Senior SALES Manager _ Hydraulic Cylinder Division

SENIOR SALES MANAGER HYDRAULIC CYLINDER DIVISION

Location: Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Employment Type: Full-Time
Reporting To: General Manager – Cylinders Division & Managing Director

About the Company

We are a growing engineering SME specializing in the design and manufacture of custom-engineered hydraulic cylinders for demanding industrial and infrastructure applications.

Our focus is on technically challenging, high-value hydraulic cylinder solutions where engineering capability, quality, reliability, responsiveness and application knowledge are critical to customer success.

As we expand our Hydraulic Cylinder Division, we are looking for a highly committed, commercially astute and technically competent Senior Sales Manager who can take ownership of the complete sales and commercial function and help build the division into a strong, profitable and professionally managed business.

The Opportunity

This is not a conventional sales job.

We are looking for a professional who combines:

- Strong hands-on knowledge of hydraulic cylinders and their applications
- Excellent commercial and business acumen
- The ability to understand manufacturing costs, pricing and margins
- Tough but professional negotiation skills
- Strong discipline in payment follow-up and collections
- The maturity to protect the company's commercial interests
- The patience and capability to train and develop young sales and service engineers
- A strong personal commitment to achieving results in an SME environment

The successful candidate will be expected to be hands-on, commercially responsible and personally involved in important customer engagements, quotations, negotiations, order finalization, collections and team development.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Sales & Business Development Leadership

- Develop and execute the sales strategy for the Hydraulic Cylinder Division.
- Build profitable business primarily in industrial, infrastructure and heavy-project applications, including sectors such as:
- Steel
- Power
- Infrastructure
- Heavy engineering
- Oil & Gas
- Mining
- Defence
- Material handling
- Industrial machinery
- Selectively develop opportunities in mobile hydraulic applications, including construction and earthmoving equipment.
- Identify high-value applications where custom-engineered cylinders provide a competitive advantage.
- Develop new customers while systematically expanding business with existing strategic accounts.
- Generate and convert enquiries, RFQs, tenders and project opportunities into profitable orders.
- Develop a strong sales pipeline and ensure disciplined follow-up from enquiry through order closure.

2. Technical Sales & Application Engineering

- Understand customer requirements and translate them into technically viable hydraulic cylinder solutions.
- Demonstrate strong knowledge of:
- Hydraulic cylinder design and construction
- Welded, tie-rod and telescopic cylinders
- Bore, rod, stroke and pressure selection
- Mounting arrangements
- Sealing systems
- Materials and surface treatments
- Hydraulic applications and operating conditions
- Failure modes and service requirements
- Work closely with Design, Engineering, Production and Quality teams to develop appropriate solutions.
- Review technical specifications, drawings and customer requirements before submitting quotations.
- Provide technically sound alternatives and value-engineering solutions wherever appropriate.
- Ensure that the company does not commit to technically or commercially unviable requirements merely to win an order.

3. Costing, Pricing & Commercial Control

The candidate will have direct responsibility for protecting the commercial interests of the company.

- Understand manufacturing costs and contribute to accurate costing of custom-engineered cylinders.
- Evaluate material, machining, fabrication, plating, heat treatment, seals, bought-outs, testing, inspection, packing, logistics and other relevant costs.
- Establish appropriate selling prices and gross margins in consultation with management.
- Identify opportunities for value engineering without compromising product performance or reliability.
- Review quotations critically before submission.
- Avoid under-pricing and commercially unattractive business.
- Ensure that special customer requirements, design changes, expedited deliveries and additional services are appropriately priced.
- Maintain strong commercial discipline throughout the quotation and order cycle.

4. Tough & Professional Commercial Negotiation

The successful candidate must be a firm and effective negotiator.

- Lead negotiations with procurement teams, project managers, OEMs, contractors and senior customer stakeholders.
- Negotiate price, payment terms, delivery schedules, warranties, LDs, retention, inspection requirements and other contractual conditions.
- Protect margins while maintaining long-term customer relationships.
- Recognize when a negotiation creates unacceptable commercial exposure and escalate appropriately.
- Ensure that the company does not accept onerous contractual conditions without proper evaluation and management approval.
- Balance customer satisfaction with commercial discipline.

We are specifically looking for someone who can be cordial with customers without being commercially weak.

5. Payment Collection & Working-Capital Discipline

Strong payment collection capability is a critical requirement of this position.

- Take ownership of receivables arising from the business handled by the division.
- Establish clear payment milestones at the quotation and order stage.
- Closely monitor outstanding payments and customer credit exposure.
- Proactively follow up with customers for payments rather than waiting for accounts to become overdue.
- Coordinate with Finance and Accounts to maintain accurate receivables information.
- Resolve commercial and documentation issues that delay payment.
- Escalate persistent delays promptly to management.
- Ensure that sales growth does not come at the expense of cash flow and working capital.

The ideal candidate should understand that an order is not a successful sale until it is converted into cash at the agreed commercial terms.

6. Customer Relationship Management

- Build strong, professional and long-term relationships with key customers.
- Act as a senior point of contact for important technical and commercial matters.
- Conduct customer visits, technical discussions, presentations and negotiations.
- Handle complaints and service issues with urgency and ownership.
- Develop trust and credibility through technical competence, responsiveness and commercial integrity.
- Generate repeat business by understanding customers' future requirements and project pipelines.
- Maintain a healthy balance between customer relationship management and protection of company interests.

7. Team Building, Training & Development

An important part of this role will be to build the next generation of sales and service professionals.

- Recruit, train, mentor and develop young sales/application/service engineers.
- Establish structured training in:
- Hydraulic cylinder fundamentals
- Application understanding
- Technical enquiry analysis
- Costing and quotation preparation
- Customer communication
- Negotiation
- Sales follow-up
- Payment collection
- After-sales service
- Personally coach young team members during customer visits and technical discussions.
- Establish clear KRAs, KPIs and accountability mechanisms.
- Create a culture of urgency, responsiveness, discipline and ownership.
- Develop capable team members who can eventually manage customers and territories independently.

The candidate must therefore have the patience to teach, the willingness to coach and the discipline to build systems, rather than trying to personally handle every customer forever.

8. Sales Process & Operational Discipline

- Establish an efficient sales workflow from enquiry receipt to quotation, negotiation, order booking, production coordination, dispatch, invoicing, collection and after-sales service.
- Improve response time for technical and commercial quotations.
- Maintain accurate enquiry, quotation, order and sales-pipeline records.
- Conduct regular pipeline and order reviews.
- Track lost enquiries and identify reasons for non-conversion.
- Monitor competitor activity, market pricing and emerging applications.
- Work closely with Production, Engineering, Quality, Purchase and Finance to ensure smooth order execution.

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KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Performance will be measured on business results as well as quality of business.

Key KPIs will include:

Sales & Profitability

- Achievement of annual sales targets
- Gross margin / contribution achievement
- New customer acquisition
- New business generated in target sectors
- Repeat business from strategic customers

Sales Effectiveness

- Quality and size of sales pipeline
- RFQ-to-quotation response time
- Quotation-to-order conversion rate
- Order booking and forecast accuracy
- Customer retention

Commercial Discipline

- Margin protection
- Quality of commercial terms secured
- Reduction in avoidable commercial risks
- Receivables and overdue payment performance
- Collection against agreed payment milestones

Customer & Service Performance

- Customer satisfaction
- Complaint resolution
- Repeat orders
- Responsiveness to customer requirements

Team Development

- Productivity of sales/service personnel
- Achievement of individual KRAs
- Training and development of young engineers
- Ability to build an independent and accountable sales/service team

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IDEAL CANDIDATE

Education

- B.E./B.Tech in Mechanical, Production, Automobile or related engineering discipline.
- MBA in Marketing / International Business will be an advantage but is not essential.

Experience

- 12–15+ years of overall experience in engineering/manufacturing.
- Ideally 5–7+ years of direct experience in hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic systems, heavy engineering products, or closely related industrial equipment sales/application engineering.
- Strong preference for candidates who have worked in an SME or entrepreneurial engineering environment and are comfortable with hands-on responsibilities.

Technical Competence

The candidate should have a strong practical understanding of:

- Hydraulic cylinders and their applications
- Cylinder sizing and selection
- Materials and manufacturing processes
- Seals and sealing systems
- Hydraulic operating conditions
- Engineering drawings and specifications
- Costing and estimation
- Manufacturing processes and quality considerations
- Industrial hydraulic applications

Commercial Competence

The candidate must demonstrate:

- Strong understanding of costing and margins
- Excellent negotiation ability
- Commercial maturity
- Contract and commercial-term awareness
- Strong receivables and payment-collection discipline
- Ability to evaluate customer credit and commercial risk
- Ability to protect company margins and cash flow
- Confidence in dealing with procurement and senior management
- Ability to say "No" professionally when a business proposition is commercially unacceptable

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PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for a builder, not merely a salesperson.

The right person will be:

- Highly committed and result-oriented
- Honest, dependable and commercially responsible
- Technically strong and willing to remain hands-on
- A tough but fair negotiator
- Persistent and disciplined in payment collection
- Patient enough to train young professionals
- Comfortable working with limited resources
- Resourceful and solution-oriented
- Quick to respond and strong on follow-through
- Comfortable taking ownership without constant supervision
- Able to build cordial long-term customer relationships while firmly protecting the company's interests
- Mature enough to understand the realities and opportunities of an SME environment

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WHAT SUCCESS WILL LOOK LIKE

Within the first 9 - 18 months, the successful candidate should be able to:

- Establish a strong and measurable sales pipeline
- Win profitable new business in targeted industrial sectors
- Increase repeat business from existing customers
- Improve quotation speed and conversion
- Strengthen pricing and margin discipline
- Improve receivables and payment realization
- Establish a professional sales and after-sales process
- Train and develop a young, capable sales/service team
- Build strong customer relationships and a credible market presence for the Hydraulic Cylinder Division
- Deliver sustainable sales growth with healthy margins and cash realization

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WHY THIS ROLE

This is an opportunity for an experienced hydraulic/engineering sales professional to play a key leadership role in building and shaping a growing Hydraulic Cylinder business.

The position offers significant autonomy and direct interaction with senior management. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to influence sales strategy, customer development, commercial policy, team building and the overall growth of the division.

We are looking for someone who wants to build a business, develop people and deliver measurable results—not simply manage an existing customer list.

If you are technically strong, commercially sharp, persistent in collections, confident in negotiation, committed to customer relationships and passionate about building a successful business in an SME environment, we would like to hear from you.

Location: Hyderabad, India