Conveyors & Sortation leadership recruitment in Preston
Confidential search for conveyor and sortation sales leadership, including Heads of Sales, Sales Directors and Commercial Directors. We run these appointments discreetly given the visibility of senior leaders in this engineering-led market. On the ground in Preston and across the wider North West conveyors & sortation cluster.
Preston sits at the heart of the Lancashire economy, with a position on the M6, M55 and M61 that makes it a natural distribution hub for central and north Lancashire. A substantial advanced manufacturing and aerospace supply chain drives in-factory handling and automation demand, while the distribution base sustains lift truck, racking and storage sales. The University of Central Lancashire provides a strong graduate flow for commercial and technical seats, and the motorway position gives field teams wide regional reach.
The North West's concentration of distribution, e-commerce and parcel operations, served by the M6 and M62 and the Port of Liverpool, makes it an important market for conveyor and sortation systems. The warehousing clusters around Manchester and Warrington are exactly the kind of high-volume operations these systems are designed for.
Vanderlande
Conveyors and sortation
Provider of conveyor, sortation and automation systems for warehousing, parcel and airports.
BEUMER Group
Conveying and sortation
Manufacturer of conveying, loading and sortation systems.
Interroll
Conveyor components and systems
Manufacturer of conveyor rollers, drives, modules and sortation technology.
Dematic
Conveyors and sortation
Provider of conveyor, sortation and automation systems, part of the KION Group.
Honeywell
Conveyors and sortation
Provider of conveyor and sortation systems through its intelligrated and automation business.
Daifuku
Conveying and sortation
Global provider of conveying, sortation and automated material handling systems.
Fives Group
Sortation systems
Provider of sortation and intralogistics automation systems.
TGW Logistics
Warehouse automation
Provider of conveying, automation and integrated warehouse systems.
Conveyor and sortation commercial talent is specialist and engineering-led. Many of the strongest sellers and sales engineers have a technical background and move between systems manufacturers and integrators, carrying credibility on system design and throughput. The pool of people who can manage large, multi-stakeholder capital projects from specification through to award is limited, and they tend to be loyal to employers with a strong delivery reputation, so confidential approaches and a clear brief are key.
Pay in conveyors and sortation is driven by project size, system complexity and the length of the procurement cycle. Solution sellers and sales engineers who carry large, engineered capital projects are rewarded above transactional roles, often with incentives tied to project award and delivery. Reward rises with the technical content of the sale, the scale of the systems involved and the seniority of the stakeholders engaged across long buying processes.
Preston Station is the busiest in Lancashire, with direct services to Manchester (45 min), Liverpool (60 min), Lancaster (20 min) and Glasgow. The M6 and M55 give direct motorway access across the North West.
How we work
01
We start with the commercial mandate the leader must deliver: the growth plan, the team they inherit or build, the customers and channels, and the stakeholders they answer to. We design the seat before we search for the person.
02
We build a confidential map of the relevant leadership pool across competitors and adjacent intralogistics sub-sectors, protecting both the hiring business and the leaders we approach.
03
Senior people are approached with a sanitised, credible narrative. Named-employer messaging is held back until second-stage conversations, so a sensitive search stays sensitive.
04
Leadership assessment goes beyond track record to judgement, team building, change capability and the ability to operate at board level. We test the things that actually predict success in the seat.
05
A considered shortlist, then full support through offer, acceptance and a structured first-100-days plan agreed with the board. We are as comfortable advising on team design and succession as filling a single seat.
FAQs
Business development and solution sales managers, sales engineers, pre-sales consultants, project sales managers, key account managers and sales leadership, for conveyor and sortation manufacturers and integrators.
These are engineered, project-led capital sales with long procurement cycles and multiple stakeholders. A specialist recruiter screens for the technical credibility and project commercial discipline that win this business.
Yes. Sales engineering and pre-sales credibility is central to winning conveyor and sortation projects, so we recruit across both the commercial and technical sides of the sale.
Preston sits on the M6, M55 and M61, which makes it a natural distribution hub for central and north Lancashire and a practical base for field sales covering a wide territory, with an advanced manufacturing base driving handling and automation demand.
Industrial and manufacturing sales, with strong representation of sales engineers, key account managers and complex-sale commercial leaders from aerospace, advanced manufacturing and industrial-products backgrounds.
Email Rachel Lunn and the team. We will reply within one working day with a Preston-specific conveyors & sortation market read for the role you have in mind.
Email Rachel Lunn/leadership-recruitment/preston/conveyors-sortation
Specialist commercial search for the intralogistics industry. We reply within one working day.
Email Rachel Lunn