Sales Assistant

About us

Damen Shipyards Gorinchem is looking for a fulltime Sales Assistant for their Sales Area Africa, in particular for the French speaking African countries.

Family owned business Damen Shipyards Group has been in operation for over ninety years and offers maritime solutions worldwide, through design, shipbuilding, ship repair and related services. Damen operates 36 shipyards in 18 countries. We offer direct employment to more than 11,000 colleagues, bringing together a total production value of 2.3 billion euros and delivering over 150 ships in 2019.

The sales department is divided into 7 country groups, namely the Benelux, North, West & South Europe, East & South East Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. The diversity between sales activities and the consequent market approach in the 7 country groups is extensive because of the differences in product types, distribution, types of customers, collaboration with agents, political influences, government regulations, method of project funding etc.

The role

As Sales Assistant you will work closely with a Regional Sales Manager within Damen’s Sales Area Africa. You will work in a position with a strong commercial focus supporting the Sales Manager. You will be deeply involved in every aspect of supporting the commercial process of selling ships from beginning to end. This includes providing day-to-day support for clients from a variety of vibrant and dynamic countries in Africa. You will prepare acquisition trips for the Sales Manager to one of his designated countries, registering new sales opportunities, preparing offers and tenders and providing assistance in contractual preparations. Once a contract is signed you will be instrumental, along with your colleagues in the sales department, in delivering the product to the client’s satisfaction.

Required key capabilities include a commercially relevant education, a positive, yet assertive attitude, customer sensitivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

Key accountabilities

Your activities and responsibilities as a Sales Assistant include:

• General support towards the Sales Manager
• Responsible for confidential and commercial correspondence and documents in French and English
• Preparing offers and tender submissions
• Managing (input into) the digital sales system
• Organising acquisition trips
• Preparing and organising meetings, company visits, events
• Organising and facilitating Damen’s participation in exhibitions and conferences in Africa
• Supporting contractual preparations

Skills & experience

You will deal with a number of sales processes and sales contracts at the same time, which requires a high level of efficiency, accuracy and excellent organisation skills. As a Sales Assistant you need to feel comfortable interacting with a wide spectrum of people at all organizational levels.

Besides that, you recognize yourself in the following profile:

• Commercially educated (MBO+/HBO)
• Relevant experience in a similar field of work
• Excellent spoken and written command of French, English and Dutch
• Ability to feel comfortable and work with people from different countries, cultures and different layers of society
• Knowing how to anticipate workload and willing to take initiative
• Representative, service oriented, flexible, decisive, team player, excellent organisational skills, reliable and accurate
• Fulltime available

What we offer

At Damen we realize that supporting and managing many talented individuals is of great essence. We understand that the key to success is to find the right person for the right job. That is why we continuously invest in your development. Damen offers you (in case of full time employment):

• a dynamic international working environment focusing on technology and innovation
• a competitive salary
• at least 40 days of annual leave
• travel allowance
• profit sharing & pension allowance
• continuous focus on professional and personal development through our Damen Academy
• an active social environment such as events and sports