Donaldson is committed to solving the world’s most complex filtration challenges. Together, we make cool things. As an established technology and innovation leader, we are continuously evolving to meet the filtration needs of our changing world. Join a culture of collaboration and innovation that matters and a chance to learn, effect change, and make meaningful contributions at work and in communities.
We are seeking a strategic and highly collaborative Sales Operations Manager to lead commercial effectiveness initiatives across Europe and Africa. This role will serve as the primary Sales Operations business partner to regional sales leadership, territory managers, and cross-functional stakeholders, while driving the systems, processes, analytics, and programs that enable profitable growth.
Reporting to the Director of Global Sales Operations, this position assumes responsibility for a broad portfolio of sales operations, business development, and commercial excellence activities. The successful candidate will act as both a strategic advisor and operational leader, helping the organization sell more efficiently and effectively through data-driven decision making, process optimization, technology enablement, and organizational alignment.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Business Partnership
- Serve as the primary Sales Operations point of contact for Europe and Africa, partnering with regional leadership to identify growth opportunities and operational improvements.
- Collaborate closely with Regional Sales Leaders, Territory Managers, Marketing, Customer Service, Product Management, and Global Sales Operations peers to align priorities and share best practices across regions.
- Provide strategic recommendations and business decision support through performance trends, market insights, and commercial reviews while influencing adoption of best practices that improve business performance.
Commercial Effectiveness & Sales Excellence
- Lead initiatives that improve sales productivity, pipeline quality, opportunity conversion, and overall commercial performance across Europe and Africa.
- Partner with sales leadership to drive territory planning, account planning, market development initiatives, and strategic growth programs.
- Collaborate with Global Sales Operations colleagues to develop, standardize, and implement frameworks, playbooks, best practices, and sales processes that improve commercial execution across regions.
- Drive adoption and optimization of commercial systems, tools, reporting capabilities, and automation opportunities that enable scalable growth and data-driven decision making.
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead and develop a regional Sales Operations team, providing direction, coaching, prioritization, and professional development.
- Build alignment among stakeholders with diverse priorities and perspectives while effectively influencing without direct authority.
- Champion change management, process adoption, and continuous improvement while serving as a trusted advisor to regional and global leadership teams.
Sales Process & Business Transformation
- Partner with Global Sales Operations peers to evaluate, design, and implement scalable sales processes and tools that improve efficiency and effectiveness across the customer journey.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives related to lead management, opportunity management, quoting, order management, forecasting, and customer experience.
- Establish process governance, documentation, standards, and best practices while leading cross-functional improvement efforts that drive consistency across regions.
Sales Enablement & Organizational Development
- Lead regional sales enablement priorities and manage resources responsible for onboarding, training, communication programs, and sales effectiveness initiatives.
- Partner with Sales Leadership, Marketing, and Global Sales Operations colleagues to identify capability gaps, share best practices, and drive both development and adoption of programs that improve productivity and performance.
- Foster knowledge sharing, continuous development, accountability, and operational excellence across the Europe and Africa sales organization.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Sales, Marketing, or a related field.
- 3+ years of experience in Sales Operations, Revenue Operations, Marketing Operations, Commercial Excellence, Business Operations, Sales Enablement, Business Development, or a related function.
- Experience leading and developing direct reports and/or cross-functional teams.
- Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and process improvement projects.
- Proven ability to influence leaders and stakeholders without direct authority while building alignment across diverse teams and geographies.
- Strong written, verbal, and presentation communication skills in English.
- Experience working within CRM and commercial technology platforms.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting commercial organizations across multiple countries or regions.
- Experience within industrial manufacturing, distribution, or B2B sales environments.
- Experience working in multinational or global organizations.
- Knowledge of change management methodologies and business systems implementation.
- Experience developing sales enablement, onboarding, training, or commercial excellence programs.
- Strong analytical and strategic thinking capabilities.
What We Offer
- A permanent position with a global leader in industrial filtration solutions.
- The opportunity to shape commercial excellence across Europe and Africa.
- A flexible working schedule and hybrid working model that supports work-life balance.
- Shuttle bus service connecting Barcelona city center with our office in Terrassa.
- Competitive compensation package, social benefits, and additional allowances.
- A collaborative, innovative, and people-focused culture where your ideas and contributions matter.
Employment opportunities for positions in the United States may require use of information which is subject to the export control regulations of the United States. Hiring decisions for such positions are required by law to be made in compliance with these regulations. Applicants for employment opportunities in other countries must be able to meet the comparable export control requirements of that country and of the United States.
Donaldson Company has been made aware that there are several recruiting scams that are targeting job seekers. These scams have attempted to solicit money for job applications and/or collect confidential information, Donaldson will never solicit money during the application or recruiting process. Donaldson only accepts online applications through our Careers | Donaldson Company, Inc. website and any communication from a Donaldson recruiter would be sent using a donaldson.com email address. If you have any questions about the legitimacy of an employment opportunity, please reach out to talentacquisition@donaldson.com to verify that the communication is from Donaldson.
Our policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified persons without regard to race, gender, color, disability, national origin, age, religion, union affiliation, sexual orientation, veteran status, citizenship, gender identity and/or expression, or other status protected by law.
