Commercial Director

The organisation

Greener is on a mission to eliminate fossil fuels from the temporary energy market. Their fleet of quiet and zero-emission batteries-for-rent, supported by proprietary software including a helpful dashboard for monitoring, allows customers to solve any power issue. For instance, at events on location (such as festivals) or when a company is waiting for full grid connectivity. The potential is huge: nearly 10,000 businesses in the Netherlands are currently on the waiting list for electrification.

Greener is the brainchild of Dieter Castelein, Lukas Kuijken, and Klaas Akkerman, who met while studying at Delft University of Technology. The company, with 57 FTEs, is headquartered in Amsterdam with a subsidiary in Bristol (UK). In 2022, Greener secured 45 million euros in equity from DIF Capital Partners, to strengthen its market position by investing in hardware, software, and innovation. The company’s culture is cooperative, open, and frank. Continuously reflecting, learning, and growing is seen as the key to making a real impact. The people at Greener are always looking to make a meaningful contribution.

Greener has doubled its revenue and EBITDA every year since its founding in 2018. In the Netherlands as well as abroad, Greener has set aspirational revenue targets – for which the Commercial Director will be responsible.

The position

Greener, whose driving force is creating a greener world, provides large zero-emission mobile batteries. Customers include, for instance, industry players waiting for electrification or construction companies looking for a green, quiet, and mobile power source. The Commercial Director sets an example of stellar sales success and leads the way for the team to reach ambitious targets.

“To make a serious impact, we need serious growth. The commercial organisation’s mindset needs to be: selling so many batteries that the operations team has a tough time sourcing and delivering them. This mindset shift will be the merit of the Commercial Director.” – Dieter Castelein, Co-Founder and CEO

The Commercial Director guides Greener toward serious scaling in the Netherlands and abroad. They do this not only by further structuring the sales processes and strategy based on solid market insights, but also by being a role model when it comes to closing deals and bringing in revenue. They are part of the Management Team, reporting to the CEO. They also manage the full commercial team (including both Sales and Marketing) and all its processes.

This team consists of ‘hunters’ and ‘farmers’. The hunters are the marketing and sales operations teams, generating marketing-qualified leads and sales-qualified leads, respectively. The final step is a client visit by a sales manager, who presents the business case and answers technical questions. Once a deal is made, the sales manager connects the client to a project manager from the operations team but also stays on as an account manager for the client. The roles in this last stage of the process are referred to as ‘farmers’.

The Commercial Director is highly skilled in new business development, negotiation, and account management, and directly uses these skills to generate turnover. They are expected to set ambitious sales targets for both the organisation and themselves. By bringing in key clients, new partnerships, and sizeable revenue, the Commercial Director sets the tone for the entire team. They also bring the confidence and guts to make bold choices, whether entering a new market segment (based on a solid business case) or making changes to set the team up for success.

Aside from a clear focus on execution and leading by example, the Commercial Director is also responsible for creating a team culture that adheres to sales best practices. For this, the Commercial Director needs to have a vision on topics like up- and cross-selling, long-term account management, and how to best work together with the operational team and project managers.

The Commercial Director also executes the Greener commercial strategy, by diving into market opportunities and the different business models that Greener currently operates (direct sales in the Netherlands and mainly partnerships abroad), creating a path for further growth and internationalization through a combination of these and potentially other models. In this, the Commercial Director works together with the CEO and Country Managers and takes clear initiative when it comes to preparing data-driven decisions. The Commercial Director also oversees and reviews pricing strategies.

Candidate profile

Although they do not need to be a battery expert from the get-go, the Commercial Director is expected to build a solid technical understanding of the product. A passion for sustainability and a keen interest in technical solutions are indispensable for driving commercial success. In this role, an experienced commercial heavyweight with a focus on execution gets the opportunity to generate serious revenue and contribute to a Greener world.

Requirements:

• Over 10 years of experience
• In new business development
• And partnership management
• Within technical B2B solutions
• Consultative selling
• Focus on execution and leading by example
• With a heart for sustainability

Interested?

Greener is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy. You are invited to apply for this position by following the link below.