Key Account Manager

We are recruiting on behalf of an established engineering business that is looking to appoint an experienced Key Account Manager to develop a portfolio of major customers across Northern Europe and Scandinavia. This is not a traditional new-business sales role. Our client already has established relationships, recognised products and existing contacts within a number of large automotive and industrial OEM customers. The successful candidate will therefore be focused predominantly on developing those relationships, identifying additional opportunities within existing accounts and converting ongoing discussions into larger and repeat orders.

The opportunity will particularly suit someone who combines strong relationship-management skills with enough technical understanding to hold credible conversations with engineering, purchasing and commercial teams. This is a consultative, relationship-led position where success will come from understanding customers properly, staying close to their requirements and becoming someone they trust to deliver.

The Key Account Manager will take responsibility for developing a portfolio of established and prospective major OEM customers across Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Rather than spending the majority of your time cold calling or trying to gain introductions into unfamiliar businesses, you will inherit existing relationships and contacts that need to be developed further. The focus will be on understanding where future requirements are likely to arise, maintaining regular contact with decision-makers and ensuring the business is well positioned when significant opportunities become available.

Order values can be substantial, frequently running into hundreds of thousands and occasionally considerably higher, so this is a relatively low-volume, high-value sales environment. Sales cycles can involve a combination of engineering, commercial and operational discussions. You will therefore need to understand the products well enough to discuss applications and customer requirements intelligently, while drawing upon internal engineering expertise where more detailed technical input is required.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Managing and developing relationships with major OEM customers across Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
• Taking ownership of a portfolio of established customer accounts and existing industry contacts.
• Identifying opportunities to increase the value and frequency of business generated from existing relationships.
• Building strong relationships with purchasing, engineering, commercial and operational stakeholders within customer organisations.
• Understanding customers' future programmes, product requirements and purchasing plans.
• Positioning the company effectively for upcoming projects, tenders and repeat-order opportunities.
• Developing larger-value opportunities and progressing them through potentially lengthy sales cycles.
• Maintaining regular contact with customers rather than relying solely on enquiries and incoming opportunities.
• Working closely with engineering and technical colleagues to ensure proposed solutions meet customer requirements.
• Preparing and coordinating commercial proposals, quotations and negotiations.
• Following opportunities through from initial discussion to order placement and subsequent delivery.
• Ensuring customers remain informed and supported throughout the commercial process.
• Developing account plans for strategically important customers.
• Identifying opportunities to expand relationships into additional products, applications, departments or programmes.
• Monitoring customer activity, market developments and competitor activity across the region.
• Maintaining accurate forecasts and visibility of significant future opportunities.
• Travelling regularly throughout Northern Europe to maintain relationships and develop key accounts.

We are looking for an experienced technical salesperson, Key Account Manager or Sales Manager who understands how to develop long-term customer relationships within an engineering-led environment. Personality will be important. The successful candidate should be approachable, personable and comfortable building genuine relationships with customers. This is an environment where trust and personal credibility matter, and the company is looking for someone customers will enjoy dealing with as well as respect professionally. You will also need sufficient technical understanding to engage confidently with people working in engineering and manufacturing organisations.

Experience selling mechanically engineered products into the automotive sector would be particularly relevant, especially where products ultimately support aftermarket, replacement, service or ongoing vehicle requirements. You do not necessarily need to be an engineer, but you should be technically comfortable and interested enough in engineered products to understand what customers are buying, why they need them and what factors influence their purchasing decisions.

We would particularly like to hear from candidates who can demonstrate:

• Previous experience in technical sales, key account management or account development.
• Experience working with large OEM customers.
• Exposure to the automotive, automotive aftermarket or a closely related engineering sector.
• Experience selling mechanically engineered products or components.
• A track record of developing existing customer accounts rather than relying solely on new-business prospecting.
• Experience securing substantial repeat orders or increasing account value over time.
• Confidence managing high-value commercial opportunities.
• The ability to build relationships across purchasing, engineering and senior commercial functions.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• A consultative rather than transactional approach to sales.
• Enough technical understanding to discuss engineered products and customer applications credibly.
• Good commercial judgement and negotiation skills.
• The ability to manage relatively long sales cycles and maintain momentum over time.
• A structured approach to account management, forecasting and opportunity development.
• The willingness and flexibility to travel regularly throughout Scandinavia and Northern Europe.

This is a particularly attractive opportunity for someone who enjoys developing established accounts and building long-term commercial relationships rather than operating in a heavily cold-call-driven sales environment. The foundations are already there: existing customers, recognised contacts and established relationships. The opportunity is to take those relationships further. For the right person, that means spending time understanding major customers, remaining close to their future requirements and ensuring the company is in the strongest possible position to secure increasingly significant pieces of business. The scale of the customers involved also means individual opportunities can be commercially substantial, with successful account development potentially resulting in orders worth hundreds of thousands or, on occasion, significantly more. The geographical arrangement can be relatively flexible. The successful candidate will travel regularly into Scandinavia and Northern Europe, potentially around once a month depending on customer requirements. This would suit an experienced technical account manager who enjoys building relationships, understands engineered products and wants to concentrate on developing meaningful, high-value business with major customers over the long term.

If this role could appeal please do apply now.