Our client, SAG Group (Salzburger Aluminum Group), is a manufacturer of high-quality aluminium components for the automotive, commercial vehicle, and railway industries. By focusing on innovation, the company is able to make a significant contribution to lightweight vehicle construction. As a successful producer of aluminium (fuel) tanks, cryogenic tank systems, and high quality aluminium components, SAG delivers a significant contribution to greater sustainability in mobility.
SAG is a 100% family-owned business with its headoffice in Austria and a holding legal entity in the Netherlands. The group employs more than 950 people, spread across six countries with production sites in Austria, Mexico, Slovakia, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States.
The companies within the group complement each other in terms of technology and customer base, with each country having its own area of expertise. Each company has its own P&L and operates autonomously, but benefits from intensive knowledge sharing, best practices, and joint customer relationships within the group. All companies maintain long-term relationships with customers, based on high product quality and just-in-time deliveries.
In the coming years, SAG will focus on introducing new product-market combinations in existing and emerging markets, as well as expanding into new regions. By leveraging various patents, SAG can utilise its intellectual property to open and develop new markets. Examples include Rheo casting, hydrogen tank solutions, and various lightweight innovations.
The SAG Group is led by the Group CEO, supported by a Group Controller, Group Purchasing Director, and CHRO. The CEO has decided to further strengthen the Group organisation by appointing a new director in the role of Group Business Director.
As Group Business Director, your primary objective is to ensure profitable growth of both the individual companies and the group as a whole. This role is not about operational management of existing entities, but about providing visionary leadership to stimulate growth, lead new initiatives, and commercialise SAG’s innovations. This involves rolling out new business models, digital workflows, and achieving synergy, technology transfer, and joint customer approaches within the group.
The position forms a bridge between Business Development, Transformation, and Performance, through outstanding project leadership. We are seeking a leader who can translate ideas and intellectual property into scalable business models and international opportunities. You act as a sparring partner (business coach) and challenger for the Managing Directors of the entities.
The Managing Directors of the entities are themselves responsible for the total profit and loss account. This new Group Business Director supports them in the area of quality, operational performance, and of course commercial initiatives, which may also include negotiations with OEMs, where the Group Business Director is involved in closing the deal and industrialising the projects.
You will also be closely involved in initiating and coordinating new business creation, including setting up new entities, joint ventures, and M&A activities in markets such as North America and India. In this, you will work closely with the CEO and your colleagues within the SAG Group. In this role you will report directly to the CEO.
You have demonstrable experience as a senior leader (Managing Director, Business Unit Director) in manufacturing (such as metalworking and/or high-tech), preferably with multiple international production sites. You possess in-depth knowledge of series production and have an academic background in a technical and/or business discipline. You have a proven track record in business development and are familiar with the challenges of growth.
You have demonstrable experience as a senior leader (Managing Director, Business Unit Director) in manufacturing, preferably with multiple international production sites
Key Characteristics & Requirements:
SAG Group is a financially healthy and fast-growing group of companies with a strong reputation. The organisation is characterised by an open culture, short lines of communication, and plenty of space for entrepreneurship and personal initiative.
