Confidential – Director Marketing and Sales – Canada

Our client designs and manufactures specialty electronics subsystems. The firm has a worldwide reputation for delivering reliable, cost-effective solutions and providing outstanding customer service on a global basis.

Our client offers a unique combination of proven technology platforms, modified platforms, and custom-designed products and services. Our client’s highly skilled design teams possess expertise in a broad range of electronics disciplines and provide the engineering depth that enables the company to produce exceptional products for its customers.
The firm’s rigorous commitment to quality is maintained throughout the design, development, and manufacturing process. During development, product integrity is enhanced through a comprehensive test and qualification process that ensures a robust and reliable product in volume manufacturing.

Our client’s solutions are utilized by leading companies to cover a wide range of markets and serve a multitude of industries and applications, including Telecommunications and Network Systems; Network Infrastructure Equipment and Servers; Computers and Peripherals; Data Storage Systems; Industrial Automation Systems; Medical Electronics Systems; Test and Measurement Equipment; and Projection Systems.

Scope of Position

Responding to continued global growth, the company now seeks an individual to assume responsibility for the overall coordination and the day-to-day leadership of all marketing and sales activities. Reporting to the President, the incumbent will be responsible for cultivating an environment that attracts, deploys, and retains human and other resources required to develop, position, market, and sell products valuable to their customers while meeting business strategy and goals for profitable growth.

Functional Tasks

• Execute the company’s product strategy and technology roadmap as well as lead product development process, implement marketing programs to support growth, and manage key strategic partnerships.
• Lead strategic analysis of worldwide technology trends and new opportunities for product development; stay abreast of industry, competitive, and consumer trends.
• Establish both annual and monthly sales objectives in coordination with the Company’s business plan.
• Provide an annual sales plan along with quarterly updates, revisions, and modifications to said Plan.
• Manage all market launch, positioning, messaging, collateral, and related activities to ensure that marketing supports sales activities.
• Develop and coordinate the specific objectives within the sales plan with all of the functional departments of the company and, most specifically, with manufacturing and finance.
• In coordination with the President, establish both market and target customer strategies for the Company.
• Create and implement ongoing metrics by which to continually assess product competitiveness.
• Develop strong working relationships within the company, with key suppliers and technology partners in order to achieve the corporate goals and objectives while executing sales and marketing development plans.
• Integrate, identify, and prioritize ‘Voice of the Customer’ needs into product planning and operational requirements.
• Identify opportunities for product improvement, and drive implementation with other functional heads.
• Evaluate potential new technologies and assist with positioning and pricing strategies.
• Coordinate, develop, and implement process and productivity tools to aid in the execution of the sales plan.
• Manage and motivate a team of approximately 10 staff members including Sales Managers in the US and Europe. Establish and maintain succession plans and programs for all direct reports to ensure the smooth transition and to minimize vacancies for critical roles.

Key Performance Deliverables

In light of the identified responsibilities, the following are specific deliverables that the position is designed to achieve.

• Specific performance metrics will be discussed and agreed upon prior to the successful candidate joining the organization.

Competency Profile

The following competencies listed below define the role of Director Marketing and Sales at Confidential.

Results Orientation
Focuses strongly on achieving agreed-upon outcomes and ensures that key objectives are met. Conveys a sense of urgency and drives issues to closure. Aims to improve upon past performance. Establishes aggressive personal targets and strives to achieve them.

Strategic Approach
Develops a strategic plan to realize the vision. Revises strategy in light of changing circumstances. Takes a long-term view of organizational success. Works to clarify long-term organizational goals. Able to stand back from immediate problems in order to focus on more far-reaching ideas.

Industry & Market Awareness
Seeks to anticipate and respond to industry and market changes/challenges by understanding key characteristics, issues, and the factors driving them. Aware of competitors’ products, services, and position.

People Management
Establishes and communicates clear priorities and sense of direction. Clarifies roles and responsibilities. Adapts management style to achieve optimum results.

Problem Solving
Draws parallels across situations and contexts. Divides problems into their individual elements. Develops several explanations or alternatives. Separates the core of a problem from its symptoms and can identify cause and effect.

Commercial Acumen
Applies appropriate commercial and financial principles. Understands situations in terms of costs, profits, added value, and return on investment. Appreciates the commercial impact of own work on the organization’s total expenses and revenues.

Customer/Client Orientation
Strives to provide customers/clients with personalized and efficient service. Anticipates customers’/clients’ needs. Quickly follows up on customer/client contacts and complaints. Monitors and acts on measures of customer/client satisfaction.

Team Skills
Helps to create a sense of team spirit and harmonious relations through cooperation and support. Balances personal goals with those of the team. Fosters collaboration among team members.

Preferred Experience / Education
The following indicates specific industry, academic, and functional experience/qualifications that are important to the successful achievement of the identified responsibilities and performance deliverables.

• 15+ years of varied product management, marketing, and sales management experience.
• An understanding of the world of custom electronic hardware technologies.
• International experience and a willingness to travel.
• Experience working in an entrepreneurial environment while adding systems and processes to enable sustained growth.
• Competitive base salary and variable plan tied to the qualifications of the successful candidate.