General Manager, Sales, Water and Waste
Water and Waste business unit (WAW) is a true end-to-end business as part of Wärtsilä Portfolio Businesses. WAW is a global leader in designing and supplying innovative wet and dry waste equipment and freshwater generation solutions for passenger vessels & conventional waste management and ballast water treatment equipment for all marine segments. WAW has the industry’s broadest product offering to secure beyond compliant operations for our marine customers.
We want to transition the world towards a cleaner future. By pushing the boundaries of engineering and technology, we can make it work. We are always on the lookout for future-oriented talent – want to join the ride?
WAW has since 2020 become fully independent organization within Wärtsilä group and has since been adding more sales force by recruitment and developing a strong global agent and distributor network. We have now a unique and exciting opportunity for a new Sales Director for the Water and Waste business unit.
General Manager, Sales (Our ref: 40552)
Reporting to the Director, Water and Waste, you will be responsible for building and delivering on new build and retrofit product sales globally. You will lead and inspire the internal global sales team whilst continuing to increase sales and margin ensuring that the committed budget is delivered to the business.
Responsible for all commercial and marketing activity in relation to WAW new build products your dynamic flair will contribute to our competitive offering in the marketplace whilst embracing the challenges presented by the global marine industry. Working closely with the technology team you will contribute to ensuring that our product development plans meet the future requirements of our customers by exceeding changing legislative requirements.
You will play an active and collaborative part in the WAW management team and your contribution to the success of the business will be through teamwork and cooperation with the other departmental leads. As the key decision maker for your own team, you will be comfortable with setting high standards and working with those around you to exceed them.
Your main responsibilities are:
1. Effectively, lead, and coach the sales team to focus on increased customer support, enhanced technical solutions, and profitable sales opportunities.
2. Work collaboratively with internal SMEs to maximise opportunity during sales cycles and influence the scope set with shipyards during new build opportunities
3. Build a robust sales pipeline, to build resilience and mitigate risk within the order intake forecast
4. Develop a business partnership with Ship Owner/Operators, WAW distributors and agents to maintain energy and momentum to win new business opportunities, enhance technical solutions and deliver world class customer service.
5. Collaborate with the senior WAW departmental heads to form cohesive management teams focussing on employee engagement and local site initiatives where necessary.
6. Suggest and champion new ways of working to improve efficiency and drive employee and customer engagement both in own team and across the WAW business.
7. Robustly forecast the future financial departmental performance with accuracy, logic, and clear methodology with the support from the finance and technology teams
8. Collaborate with the technology teams to ensure that product development is driven by customer demand and our ‘right to win’.
Main requirements in this role are:
9.
You are a respected and successful sales manager who has a natural flair for developing strategic customer relationships and both owner, integrator and at all levels within a prospects structure.
10. You are passionate about winning and achieving profitable growth and increasing market share.
11. Working closely with subject matter experts (SMEs) to increase our proposition and influence fundamental technology decisions during early stage discussions to maximise win ratio.
12. You have clear understanding of our target customers’ business and our contribution to their needs and success.
13. You have a charismatic approach to cultivating lasting relationships with customers and key stakeholders.
14. You have engineering degree or equivalent as a combination of education and experience, preferably in the marine, waste, or water generation industries.
15. You are preferably located in UK and can attend the Poole office regularly.
In this role, your success will be measured by:
Customer satisfaction
Order intake, net sales, and order intake margin
Market share development showing cohesive, realistic, “win plan” in major opportunities
Collaboration and teamwork with other departments
The ideal candidate will:
16. Be able to demonstrate outstanding interpersonal skills with a proven ability to build, inspire and empower remote high performing teams.
17. Show clear leadership and promote the adoption and adherence to company procedures with regards to sales opportunities, forecasting and data capture
18. Have high standards with a keen eye for detail with an ability to identify and acquire the best talent for our business.
19. Drive results with excellent planning skills to identify and remove obstacles for the success of our employees and business partners.
20. Be respected by your peers and naturally motivate fellow team members and colleagues to deliver world class customer service.
21. Have a proven ability to strategically negotiate large and complex sales contracts at board level.
22. Have strong business acumen with an aptitude to foresee major shifts in the marketplace and then implement protective or proactive sales strategies as necessary.
23. Effectively leverage the benefits of an external sales force to drive business forward whilst maximising customer relationships.
24. Have extensive experience of value-based selling through developing compelling customer-based sales strategies and arguments to ensure the mutual success of all parties.
25. Have an entrepreneurial spirit to create, communicate and implement both short- and long-term business plans with a global goal-oriented mind-set to grow market share.
26. Positively thrive on customer and business challenges with a deep understanding of multifaceted sales processes and the actions needed to turn to “no” into “yes”.
27. Be a robust, succinct, and timely decision maker who uses critical thinking to ensure that risks to the business are minimised whilst maximising sales opportunities.
Why you and us?
We at Wärtsilä believe in empowerment, ownership and taking responsibility of our work. We support each other’s growth and co-creation is the true basis of our innovation. We have courage to see opportunities and take initiative.
We are authentic and honest, and we strongly believe in a diverse and inclusive work community where everyone can be their true self. We don’t always get it right the first time, and if mistakes are made, we make sure to learn and grow from them. We want everyone to voice their opinions freely. That is why we have built an environment that empowers you and everyone around you, and where you can feel safe and cared for.
Contact and next steps
Does this sound like the job for you? If yes, we hope to hear from you before the application deadline date, through submitting your application through our career’s portal. We aim to keep you updated on the process all the way
Last application date: 04/01/2026
At Wärtsilä we value, respect and embrace all our differences, and are committed to diversity, inclusion and equal employment opportunities; everyone can be their true self and succeed based on their job-relevant merits and abilities.
This is Wärtsilä