Sales Director (m/f/d)

Sales Director (m/f/d)

At Clarios, we are producing the world’s best batteries, essential for the evolving future of transportation. Our advanced, low-voltage batteries and smart solutions power nearly every type of vehicle and are found in 1 of 3 cars on the road today. Ready to shape cutting-edge manufacturing processes and make an impact across the whole EMEA region and beyond? Take on the challenge and join our Sales team as a Sales Director (m/f/d)!

Power your future with Clarios and explore the possibilities with us.

As Sales Director (m/f/d), you will drive the growth of our recycled polypropylene portfolio and play a key role in shaping our position in a rapidly evolving, sustainability-driven market. With full P&L ownership, you will scale commercial success through structured sales excellence, strategic market development, and strong customer engagement across OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers. This is a unique opportunity to combine operational leadership with forward-looking strategy, translating regulatory trends into profitable business opportunities. Beyond sales leadership, you will transform a historically entrepreneurial business into a scalable, professionally managed commercial organization, creating sustainable growth and reducing dependency on legacy structures.

Due to the entrepreneurial nature and size of the business, this role requires a highly hands-on leader who actively drives customer development, business acquisition, OEM engagement and commercial execution, rather than operating primarily through delegation. This is a player-coach role that combines commercial leadership with direct involvement in customer acquisition, business development, pricing, and market expansion activities.

The position can be based either at our EMEA Headquarters in Hanover or at our Braubach site in Germany, with regular travel between locations and customer sites.

What you will do

As Sales Director (m/f/d), your responsibilities will include:

• Taking full ownership of the SECULENE® business P&L, ensuring sustainable sales growth and profitability
• Building, managing, and continuously optimizing a structured sales pipeline and opportunity management process
• Drive OEM material approvals, qualification processes and specification releases to accelerate market adoption of SECULENE®.
• Representing the SECULENE® product portfolio externally and drive OEM lead acquisition, engaging with Tier-X customers across the value chain
• Establishing pricing governance, by ensuring strong margin discipline across all commercial activities
• Personally lead strategic customer engagements, business development activities, pricing discussions and growth initiatives with OEMs and Tier-1 customers.
• Leading and developing a high-performing Sales team and back-office organization with 5 direct reports.

Strategic responsibilities

• Developing and executing a comprehensive go-to-market strategy targeting OEMs, Tier-1 customers, and new industry segments
• Translating EU recycled-content regulations into tangible revenue streams and business opportunities
• Strengthening the market positioning of recyclates versus virgin materials, expanding applications beyond exterior components
• Building and scaling a professional Sales & Business Development organization, reducing dependency on key individuals
• Implementing and embedding structured sales processes and order-to-cash (OTC) discipline to ensure operational excellence

What makes you a good fit

• Extensive professional experience in industrial B2B sales or business development, ideally within automotive OEM and Tier1 environments
• An engineering, materials science, polymer science or chemistry background is highly desirable.
• Strong business acumen with a clear understanding of commercial drivers and value creation
• Solid knowledge of plastics, polymers, and recyclate materials, ideally in an automotive context
• Proven experience with full P&L ownership, including pricing strategy, margin optimization, and contract structuring
• Entrepreneurial business builder with a strong hands-on mentality and proven track record in customer acquisition, business development and scaling businesses in dynamic environments.
• Demonstrated success in commercial transformation, particularly within low-maturity or scaling organizations
• Business fluent in English and German

What we offer you

As a technology leader with strong brands (i.e. VARTA® and OPTIMA®), Clarios notably lives on the creativity, capability and satisfaction of its employees. Therefore, we offer people with drive and power many good reasons to join us:

• Exciting professional tasks and challenges in a diverse international future-oriented environment with strong commitment to integrity, values, social engagement, and sustainability.
• Arrange your working hours and breaks flexible via our flexible working hours model and combine your professional and private life even better according to our above average number of vacation days, mobile work policy and company kindergarten.
• A competitive remuneration package, including additional payments as well as company pension scheme.
• Your well-being is very important to us: Take advantage of our preventive health care offers such as fitness center, physiotherapist, modern office environment, healthy canteen, team and company events or hobby clubs.
• Stay fit whilst at the same time positively contributing to our environment: Lease your company bike.
• Our well-advanced onboarding process and buddy program supports you to quickly grow into the position and team. By using the offering in our Learning Academy, LinkedIn Learning and EMEA Mentoring Program you will be able to further grow professionally and personally.
• Last, but not least we support you in relocating and finding an apartment in your work location, if applicable and depending on individual factors.

You want to learn more about the position and our EMEA region? Check out our regional page and get in touch with our recruiting team.

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About Clarios

Clarios is the global leader in advanced, low-voltage battery technologies for mobility. Our batteries and smart solutions power nearly every type of vehicle and are found in 1 of 3 cars on the road today. With around 18,000 employees in over 100 countries, we bring deep expertise to our Aftermarket and OEM partners, and reliability, safety and comfort to everyday lives. We answer to the planet with a rigorous sustainability focus - advancing best-in-class sustainability practices and advocating for them across our industry. We work to ensure 100% of our products sold are recyclable, and we recycle 8,000 batteries an hour in our network. You can find more information here (PDF).

To All Recruitment Agencies: Clarios does not accept unsolicited agency resumes/CVs. Please do not forward resumes/CVs to our careers email addresses, Clarios employees or any other company location. Clarios is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/CVs.