Business Development Manager  EMEA - Cold Chain Healthcare

As Indirect Channels Business Development Manager for Cold Chain in EMEA, you will drive sustainable business growth through the development and optimization of our indirect sales channels. Reporting to the Head of Global Strategy & Business Development You will identify, develop and manage strategic distributor partnerships, define go-to-market approaches and expand market coverage across priority territories. Working closely with Sales and cross-functional teams, you will support order intake growth, profitability and long-term business development by strengthening distributor performance and identifying new market opportunities.

Your key targets:

• Grow Order Intake and Profit with Indirect Channels for Cold Chain in EMEA, in collaboration with Sales
• Prioritize the countries where growth can be achieved
• Define the partnership and winning conditions to develop the Indirect Channels
• Evaluate and propose Indirect vs Direct Sales with the Head of Sales in each territory
• Monitor, identify and change distributors across territories
• Build proper coverage of priority territories through the Indirect Channel

What you will do:

• Develop and execute the indirect channel business development strategy to drive major order intake growth and sustainable profitability
• Identify, evaluate, recruit and manage strategic distributor partners across priority territories
• Define partnership strategies and winning conditions to strengthen and expand the indirect channel network
• Collaborate closely with Sales and other cross-functional teams to align indirect channel activities with business objectives; evaluate and propose the most effective channel (Indirect vs Direct) for each territory, align with the Head of Sales & Service and support execution
• Analyze market trends, customer needs and competitive activities to identify new business opportunities and optimize market coverage
• Build and maintain strong relationships with distributors, key partners and C-level stakeholders
• Drive business development initiatives with distributors to increase market penetration and revenue growth
• Coordinate internal stakeholders across Product Management, Marketing, Sales and Service to ensure successful execution of channel strategies
• Monitor distributor performance, define improvement actions and ensure agreed business targets are achieved
• Support strategic planning and provide regular reporting on channel performance, market opportunities and growth initiatives
• Take on other duties and strategic projects as assigned

The challenges ahead:

• Grow order intake by multiple millions of EUR in the first year
• Develop a growing “Product Sales” business model in Swisslog Healthcare, a business historically focused on Project sales
• Define priorities against ROI in a broad region: Europe, Middle East, Africa and LatAm
• Identify highly effective distributors, beyond historical ones
• Collaborate and align with Sales, Service and other functions to maximise results

Your decision-making scope:

You will be accountable for the order intake generated by distributors for Cold Chain in EMEA, with your own travel and general expenses budget. Your responsibilities include:

• Identifying, hiring and terminating distributors
• Defining the priority countries in which to operate
• Identifying the priority initiatives that can accelerate growth, and those to be postponed
• Promoting and aligning with Marketing on how to accelerate growth
• Deciding incentives and teasers for distributors
• Defining the price list applicable to distributors for Cold Chain EMEA
• Assessing partnership relationships, including new, renewed and terminated contractual agreements

Who you will work with:

This is an individual contributor role in a matrix organization. You will align weekly with the Head of Global Strategy & Business Development on targets, priorities and growth opportunities, and work daily with Sales teams across territories on distributor effectiveness, hiring, performance, initiatives and price positioning. You will meet bi-weekly with Product Management & Innovation on the solutions and technology roadmap, and with L&M on forecasts and logistics-based USPs, and monthly with Marketing on campaigns, events and tradeshows in distributor markets.

You will also receive functional guidance from the CEO, the Head of Sales and Services EMEA, Sales and Service Managers in each territory, the Indirect Channel Business Managers team, Product Management, Finance, Marketing and Legal:

Requirements:

• 5+ years of business experience, most of it in Healthcare Sales or Business Development roles
• A proven track record in Cold Chain Healthcare in EMEA, in sales and/or business development with distributors, ideally gained at a leading international player
• Strong understanding of the indirect business model and of distributors
• Experience running business development programs with distributors and leading communication with distributor owners and CEOs
• Understanding of healthcare products, business development and healthcare workflows, and the ability to deal with healthcare end customers
• Ability to collect and drive internal input on products, solutions and services to grow the business
• Experience in sales, business development and/or strategic development in the North America market
• Ability to work in a matrix organization, collaborating with multiple functions
• Master’s degree in a technical field or engineering, or an equivalent degree or function
• An entrepreneurial, collaborative, “get it done” attitude and strong communication skills
• Willingness to travel 40–60% of the time

Working arrangements:

• Travel of approximately 40–60%, local, domestic and international
• Home office in Europe
• Flextime, telework and remote work within the region
• Company mobile phone