Commercial Director
Avantes

Avantes is a fast-growing, high-tech company and a leading player in the global compact spectrometer industry. They operate across various industries, ranging from (bio)medical and agriculture to semiconductors and consumer electronics. Their instruments can be found in world-class research laboratories, embedded in life-saving devices, or playing a crucial role in production facilities to improve efficiency and quality control. Founded more than 30 years ago in Apeldoorn, Avantes still has its headquarters and production facility there. Together with offices in China and the US, and an extensive distributor network in more than 35 countries, they serve customers worldwide. Avantes is part of the Nynomic group in Germany, giving them a strong position and added value in the global optical market.

Main goal of the position 
The Commercial Director is responsible for overseeing the profitable growth of Avantes' global sales by streamlining the sales organization, providing leadership to a customer- and market-driven sales team, ensuring better alignment between products and markets, developing policies for the distribution network, and establishing a mature marketing position.

The position 
The success of Avantes’ professional sales team is driven by its responsiveness, pragmatism, and industry-leading technical expertise. This success is rooted in a high level of customer intimacy, resulting in engineered solutions that meet and exceed customer expectations. Avantes' sales have grown robustly throughout its history, and the new Commercial Director will be responsible for maintaining and accelerating this growth. A key focus in this role is the alignment and positioning of Avantes' product portfolio across both current and new strategic markets, through a combination of sales and marketing activities. The leadership in this position should focus on aligning the sales organization with Avantes' strategic corporate vision. The role requires a people-oriented manager who energizes, motivates, and guides the team to reach the next level.

The profile

• you have a (technical) Bachelor’s degree;
• you have 8-10 years of experience in sales and sales management in a (high-tech) industrial environment;
• you have a proven and successful track record in a Global Sales role where you managed a sales team, international sales offices, and distributors, preferably in a high-tech environment;
• you have management experience, including several years in a leadership position such as Commercial Director or Business Unit Manager, preferably at a manufacturer or system integrator of high-tech products;
• you have a proven track record in building and expanding organizations, both commercially and operationally;
• you are looking for a long-term challenge in a role with revenue generation responsibility, where you will help develop an innovative, technical company into an even more professional and successful organization;
• you have a pragmatic, hands-on attitude and a strong sense of responsibility;
• you are enterprising, tenacious, enthusiastic, and think in terms of maximizing growth opportunities;
• you have excellent language skills in both English and Dutch, and you understand different cultures;
• you are ambitious, and this is not your final destination.

Procedure
There will be several interview rounds with representatives from Lodiers & Partners and our client. A personality questionnaire (Lumina) will be part of this procedure.

Contact
For more information or to submit your application, please contact Margreet van Haasteren at vanhaasteren@lodiersenpartners.nl or via 0031 (0)6 – 23 90 58 91.