ABOUT DEPARTER - THE KNOW-WHO PEOPLE
Departer is a leading German Executive Search firm with over 20 years of experience in global leadership recruitment. We specialize in placing executives in medium-sized enterprises and private equity portfolio firms across DACH, MEAI, ASIA, and ANZ regions. With a deep understanding of the DACH economy, we facilitate successful placements within global management teams across corporate headquarters and entities abroad.
Our client is a leading international organization operating across the Middle East and Africa region, with a strong market presence in the building materials sector. The company is recognized for its commitment to innovation, customer excellence, and sustainable growth across multiple markets.
They are currently seeking a Head of Sales MEA to lead and accelerate commercial growth across the GCC, Africa (and South-East Asia) regions. As a key member of the Senior Management Team, this role will be responsible for shaping and executing the regional sales strategy, driving profitable growth, leading high-performing commercial teams, and strengthening strategic partnerships with customers, distributors, consultants, developers, and contractors.
The successful candidate will be a transformational commercial leader with the ability to inspire teams, build a high-performance culture, develop future leaders, and drive sustainable business growth. This role requires a strong balance of strategic vision and hands-on leadership, with the ability to empower teams, create accountability, and align a multicultural organization around common business objectives. This position offers the opportunity to significantly influence regional expansion, build market leadership, and contribute to the long-term success of a globally recognized organization.
Your duties and responsibilities will include:
- Lead and develop a regional sales organization across multiple markets
- Supervise project and retail sales, specifications, and technical team members in MEA
- Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, and customer excellence
- Coach and develop sales leaders and team members to strengthen organizational capability
- Define and execute regional sales strategy aligned with business objectives
- Drive revenue growth, market share expansion, and profitability across MEA markets
- Own sales planning, budgeting, forecasting, and commercial performance management
- Establish clear sales targets, KPIs, and performance expectations
- Manage key accounts, contractors, distributors, developers, consultants, and strategic partners
- Strengthen customer relationships and market positioning
- Identify new business opportunities, markets, and routes to growth
- Lead strategic negotiations with major customers and partners
- Collaborate with Marketing, Technical, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations teams
- Provide market insights, forecasts, and recommendations to senior leadership
- Ensure compliance with company policies, governance standards, and ethical practices
To be successful in this role, you should have the following skills and experiences:
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, or related field (MBA preferred)
- 10–15 years of commercial leadership experience in Middle East and Africa markets
- Proven experience leading multicultural sales teams (25+ employees)
- Strong people leadership skills with experience coaching and developing teams
- Track record of growing markets and delivering profitable business results
- Experience managing contractors, developers, distributors, key accounts, and strategic partnerships
- Background in building materials, or related industries preferred
- Strong commercial, financial, and strategic planning capabilities
- Excellent negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills
- Ability to lead across cultures and complex regional environments
- Results-driven mindset with strong execution capabilities
- Fluent English; Arabic and additional regional languages are an advantage
- Willingness to travel mainly within the MEA region