Employer Overview:
A leading Egyptian ice cream and confectionery manufacturer with a long-standing presence in the FMCG industry. The company operates large-scale production and distribution activities and continues to expand its manufacturing capacity to support business growth and strengthen its market presence.
Job Summary:
The Head of Sales – Direct Sales & Retail will lead and develop the company's direct sales and retail operations, ensuring the achievement of sales targets, revenue growth, market penetration, and distribution efficiency. The role will drive sales strategy, manage sales teams and distribution channels, and strengthen relationships with customers and trade partners across the assigned market.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop and execute direct sales and retail strategies aligned with business objectives and revenue targets.
- Lead, manage, and develop sales teams to achieve volume, value, distribution, and collection targets.
- Expand market coverage, customer reach, and product availability across assigned territories and retail channels.
- Monitor sales performance, market trends, competitor activities, and customer needs to identify growth opportunities.
- Manage sales forecasting, target setting, route planning, and territory allocation to improve sales productivity.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with distributors, retailers, wholesalers, and key customers.
- Coordinate with Trade Marketing, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Finance to ensure product availability, promotional execution, and effective credit and collection management.
- Analyze sales reports and KPIs, identify performance gaps, and implement corrective action plans.
- Ensure compliance with company sales policies, pricing guidelines, trade terms, and reporting procedures.
Minimum Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field.
- Minimum 10 years of experience in sales within the FMCG food and beverage sector.
- At least 3–5 years in a senior sales leadership or sales management position.
- Proven experience managing direct sales teams, retail channels, and distribution operations.
- Experience in ice cream, frozen products, confectionery, or other fast-moving food categories is highly preferred.
- Strong leadership and team management skills.
- Excellent negotiation, communication, and relationship-building skills.
- Strong commercial mindset and results orientation.
- Effective decision-making and problem-solving abilities.
- Sales strategy development and execution.
- Direct sales and retail channel management.
- Sales forecasting, target setting, and territory planning.
- Distribution management and sales performance analysis.
- Customer relationship management and negotiation.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
- Experience using ERP systems and sales reporting tools.
- Familiarity with CRM or sales force automation systems is an advantage.
- Very good command of English.
- Ability to lead large sales teams across multiple territories.
- Ability to achieve challenging sales and distribution targets.
- Ability to analyze commercial data and translate insights into action.
- Ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing market conditions.
- Willingness to travel regularly across assigned territories, as required.
