Two Sales Managers for a Distribution Transformer Manufacturer in Belgium and France

This Irish manufacturer has been designing and manufacturing distribution transformers for utilities, industrial operators, and renewable energy projects throughout Ireland, the UK, and mainland Europe for over 50 years. The company, which is based in County Cavan, has a long-established commercial presence in Belgium and has identified France as its next priority expansion market. The company is now part of a larger conglomerate after a strategic acquisition in 2024. Both territories required dedicated in-market Sales Managers who had existing customer relationships and could credibly represent the company’s technical product range to engineering and procurement buyers in the local language. Generic sales experience wouldn’t cut it.

These specialist sales roles are recruited from a small pool of candidates. The Belgium role replaces a long-standing Sales Manager who retired, creating a coverage and loss of institutional knowledge issue in an established territory. The minimum language requirement was French, with Flemish being preferred. The incoming candidate needed to have existing Belgian customer relationships.

The French role was remote and was a new market, so they were looking for someone who was already in the French energy market, who knew about transformers or high-voltage electrical products, had commercial independence, and could speak French and English fluently. Both searches also sought a “hunter profile”: someone who had experience in building new business rather than maintaining existing accounts.

The sourcing focused on transformer manufacturers, switchgear companies, medium-voltage equipment suppliers, and the renewable energy infrastructure sector across Western Europe. Both searches assessed candidates on technical product depth and commercial new-business drive at the same time, distinguishing between those who had actually built pipelines and those who had maintained existing relationships.

The Belgian appointment has been confirmed as a good fit for both the role and the hiring manager, following a face-to-face assessment at the Cavan manufacturing plant. The French search was a more competitive process: four first-round interviews, two onsite visits to the facility in Ireland, a compensation revision to reflect the actual market rate, and a final stage 90-day action plan submission to differentiate between the two strong finalists.

Both posts were filled. The Belgian Sales Manager joined on 18 August, bringing existing customer relationships and transformer sector knowledge to a territory which had not been covered by a dedicated Sales Manager since the previous incumbent’s retirement. After the onsite evaluation and action plan stage, the French Sales Manager was confirmed, the offer was signed, and the background checks are in progress. Both appointments were completed under sole engagement with Keller Executive Search.