Sales Director
Reports to: CEO
Location: Italy (HQ)
WHAT THIS ROLE OWNS
- Geographic execution of the portfolio strategy
- Pricing discipline on licensing: enforce the price book as a mandatory line on every quote — through the pre-Sales function — and ensure any free license line requires explicit sign-off rather than being the default. This role enforces pricing discipline; it does not set the price book or the product packaging itself.
- Pre-sales and bid governance, through the Pre-Sales Director: oversee tender/bid analysis and response quality across a growing, multi-country pipeline, balancing win-rate against margin discipline — including the total-cost-of-ownership framing needed to compete against low-cost hardware entrants rather than matching them on price.
- Key account management: through the Key Account Management team, protect and grow the installed base and identify cross-sell opportunities and the emerging AI modules into existing accounts.
- Back-office and order management: ensure the order book / funnel data is accurate and visible enough to support the recurring-revenue tracking this deck’s whole strategy depends on.
- Partnership-aware selling: coordinate with Group and external delivery partners on shared opportunities so joint opportunities are captured without overlapping client ownership or diluting margin.
- Continuously assess whether the function’s structure and people fit its strategy and operations — and whether that fits what the business can actually afford — flagging gaps or overcapacity rather than assuming the current shape is fixed
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
- Track record leading a multi-country B2B/enterprise sales organisation
- Direct experience managing complex public tenders/bids — comfortable holding a pre-sales function accountable for bid quality and win-rate, not just volume.
- Demonstrated ability to shift a sales organisation’s pricing behaviour
- Comfortable operating with capital discipline
- Comfortable executing a centrally set portfolio rather than self-directing sales priorities.
- Experience managing named strategic accounts in long sales-cycle, relationship-driven markets (transit authorities, government agencies, or similar).
- Proven ability to develop technical/commercial leads into real managers, not just supervise them.
- Fluent Italian required; fluent English required; French is a strong plus
CONTRACT & COMPESATION
- Contract: Dirigente, under the Italian national collective agreement for metalworking/engineering executives (CCNL Dirigenti Industria).
- Salary: RAL €90,000–110,000, depending on experience.
- Variable: MBO bonus tied to company/site performance indicators (CSI).
- Benefits: company car also for private use included
AEP is committed to building an inclusive working environment in which people of every background are treated fairly and with respect. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable law (D.Lgs. 198/2006).
Only applications that include authorization to process personal data in accordance with the applicable legislation will be considered.
In accordance with the applicable legislation, this job offer is addressed to candidates of all genders. (Italian Law 903/77)
Location: Signa (Florence), Italy — AEP head office.