District Sales Manager - West/East Flanders Bruges, Belgium Commercial

Commercial Operations team - Context
We at Philip Morris are dedicated to doing something very drastic to replacing cigarettes with smoke-free products in order to create a smoke-free future. It is the biggest shift in the history of Philip Morris International and the whole industry. We are convinced it is the right one for our consumers, our company, shareholders, and society.

The mission of our Commercial Operations team is to lead human interface channels (retailer and customer services) as we want to ensure consistent and satisfactory omni-channel experiences. The main responsibilities of this team are:

• Developing the commercial deployment plan for Combustible Cigarettes (CC) and in the future also RRP (Reduced risk products) products while continuously exploring innovative and more efficient solutions for deployment
• Managing and optimizing channel & commercial activities and infrastructure
• Ensuring Commercial performance of sales and further deployment KPIs
• Supporting the preparation and deployment of commercial content, campaigns, and projects across channels
• Ensure best in class collaboration, training and engagement of our retail partners by using a mixture of offline and online tools (Digital Trade Engagement)

To strengthen our team, we are currently sourcing a District Sales Manager who will report to the National Field Sales Manager

Do you feel thrilled when we say you can make a difference to our team and consumers? Would you describe yourself as curious, collaborative, empathetic and with a strong focus for continuous improvement and development of your team?

If so, please continue reading.

As a District Sales Manager, you will guide a team of 6-8 Sales Representatives in their commercial activities in a multichannel context (Food, Petrol, Tobacco…). Together with the Country Team, you will be a key enabler in our commercial strategy.

Read further if you want to learn what the key accountabilities of the role are:

1. Translate national sales KPIs into district and individual objectives
2. Develop and manage team and individual activities to optimize working results, create team spirit and team efficiency
3. Guide and advise the team in their development of the local area plans.
4. Follow up of these activities on a regular base while creating feedback to the Sales Representatives
5. Build and maintain business relations with Key Business Partners
6. Participate in back office projects as a representative for the Country Team
7. Budget coordination: accurate and regular analyses on your assigned budget to optimize the spending
8. Assist in the recruitment together with our Talent Acquisition department
9. Convey our “Smoke Free Future – vision” message to the team and retail

Our ideal candidate would match following experience and competence requirements:

Required Experience:

• Solid experience in building a team and coaching employees (3+ years)
• Experience in collaborating closely with business partners (i.e. Key Account Management).
• You have commercial experience in a FMCG, Food, Beverages, Consumer Electronics or other relevant environments
• Fluency in Dutch and English (good understanding of French is a plus).

Key Competencies:

• You are a team player and you are able to get out the best of every team member.
• You have an affinity with data and experience in turning data insights into an actionable business plan
• Looking at the major challenges, you are result oriented, sales driven, eager to learn, to challenge and to work in a dynamic environment.

If you are willing to travel regularly, there is no need to live in your districts area.

What will the selection process look like?
Talent Acquisition (TA) will perform an initial screening to assess whether candidates match with the defined vacancy requirements. If this is the case, the candidate will be invited for 2 competency-based (virtual) interviews.
In parallel, you will be asked to complete 2 online assessment tests*. At the end of the process, each candidate will receive the assessment results, as well as actionable feedback for their further development.

• Assessment Tests

The tests are integrated in the selection process to increase objectivity of the final decision making. The assessment tests are composed out of a personality test, and a cognitive ability test. The results will not be saved in the employee’s file, and will only be used in the context of the vacancy for which the employee is applying. Results are therefore not used for purposes of performance evaluation. Candidates who took the tests in the past 12 months should not make tests again.

• Occupational Personality Questionnaire Test (OPQ): leadership-energy based. Report links under three broad headings:

1. Relationships with People
2. Thinking Style
3. Feelings and Emotions

• Cognitive Ability Test: Report links under three headings:

1. Deductive reasoning (measuring the ability drawing logical conclusions)
2. Inductive reasoning (measuring conceptual and analytical thinking)
3. Numerical reasoning (measuring capacity to understand numerical data and interpret mathematical information correctly)