Job Title: Sales Director (UAE) — FMCG Distribution
Location: UAE
Reports to: CEO / Executive Leadership Team
Employment Type: Full-time
1) Role Overview
The Sales Director is a mission-critical leadership role responsible for driving sustainable revenue growth, market share expansion, and profitability in the UAE FMCG sector. The role owns the sales agenda end-to-end—strategy, execution, capability building, and performance management—across hypermarkets and modern trade chains, with expansion into traditional trade and e-commerce channels.
As an early-stage FMCG distribution business focused on shelf-stable food and beverage products, we seek an entrepreneurial leader who thrives in high-pressure, resource-constrained environments, can build systems and teams from scratch, and is comfortable wearing multiple hats. The ideal candidate combines strategic acumen with hands-on execution, establishing the route-to-market, securing retailer agreements, deploying disciplined field standards, and institutionalizing scalable processes.
2) Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Planning
- Develop and execute a UAE-wide sales strategy aligned to corporate objectives, category priorities, and P&L targets.
- Define channel strategies and route-to-market with primary focus on hypermarkets and modern trade chains; expand into traditional trade and e-commerce/quick-commerce as appropriate.
- Own commercial levers: price architecture, discount ladders, trading terms, promotional mechanics, and visibility investments.
- Lead annual business planning (ABP), joint business plans (JBPs) with key accounts, and quarterly business reviews.
Team Leadership & Capability Building
- Build a high-performing sales organization from the ground up—recruit, onboard, coach, and performance-manage Key Account Managers, Area Sales Managers, Supervisors, and Merchandisers.
- Establish clear KPIs, dashboards, cadences, and incentive schemes to drive accountability and repeatable execution.
- Create a learning culture: negotiation excellence, category insights, field execution standards, and data literacy.
Modern Trade Expansion & Key Account Management
- Secure and manage agreements with leading UAE hypermarkets and modern trade chains; negotiate listings, trading terms, shelf space, planograms, activation calendars, and visibility.
- Lead sell-in/sell-out analytics, assortment optimization, on-shelf availability, and promotional ROI.
- Deliver JBP commitments, elevate customer relationships, and implement pay-for-performance activation models.
Traditional Trade & E-commerce Growth
- Expand distribution across independent groceries, cooperatives, wholesale, and HORECA; define territory coverage, call cycles, and van sales standards.
- Build and scale e-commerce/quick-commerce presence (assortment, content, pricing, and operational alignment).
- Implement Perfect Store standards; drive numeric and weighted distribution gains with disciplined in-store execution.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Marketing on brand launches, trade marketing calendars, activation mechanics, and category insights.
- Work with Supply Chain/Operations to improve forecast accuracy, S&OP alignment, inventory turns, and replenishment speed.
- Coordinate with Finance on credit terms, DSO targets, trade spend efficiency, and gross margin delivery.
Process, Systems & Controls
- Implement sales SOPs, CRM/ERP utilization (Odoo), and BI dashboards to institutionalize a data-driven sales culture.
- Ensure 100% compliance with UAE regulatory, VAT, consumer protection, and labor standards.
- Establish robust trade spend governance, contract management, and audit-ready documentation.
Founder-Minded Ownership
- Operate with entrepreneurial urgency and resourcefulness; personally lead key negotiations, customer engagements, onboarding, and field deployment where needed.
- Identify growth opportunities, category white spaces, partnerships, and sub-distribution models to accelerate scale.
3) KPIs & Performance Metrics
(Exact targets will be set and agreed during the hiring process; the successful candidate is expected to meet or exceed these standards.)
- Revenue Growth: Deliver strong year-on-year net sales growth.
- Market Share: Increase share in priority FMCG categories by agreed percentage points.
- Modern Trade Expansion: Secure new modern trade agreements or significant range/space upgrades each quarter.
- Gross Margin: Maintain or improve blended and category/channel margins within corporate thresholds.
- Distribution & Availability: Improve numeric and weighted distribution for priority SKUs across top hypermarket and MT doors; maintain high on-shelf availability for core SKUs.
- Trade Spend Efficiency: Achieve targeted promotional ROI; enforce pay-for-performance visibility standards.
- Forecast Accuracy: Maintain accuracy within agreed bands at category/SKU level.
- DSO (Credit Control): Keep Days Sales Outstanding within Finance-agreed thresholds.
- E-commerce/Quick-Commerce: Grow GMV and maintain content compliance across key listings.
- Execution Quality: Achieve Perfect Store compliance and activation adherence at agreed benchmarks.
- Team Metrics: Maintain low voluntary attrition, complete performance reviews on schedule, and meet training-hour targets.
- Compliance: 100% adherence to UAE regulatory, VAT, and labor standards; zero violations.
4) Required Qualifications (Essential)
- 10–15 years of progressive senior sales leadership in UAE FMCG distribution, with proven success across hypermarkets and modern trade chains.
- Demonstrated track record in delivering revenue growth, expanding distribution, and building high-performing sales teams.
- Deep expertise in modern trade negotiations (listings, trading terms, JBPs, planograms, promotions, visibility management).
- Strong understanding of UAE market dynamics, retail calendars, and cultural nuances; category management proficiency in shelf-stable food & beverage.
- Proficiency with Odoo (ERP & CRM) and sales analytics (Excel/BI); data-driven decision-maker comfortable with dashboards and KPIs.
- Ownership of sales P&L levers (pricing architecture, discount ladders, trade spend, margin management).
- Proven ability to operate hands-on in lean, high-pressure environments, building processes and results with minimal resources.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management across internal leadership and external retail partners.
Desirable
- Experience launching brands in the UAE and scaling from early-stage to multi-channel distribution.
- Working knowledge of S&OP best practices and demand planning in FMCG.
- Established relationships with major UAE modern trade buyers.
5) Skills & Competencies
- Strategic Thinking & Leadership: Sets clear direction; converts strategy into measurable execution.
- Advanced Negotiation & Relationship Management: Trusted counterpart for leading retail chains.
- Analytical Rigor & Commercial Acumen: Strong with numbers, diagnostics, scenario modeling, and margin management.
- Execution Excellence: Cadence-driven operations, field standards, and follow-through.
- People Development: Coaching mindset, performance management, and succession readiness.
- Resilience & Ownership: Thrives under pressure; resourceful and action-oriented.
- Cross-Functional Influence: Effective collaboration with marketing, supply chain, finance, and executive leadership.
6) Reporting Structure
- Reports to: CEO / Executive Leadership Team.
- Direct Reports: Initially lean; scales to include Key Account Managers, Area Sales Managers, Trade Marketing Executives, and Merchandising Supervisors.
7) Additional Requirements
- Cultural Fit: Respect for UAE business etiquette and multicultural team dynamics.
- Ethics & Compliance: High integrity; strict adherence to UAE regulatory, VAT, and labor standards; anti-bribery/anti-fraud compliance.
- Mobility: Willingness to travel across the UAE, spend time in market and in-store; flexibility for retail calendars.
- Language: Fluency in English; Hindi/Urdu/Arabic is an advantage.
- Driver’s License: Valid UAE license.
- Eligibility: Valid UAE work authorization.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive base salary with benefits as per UAE regulations.
- Significant upside via percentage-based profit share, with clear performance levers and accelerators for exceptional results. The profit share mechanism is designed to reward entrepreneurial ownership and direct impact on growth and profitability. Specific bands, thresholds, and accelerators will be discussed during the hiring process.
Why This Role Is Unique
- Early-stage impact: Opportunity to architect the sales function, route-to-market, and execution standards.
- Entrepreneurial rewards: Profit-share upside aligned to performance, beyond standard salary models.
- Career-defining: Build a category-leading shelf-stable food & beverage portfolio in a competitive, fast-moving market.
