head of Sales and Marketing

Head of Sales & Marketing

Location: Swords, Dublin
Function: Sales & Marketing
Reports to: Deputy Managing Director
Role Level: Head of Function / Senior Leadership

Role Purpose

The Head of Sales & Marketing will lead the commercial growth agenda, with overall responsibility for sales strategy, new business acquisition, customer development, sales performance and marketing within the logistics sector.

The role will provide strong commercial leadership to the Sales & Marketing function, establishing a disciplined, performance-led approach to customer acquisition and account development while ensuring growth is profitable, sustainable and aligned with operational capabilities.

A key priority will be to strengthen the organisation’s position in the domestic parcel market while accelerating international and European export growth.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial & Sales Strategy

Develop and execute the national sales and marketing strategy.
Translate company objectives into clear commercial targets, account plans and acquisition programmes.
Identify priority sectors, customers and market opportunities.
Maintain a balanced commercial portfolio across domestic, export and value-added services.
Ensure commercial decisions consider revenue, yield, operational requirements and profitability.
Provide commercial insight and recommendations to senior management.

New Business Acquisition

Lead a structured national customer acquisition programme.
Build and maintain a strong, qualified sales pipeline.
Establish clear expectations for prospecting, conversion and sales activity.
Target high-value SME and mid-market opportunities.
Develop sector-based acquisition strategies and targeted prospect lists.
Personally support significant strategic opportunities and commercial negotiations.

Sales Leadership & Performance Management

Provide clear leadership and direction to the Sales & Marketing function.
Establish individual objectives, activity expectations and performance measures.
Introduce rigorous pipeline, opportunity and forecast management.
Lead regular sales performance and pipeline reviews.
Coach and develop the sales team to improve commercial capability and effectiveness.
Build a culture of accountability, pace and ownership.

Marketing & Lead Generation

Own the marketing plan and ensure marketing activity directly supports commercial objectives.
Develop targeted campaigns around priority sectors, products and customer segments.
Strengthen market positioning and the overall customer proposition.
Ensure campaigns generate measurable leads and commercial opportunities.
Coordinate product launches and commercial communications.
Measure marketing effectiveness and return on investment.

Pricing, Yield & Commercial Governance

Maintain strong commercial discipline around customer pricing and propositions.
Ensure new business supports sustainable contribution and network economics.
Work closely with Finance and Operations when evaluating significant commercial opportunities.
Support pricing strategy and commercial approval processes.
Protect yield while pursuing sustainable parcel growth.

Forecasting & Reporting

Maintain accurate sales pipeline and revenue forecasts.
Establish KPI reporting covering acquisition, pipeline, conversion, volume, revenue, yield and customer development.
Produce regular commercial performance updates for senior management.
Identify performance gaps early and implement corrective actions.
Ensure CRM data and opportunity management are accurate and current.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Work closely with Operations, Finance, Client Success, IT and other functions to ensure commercial commitments can be delivered effectively.
Ensure new customer onboarding is controlled and operationally sustainable.
Provide market and customer insight into product and service development.
Represent the commercial function in senior management discussions and strategic initiatives.

Key Measures of Success

New business revenue and parcel volume.
Gross margin and contribution from new business.
Domestic parcel growth.
Export parcel growth.
Sales pipeline value and coverage.
Opportunity conversion rate.
Revenue and yield per parcel.
Forecast accuracy.
Marketing-generated qualified opportunities.
CRM and pipeline discipline.
Sales team performance against individual targets.

Candidate Profile

Experience

Sales leadership experience, ideally within parcel, logistics, transport, e-commerce or a comparable B2B service environment.
Proven track record of delivering profitable new-business growth.
Experience leading and developing high-performing sales teams.
Strong understanding of pipeline management, forecasting and CRM discipline.
Strong pricing and commercial negotiation capability.
Experience developing or directing B2B marketing and lead-generation activity.
Exposure to international or cross-border commercial development would be highly advantageous.

Leadership Competencies