Chief Technology Officer

With one billion euros in revenues, Kramp is the leading supplier of technical parts and supplies for the agricultural industry. The decisiveness and entrepreneurship of this family business has established their position as the market leader in Europe. With their economy of scale, Kramp is heavily investing in its technological development to transform the business into a tech company.

About Kramp

The company has an impressive range of 500,000 SKUs. If a tractor or other type of equipment breaks down, Kramp delivers the right replacement parts before 8 a.m. the next morning. This ensures the agricultural dealerships and its customers, who are farmers, can always continue their work without delays. Nearly all of Europe is covered by Kramp’s eleven distribution centers.

With 3,076 employees from the head office in Varsseveld to their Tech Hub in Utrecht, Kramp generated a turnover of over one billion euros in 2021. Kramp was an early adopter of digitizing a large part of their operations. As a result of their leading online position, the company is currently accelerating its growth strategy.

In e-commerce, the old adage still rings true: the winner takes all. A larger supply of equipment translates into more customers. Higher volumes lead to more competitive pricing. Increased turnover opens up more room for investment. Their successful organic growth, leveraged by an international buy and build strategy, has strengthened Kramp’s position as the market leader in Europe. Now with the recent introduction of Maykers, the ‘Direct-to-Farmer’ online marketplace, Kramp has even further cemented its front-runner position in the industry.

Kramp’s focus for the next three years will be on its continued technological transformation. The new Chief Technology Officer will be the focal point of its board, lead investment programs and transform the organization into a digital-first tech-company.

Vacancy: Chief Technology Officer

As a board member, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is responsible for all strategic, operational and organizational aspects of IT Management and Technology development. With four direct reports, the CTO will manage 250 employees who work from multiple locations across Europe. Its two main sites are in Utrecht and Varsseveld in The Netherlands.

The CTO steers the digital transformation of Kramp into a technology leading and data-driven organization. They will get buy-in from both customers and suppliers. This is done through the existing dealer network, which is complemented by industry leading B2B and Direct-to-Farmer ecommerce platforms, to create the best possible digital customer journey in both channels.

“As always in digital transformations, the CTO has to synergistically combine different organizational priorities: the mission-critical back-end systems (safe, sturdy and scalable) and the hyperflexible customer facing platforms (agile, data-driven and customer-obsessed).” 

In this industry, making sales targets  is only half the job. This position requires strong e-commerce (platform) experience in a physical supply chain and fulfillment environment. The CTO’ has experience in both digital transformation as well as customer-facing and (physical) back-end platform environments. This will accelerate customer innovation as it always relies on a solid foundation in the back-end platform.

In this role, Kramp’s CTO will inspire and connect all stakeholders, from the business, customer, supplier to technology, along the journey. Their vision on technology and capability for ideation fuel the digital transformation in a very down-to-earth industry.

As a family business, Kramp maintains a warm and friendly culture that is highly inclusive. Leadership is done by example, not through authority. Transforming into a product-focused organization isn’t done by PowerPoint presentations, but through inspiring discussions where the power of ideas and brainstorming is founded on empathic connections.

Interested?

Kramp is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Hayke Tjemmes at hayke.tjemmes@topofminds.com