GEA Group's Food and Pharma Division is searching for a senior leader to head our Bakery Sub-Division in North America! This role can be based anywhere within the US and will oversee the sales of our Bakery Machinery in the region.
This role requires the incumbent to have previous Sales experience with Industrial Bakery Machinery.
Seeks to understand each customer’s needs, challenges, and goals, identifying their alternatives to get these addressed and ensuring that every proposed solution addresses their pain points and creates clear value.
Act as the primary steward of the customer experience within the assigned geography, coordinating equipment sales and service teams to consistently deliver on commitments and strengthen long‑term customer relationships while achieving GEA’s short‑term objectives.
Engage directly with customers through hands‑on selling and frequent in‑person meetings, dedicating significant focus (60% of time) to strategic customers and Key Accounts to ensure they receive tailored support and proactive partnership. Nurture and grow customer relationships, ensuring existing customers feel supported and valued while expanding the customer base through regular visits, lead follow‑up, campaigns, and promotions in collaboration with R&C, Inside Sales & Support, and Marketing across the Bakery & EFT Business Units.
Map the market with a customer‑first lens, identifying opportunities where GEA can help customers improve performance, and build a strong, customer‑validated project pipeline across key segments.
Guide and coordinate day‑to‑day sales activities across all Bakery & EFT applications, ensuring a seamless customer journey from RFQ through installation & commissioning, and working closely with Technical Offer, Inside Sales & Support, and other key functions to deliver timely, high‑quality outcomes.
Championing customer satisfaction and service excellence, addressing and resolving major issues with urgency and care while driving growth in the Service business through trust, responsiveness, and reliability.
Develop customer‑aligned sales plans, budgets, and forecasts, ensuring cross‑functional alignment with Sales Area Management, Application Management, Project Management, Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, and Logistics to deliver on customer expectations.
Maintain accurate and insightful CRM data to enhance market visibility
Manage and support regional Agents (when applicable) to ensure they deliver a consistent, customer‑focused approach, meeting expectations for performance, compliance, and communication.
Align pricing, discounts, and commercial terms with Business Units, the line Manager, Finance, and Legal to ensure transparency, fairness, and clarity for customers.
Represent the Bakery & EFT Business Units in customer negotiations, ensuring agreements reflect customer needs while adhering to approved pricing and commercial frameworks.
Contribute to strategy, business development, and R&D efforts by bringing forward customer insights, competitive intelligence, and market trends. Facilitate VOC/OVOC activities and coordinate joint development initiatives with regional customers, leveraging Test Centers in Italy in close collaboration with Application Managers, Innovation, and Engineering.
Model GEA’s values, code of conduct, and strategic direction, ensuring the same standards are upheld by R&C FLS and Agents (when applicable) to protect customer trust and brand integrity.
Deliver the agreed annual country targets: Order Intake for New Machines & Service, GM (%), Hit Rate, Sales, New Customers, Market Share, CRM Pipeline, and Service on-time delivery (OTIF: On Time In Full), always with customer success as the guiding principle.
Recruit, develop, and lead regional teams, including sales managers (3 Bakery, 1 Extrusion).
