Chief Commercial Officer

The organisation

Orion is a strategic outsourcing partner for the maintenance and management of business-critical assets for large clients in the public transport, airport, and waste & recycling industries. As such, Orion takes care of the maintenance of parts of or the entire fleets for these clients. Taking care of these assets happens in ten proprietary Orion sites throughout the Netherlands, or in one of the many Orion partner sites. Clients include Schiphol Airport, public transport provider Keolis, the City of Utrecht, and waste & recycling processor Remondis. Orion’s business case is centered on offering (cost) efficiency, improved operational performance of assets, and increased sustainability for its customers.

In addition to physical maintenance and fleet management services, Orion offers an innovative digital fleet management solution via its new SAAS platform OrionGrip. OrionGrip allows fleet owners and service providers to work together in one platform, making sure that all parties involved can optimize communications and secure workflow fulfillment at top efficiency.

International Expansion
With its 165 employees and approximately thirty million euros in revenue, Orion is already the market leader in the Netherlands. The next step is the expansion in at least four other countries in North-West Europe. In doing so, Orion plans to grow to a business of more than five hundred employees with a total of forty sites within the next four years.

To make this happen, the company – owned by Amsterdam-based VC Ponooc – is looking to expand its management board, which currently exists of a CEO and a CFO. The first role to be added to the team is that of CCO. The CCO will play a key part in organizing the international expansion, with a focus on both business development and general management.

The position

Orion is the market leader in the Netherlands in the field of integral outsourcing of maintenance and fleet management by public transport operators and large fleet owners. Orion focuses on business-critical assets such as public transport busses, trucks, and heavy equipment. To realize the planned international expansion, Orion is attracting an experienced business leader for the role of Chief Commercial Officer.

Tasks & responsibilities

Orion’s business thrives on building large and high-quality partnerships with players who have complex and sizeable fleets. Knowing and understanding these players within the Netherlands is one thing – and something that Orion has become very good at, as illustrated by its local track record. However, entering entirely new markets and building local relationships is a new challenge, for which strong commercial leadership is needed. This will be the core mandate of the new CCO. For this, the CCO needs to be an excellent stakeholder manager and sparring partner, who understands the dynamics of large corporates or government organizations operating business-critical assets.

Aside from taking a leading role in business development (aided of course by country directors and business managers), the CCO will be of key importance in running the business during and after the expansion. They will create strong local sales and marketing capabilities in every designated market. They will be responsible for the annual sales plan and budget, for expansion through inorganic growth, and for the continuously developing solution portfolio of physical and digital services. This includes rolling out OrionGrip at key customers and expanding the number of assets on the platform.

Candidate profile

To lead the internationalization and growth, the ideal candidate is a self-starting and entrepreneurial leader. They won’t take no for an answer and are strong at identifying opportunities and trying multiple routes to get to the desired result. The right candidate is a strong relationship builder and stakeholder manager who possesses the right degree of sensitivity for potential questions and considerations – since outsourcing maintenance will always require some form of reorganization.

The CCO does not need to have deep technical knowledge but should be able to build an understanding of core fleet management concepts, repair- & maintenance contract management, and outsourcing processes rapidly in order to be a credible sparring partner for clients and the team. Experience in working with any kind of business-critical assets isn’t a hard requirement but will come in handy to get up to speed quickly.

This role is an exciting opportunity for a commercial B2B leader looking to prove themselves and expand their skill set in an international context. The CCO will get the chance to ensure rapid growth, under the wings of a company whose success has already been proven in the local market.

Requirements*

• Over 10 years’ experience
• In sales and business development
• Focus on B2B
• Implementing change at large organizations
• The public transport, logistics, or B2B service sector

* Research shows that while male candidates feel confident enough to apply when they meet about 60% of the requirements, female candidates only apply when they tick every box. So if this role has your name on it, but you’re not sure about the criteria, we still want to hear from you.

Interested?

You can apply to this position by using the link below. Orion is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.