makers to facilitate sales
• Provide high level technical sales and application understanding in support of sales & business development managers
• Understand business and application requirements & how these translate into technical product specifications and provide suitable sales responses to the customer
• Enable and drive identified opportunities through G&H's gate process to a win
• Work with product management to identify market needs, competitive pricing, lead times and margin models for existing or new products
• Identify target customers for G&H and assist with development of formal sales plans and proposals for assigned opportunities
• Own technical liaison & process for customer pre/post-sales support items & issues
• Effectively use G&Hs SalesForce CRM to track opportunities and provide unit and revenue forecasting data to product management & manufacturing
• Perform in-depth and high-level presentations and demonstrations for G&H at customers and conferences in Europe

Qualifications And Experience

• BSc or MSc in Physics, Materials Science, Mathematics or Engineering (Optics/Electronics)
• MBA / Business Degree (or equivalent) is an advantage
• 5 years technical sales, product marketing or applications experience in photonics 
• Strong understanding of photonics, semiconductor, life science, aerospace and laser applications/markets
• Knowledge of the following areas would be beneficial: lasers, optics crystal optics, electro-optics, acousto-optics as well as experience in industrial and/or biomedical laser applications
• Experience in project management, negotiation and relationship management would be preferred 
• Strong commercial acumen and understanding of business decisions
• Strong writing & language skills, with the capability of writing customer reports as required, as well as experience of presenting technical data

Other Information

• Expected travel to G&H sites and customer locations (Up to 30% of the time)
• Region: France
• Languages required: primary French, very good English (spoken and written English), Italian/Spanish nice to have