Director of Key Accounts Benelux

Rubix is Europe’s leading industrial maintenance, repair, and overhaul distributor, keeping production lines running for 220,000 customers worldwide. The Director of Key Accounts sets a focused course for the 80 Benelux key accounts, concentrating the team’s time on growth of critical customers and shaping a more proactive approach to winning new business.

About Rubix

Across Europe, industrial manufacturers turn to Rubix for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) solutions that keep their plants running. The company combines a pan-European distribution network – supplying everything from bearings and power transmission to fluid power, machining tools, PPE, and general maintenance products – with the expertise of its technical competence centers. These teams design and deliver value-added services such as automation and robotization projects, on-site engineering support, and condition monitoring to cut downtime and waste. Together with customers, Rubix rethinks total cost of ownership (TCO) by consolidating suppliers, committing to measurable cost savings, and integrating digitally with customer systems. In the Benelux, Rubix has built long-term partnerships with major players in, among other sectors, food and beverage, pharma, recycling, and packaging.

In 2017, private equity firm Advent International brought together two major European distributors, Brammer and IPH, into a single platform business. Since then, Rubix has executed more than seventy acquisitions, building a multi-specialist network and strengthening its position in a highly fragmented market. In 2024, the group generated more than three billion euros in revenue with strong profitability. The company’s focus remains on cementing its position as Europe’s leading MRO provider through further organic and acquisitive growth, using its scale, service offering, and TCO-driven approach to win market share.

Today, more than 8,500 skilled employees work at Rubix in Europe’s major industrial regions. Teams combine local customer knowledge with the scale and expertise of a pan-European group, supported by growing digital channels and an integrated logistics network. This includes a modern distribution center in Venlo serving the Benelux. Employees at Rubix do as promised, take ownership when something needs fixing, and work with customers, suppliers, and colleagues to find better solutions every day. Together they build a business that transforms how industrial products and services are delivered across Europe.

Vacancy: Director of Key Accounts Benelux

In the Benelux, key accounts are Rubix’ growth engine in the fragmented MRO market. The Director of Key Accounts drives the commercial agenda for these customers in the Benelux, setting clear priorities and shifting the team’s time towards accounts and initiatives with the highest impact on Rubix’s growth. This includes a shift towards significantly more business development, where the Director of Key Accounts builds a more proactive, structured approach and develops the team’s capabilities to create and convert new opportunities. At the same time, the Director ensures the key account managers deliver on their commitments to existing customers and increase share of wallet through cross-selling, gradually moving towards a healthy balance between managing the current base and developing new business.

Impact through close collaboration with the Rubix network
To deliver this growth, the Director of Key Accounts works through a matrix rather than standalone. Key account business runs through the branch network, while valueadded services and projects sit with the technical centers in the Product & Services organization. The Director brings these perspectives together in shared account plans: aligning branch and network managers on pricing, service levels and focus, working with technical specialists to shape solutions that drive cost savings, and partnering with the European key account organization on pan-European contracts. Their success is measured not only in revenue and margin, but also in signed-off cost savings and crosssell projects with the technical centers. That makes it essential for the Director of Key Accounts to balance competing P&Ls and priorities and still secure the right support for their key accounts.

Within this matrix, the Director of Key Accounts Benelux works closely with leaders at all levels in the Rubix organization. They partner with the Chief Commercial Officer and network sales directors who run the Benelux branch network, with the COO responsible for operations and the Venlo distribution center, and with the Director Product & Services who steers the technical centers.

“Growth here isn’t a slide deck. It’s new contracts with key accounts, signed-off cost savings, and our customers’ factories that run better because our branches and specialists pulled together. The Director of Key Accounts Benelux is someone who enjoys achieving that kind of tangible result – and the collaborations and trade-offs required to get there.” – Paul van der Rest, CEO Benelux & Nordics

The Director of Key Accounts reports to the CEO Benelux & Nordics and is part of the Benelux leadership team, with a dotted reporting line to the VP European Key Accounts. They lead a team of five key account managers in the Netherlands and two in Belgium. They also have line responsibility for Magema, a specialized business unit focused on large infrastructure and semi-public key accounts. A dedicated Business Unit Director runs Magema day to day and reports into the Director of Key Accounts, who ensures that its plans and performance are fully integrated into the broader Benelux key account agenda.

Across this team, the Director raises the bar on commercial discipline: coaching different profiles of key account managers, tightening basic reporting and pipeline management, and using these insights to keep everyone focused on the right customers, business development opportunities, and projects. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced leader who moves easily between senior procurement discussions and coaching a diverse team. Transparent and steady, they have clear conversations about margin, cost savings, and priorities to steer the business in a performance-driven, PE-backed environment. The Director of Key Accounts is able to align branches, technical centers, and European colleagues behind a shared plan and creates visible impact on Rubix’ growth and on major Benelux industrial players as a result.

Interested?

Rubix is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Stephanie Stuit at stephanie.stuit@topofminds.com