Senior Group Leader Sales Engineering Distribution

Vanderlande Industries•Atlanta, GA

11d

About The Position

The Senior Group Leader Sales Engineering Distribution will lead the pre-sales technical strategy, ensuring customer needs are met with innovative, scalable, and cost-effective automation solutions. This role involves leading the Sales Engineering and Sales Layout Engineering Team in the Seattle office for key clients. The position requires close collaboration with sales teams, customers, and internal stakeholders to optimize solution development, drive commercial success, and enhance Vanderlande’s competitive position. The leader will supervise projects in the Sales Phase and serve as the highest escalation level for sales engineering-related topics. A key aspect of the role is developing and executing a standardized approach to sales engineering, ensuring proposals align with technical capabilities and business objectives. The role also demands providing technical leadership in customer engagements, translating requirements into optimized system designs, and ensuring proposals are technically sound, competitive, and aligned with customer needs. A significant responsibility is to secure quality by empowering and training local teams to quote projects accurately and on time. Continuous improvement in sales engineering processes through Lean methodologies, automation tools, and digital modeling is expected. The role involves implementing best practices in system simulation, data analysis, and cost modeling, and partnering with various teams for seamless handover from sales to implementation. Leading and mentoring a team of sales engineers, consultants, solution engineers, layouters, and pricing specialists is crucial, fostering a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and customer focus. Developing competitive yet profitable pricing strategies, monitoring KPIs, refining cost estimation methodologies, and managing capabilities and capacity for efficiency are also key duties. Ensuring compliance with corporate policies, ethical practices, and industry regulations is mandatory.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Logistics or a related field of study
Five (5) years of experience in the job offered or any related occupation in which the required experience was gained.
Demonstrated experience with Automated material handling logistics
Demonstrated experience with Developing automated material handling systems designs
Demonstrated experience with Material handling systems, automation technologies, and fulfilment operations
Demonstrated experience with Identifying and developing solutions for various technical issues for material handling systems
Demonstrated experience with Analyzing and understanding of pricing models, cost estimation, and financial analysis in technical sales
Demonstrated experience with Evaluating automated material handling system designs based on cost, functionality, business needs and risks
Demonstrated experience with Reviewing KPIs and defining strategies to improve them.

Responsibilities

Lead the pre-sales technical strategy, ensuring that customer needs are met with innovative, scalable, and cost-effective automation solutions.
Lead the Sales Engineering and Sales Layout Engineering Team in the Seattle office for our key clients.
Work closely with sales teams, customers, and internal stakeholders to optimize solution development, drive commercial success, and enhance Vanderlande’s competitive position in the market.
Supervise projects in Sales Phase. Serve as the highest escalation level for sales engineering-related topics on projects.
Develop and execute a standardized approach to sales engineering, ensuring that all proposals align with Vanderlande’s technical capabilities and business objectives.
Provide technical leadership in customer engagements, collaborating with sales teams to translate customer requirements into optimized system designs.
Ensure that all sales proposals are technically sound, competitive, and aligned with customer needs and operational constraints.
Secure Quality: make sure local teams are empowered and trained to be able to quote project in time with the right quality (design, cost calculations and quotation).
Drive continuous improvement in sales engineering processes, leveraging Lean methodologies, automation tools, and digital modeling techniques.
Implement best practices in system simulation, data analysis, and cost modeling to enhance proposal accuracy and efficiency.
Partner with sales, product management, and project execution teams to ensure seamless handover from sales to implementation.
Lead and mentor a team of sales engineers, sales consultants, solution engineers, lay outers and pricing specialist fostering a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and customer focus. Provide training to sales engineers where needed.
Develop pricing strategies that balance competitiveness with profitability, ensuring that solutions align with financial targets.
Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) related to sales engineering efficiency, proposal win rates, and customer satisfaction.
Work with finance, pricing and sales teams to refine cost estimation methodologies, ensuring transparency and accuracy in pricing models.
Manage capabilities and capacity to ensure efficiency within the domain, addressing overcapacities and optimizing billability.
Ensure compliance with corporate policies, ethical business practices, and industry regulations.