International Sales Director

Petrol Industries is a quality Dutch menswear brand, active across Europe. The International Sales Director joins the management team and gets full responsibility over all wholesale channels – comprising the vast majority of the Petrol business. They will analyse the market, develop retail strategies, build winning partnerships with European retailers, and provide leadership to the Petrol Industries sales team.

About Petrol Industries

Petrol Industries is a denim-inspired, casual-wear men’s brand. The company stands for high quality, value-for-money collections. Its products are marketed through an omnichannel approach, comprised of own stores, online channels and wholesale channels (i.e., selling via fashion retailers throughout Europe). The company is currently led by the management team consisting of the CEO, CFO, and Digital Director. Petrol Industries is a portfolio company of Vendis Capital: European Private Equity firm specialized in scaling-up winning consumer brands.

Starting out in Tilburg, the Netherlands, the company successfully rolled out internationally and secured the backing of Vendis Capital to accelerate its journey. Today the brand is sold in over 3000 stores across Benelux, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Petrol Industries also opened up its own retail stores in outlet parks throughout Europe and is accelerating its digital strategy.

The ambition of Petrol Industries is to build a winning pan-European power brand. This includes continuous development around the USPs of the company, like its brand positioning and collection structure. But it also requires adequate strategies around sustainability, integrating digital demands, and constantly adapting the wholesale strategy and organization to ever-changing expectations. This is where the International Sales Director comes in.

Job description: International Sales Director

The International Sales Director will report to Elwin Flint, co-founder and CEO of Petrol Industries, and joins the management team of the company. They will lead and inspire the international sales team consisting of country sales directors, sales representatives and (freelance) brand agents. The International Sales Director will drive growth and partner retention, through a relentless focus on building relationships and bringing structure.

For agents and retail partners to fully commit to Petrol Industries, they need to trust the brand on a personal and business level. In other words, they need to feel comfortable around the people representing the brand, and understand that Petrol Industries provides an opportunity for their own bottom line. It is up to the International Sales Director to create this level of trust, together with the sales team. This requires not only strong stakeholder management, but also frequent travel.

“A big component of this role is around strategy and implementation. The company is traditionally very strong on a local sales level, with many experienced sales reps connecting with local retailers. A rapidly changing market – with key accounts requiring different business models to be successful – provides ample opportunity to accelerate our growth. The International Sales Director designs this strategy and drives execution. Not just from behind their desk, but by visiting our partners in the markets and working with our teams and accounts” – Elwin Flint, CEO Petrol Industries

Another important component of growth through the wholesale channel is building a structured and data-driven approach. The International Sales Director will lead by example when it comes to providing and asking for feedback, collecting data on the impact of sales campaigns, and building detailed sales plans together with partners to reflect a robust ROI – with metrics like revenue per square meter store space used. The International Sales Director is comfortable coaching their team members to adopt such structured methods, including providing constructive feedback frequently.

This role is the perfect challenge for an experienced sales leader with a background in quality (and fast moving) consumer goods, who knows the value of building truly trusted and honest relationships. Strong people management combined with the ability to apply structure and work in a data-driven manner will make the International Sales Director hit the ground running. With Petrol Industries’ expected growth in the next few years, the International Sales Director is joining at an opportune moment to accelerate their own career and learning curve.

The International Sales Director will work closely together with their own team, their collegues in the Management Team, and CEO Elwin Flint. They will be supported by Vendis Capital in accelerating the company and creating value.

“We support and accelerate winning consumer brand companies like Fatboy, Kamera Express and Pink Gellac. We always focus on helping them become international market leaders. At Petrol, we are now recruiting a key person for this process. A very exciting role in a very exiting company” – Vincent Braams, Partner Vendis Capital

Interested?

Petrol Industries is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Janko Klaeijsen at janko.klaeijsen@topofminds.com.