Imagine working at the forefront of innovation in fluid-flow technology, with over 1400 colleagues across the globe, and contributing to a legacy of excellence that spans eight manufacturing facilities on four continents. Armstrong Fluid Technology is more than just a leader in our industry; we are a community of the brightest and most creative technical and marketing minds driven by a shared mission to engineer the future and safeguard our planet.
As a member of our team, you'll dive into an environment that encourages learning and boundary-pushing every day. You'll be part of an agile and dynamic workplace where today's solutions are built for tomorrow's challenges. Sales Director EMEA is responsible for providing strategic leadership and commercial direction across our sales leaders and teams in the UK, Continental Europe and the Middle East & Africa. This critical role is responsible for developing a unified regional growth strategy, driving high-impact commercial execution and strengthening our competitive position across the UK & EMEA region.
As a senior member of the global commercial leadership team, you will lead a matrixed, multi-country organization with a focus on transformational growth, cross-border collaboration and sales excellence. You will coach and empower regional sales leaders, establish long-term customer partnerships, and influence corporate-level decision-making in line with global strategy. The position is based out of Armstrong’s HQ in Manchester and requires frequent travel (80%) across UK/CE/MEA region.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Leadership & Commercial Transformation
- Define and implement the overarching commercial strategy for EMEA, translating global growth objectives into regionally relevant plans and sales structures.
- Act as the executive sponsor and coach to all EMEA regional sales leaders, ensuring consistency in vision, discipline in execution, and local adaptability across sub-regions.
- Influence and align with corporate stakeholders on portfolio direction, investment priorities, pricing governance, and long-term customer engagement models.
- Serve as a visible, credible ambassador for Armstrong in key markets—building trust with customers, policy influencers, partners, and internal stakeholders.
- Drive commercial transformation initiatives including BOD, lifecycle revenue models, channel modernization, and customer segmentation refinement.
- Collaborating with key account managers globally and regionally whilst leveraging sales capability regionally and globally
2. Regional Sales Leadership Across EMEA
- Lead a matrixed team of senior sales leaders across UK, Europe, and MEA, ensuring operational alignment, strategic clarity, and commercial performance.
- Establish a region-wide culture of high accountability, performance measurement, and continuous learning.
- Build a leadership pipeline through rigorous coaching, structured development, and succession planning.
- Actively facilitate cross-regional collaboration, breaking down silos and amplifying shared wins, tools, and insights.
3. Market Development & Growth Acceleration
- Identify, assess, and prioritize high-potential markets, verticals, and customer segments within EMEA based on regulatory shifts, market maturity, and emerging demand.
- Develop and lead the go-to-market strategy for EMEA
- Define and execute regional business development plans for strategic accounts, channel partners, and aligned to decarbonization and infrastructure renewal.
- Partner with global marketing and product teams to ensure regional positioning reflects differentiated value and solution scalability.
4. Sales Execution & Governance
- Deploy a consistent sales management and governance framework across the region—covering pipeline hygiene, forecast accuracy, pricing integrity, and contract controls.
- Champion adoption of CRM, sales enablement, and analytics tools to increase visibility, performance, and accountability.
- Oversee the Armstrong sales process to sell the full suite of offerings, emphasizing value-based selling to highlight customer-specific outcomes and benefits.
- Collaborate with the global SIOP and finance teams to align revenue targets with operational capacity and margin goals.
- Ensure all commercial activity supports long-term customer value and profitable growth, rather than short-term volume wins.
5. Talent, Culture & Customer-Centricity
- Champion a diverse, inclusive, and entrepreneurial team culture grounded in Armstrong’s values and customer centricity
- Create a talent ecosystem that attracts, retains, and develops top-tier commercial leaders across multiple geographies and cultural contexts.
- Build strong relationships with customers at the executive level, serving as a trusted advisor and escalation point for key accounts.
- Embed a customer-centric approach to all sales activities—from consultative engagement to solution delivery and lifecycle service.
Qualifications
Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering in Mechanical/Electrical, Business or related field (MBA or equivalent executive education strongly preferred).
- Substantial progressive commercial leadership experience, including significant experience in managing regional sales leaders across EMEA or similarly complex international territories.
- Substantial experience in industry-related direct sales including HVAC and/or vertical markets, particularly in solution and value-based sales.
- Substantial proven track record of delivering growth in direct sales including HVAC and/or vertical markets, specifically in solution and value based sales
- In depth understanding of regional market dynamics, regulatory frameworks, and customer decision-making in EMEA economies.
- Expertise in navigating long-cycle, high-value solution sales with multiple stakeholders (contractors, OEMs, engineering consultants, end users).
- Strong financial acumen and experience managing regional P&L, budgeting, and strategic investment decisions.
- Substantial experience in tracking and sales reporting through CRM and other tools
- Fluent in English, additional European or Middle Eastern languages a strong advantage.
Technical and Sales Skills:
- In-depth knowledge of HVAC applications solutions and systems
- Substantial experience in tracking sales information of customers, forecasts, and reports using related software applications such as CRM.
- Substantial understanding of complex B2B sales cycles and negotiation techniques, consultative & solution selling.
- Substantial experience in getting solution specified as Basis of Design.
- Passion to win in your local marketplace.
- Proven track record of exceeding sales targets and achieving revenue growth.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office 365.
- Create and deliver compelling presentations to prospective customers to demonstrate the value of products and services.
- Use Armstrong's sales process and value tools to present sustainable solutions that deliver energy efficiency and long-term savings.
Soft skills and other requirements:
- Exceptional communication skills
- Strategic thinking and clear articulation of that
- Strong, team-oriented leadership skills with presence and a bias for action.
- Strong attention to detail and highly organized.
