Area Sales Manager, Vacuum Conveying Division

CONFIDENTIAL CAREER OPPORTUNITY
Area Sales Manager — Vacuum Conveying
Western U.S. Territory | WA · OR · ID · CA · NV · UT · AZ

Global Industrial Automation Manufacturer | $110K Base, ~$154K OTE

THE HOOK
You've spent years earning the trust of the maintenance managers and engineers who call you first when something breaks on the line. You know how to walk a technical buyer through a real solution, and you know how to close it. And you're still working a territory someone already picked over, splitting credit for every win, or waiting on headcount before you're allowed to grow.

This is different. This is a fully exclusive, seven-state Western territory with 53 open opportunities and 100+ active accounts already in the pipeline on day one, a book of business with real room to run, and zero other reps competing for it. You inherit relationships here. You don't build them from zero.

ROLE AT A GLANCE
Title: Area Sales Manager, Vacuum Conveying
Territory: WA, OR, ID, CA, NV, UT, AZ (California-based preferred)
Reports To: VP of Sales, Americas
Location: Field-based / home office within territory
Travel: 50–75%, roughly 2 weeks per month on the road
Structure: Direct sales + exclusive Manufacturers' Rep network; no other reps in territory

THE COMPANY
Our client is a global manufacturer of vacuum-based material handling technology, engineering equipment that moves powders and small parts safely and efficiently across production lines in the food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. Its systems solve problems plant managers actually lose sleep over: unsafe manual handling, product loss from open-air conveying, and bottlenecks that slow a line down.

The Americas division has spent the last two years rebuilding its sales culture and investing in its people, and has posted real growth as a result. The team has since added engineering, marketing, and customer service headcount, and is building out a new channel partner model specifically to grow this territory.

"When leadership takes care of our people, giving them a safe environment to share ideas and concerns and empowering them to try new ways of working without fear of failure, we create a place where innovation and job satisfaction can thrive." — VP of Sales, Americas

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

• An exclusive seven-state territory with zero internal competition and a validated annual target north of $2.3M

• 53 open opportunities and every unclosed deal from the outgoing rep, handed to you on day one

• A California base that's only 30% penetrated today, plus six additional states still largely untapped

• A dedicated applications engineer, senior engineering support, marketing, and a customer service rep, all built around your territory

• Pricing authority within a defined floor and ceiling, with real room to negotiate deals that close

THE COMPENSATION PACKAGE
Base Salary: $110,000
Target Bonus: 40% of base (~$44,000), split 80% territory performance (paid quarterly), 10% divisional performance (paid annually), 10% CRM-based KPIs (paid quarterly)
On-Target Earnings: ~$154,000 (base + target bonus)
Performance Kicker: An additional 3% is available for performance over target, capped so you can't out-earn double your quarterly bonus
Year-One Earnings: Full target bonus is realistic in year one — this is an established, performing territory, not a rebuild
Average Deal Size: $70K–$180K per deal (individual deals range $40K–$500K)
Vehicle & Expenses: Monthly car allowance, company cell phone, and company credit card

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR
If you're a technical seller who's tired of being managed instead of trusted with a territory, this was written for you.

• You can walk a maintenance manager through a technical solution one minute and negotiate with procurement the next

• You close. Building a great solution for a customer is half the job; driving it to a signed order is the other half

• You treat your territory like your own business, not a list of accounts someone handed you

• You've sold industrial production or process equipment, ideally to technical buyers like manufacturers' reps, OEMs, or engineering firms

• You'd rather build an underdeveloped territory block by block than inherit one that's already maxed out

THE PATH FORWARD
One rep who stepped into a similar seat didn't come in with an exact background match either. She came in curious, asked good questions early, and got focused instead of spreading herself thin across the whole map, building her territory block by block. She grew one of her channel partnerships into the largest in the country and earned her full bonus with the 3% accelerator on top.

There's no ceiling built into this seat. The division doesn't currently have a senior ASM layer in the U.S., though it exists in other markets, and leadership has created new roles before for people who outgrow their current one. If you're the person who takes an underdeveloped territory and builds it out, that gets noticed.

THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

1. 20-Minute Confidential Call — with Sully at VenTech Search, to confirm fit before anything moves

2. HR Interview — with the company's recruiter, covering background and mutual fit

3. Sales Leadership Interview — with the VP of Sales, Americas

4. Final Case Study Presentation — present a solution to a real business problem to the VP of Sales, Americas and another sales leader. The full process can move quickly, often within a week, when schedules align

READY TO LEARN MORE?
This territory won't stay open long. If you want to hear the parts of this story that don't make it onto paper, let's set up a confidential 20-minute call.

Contact: Sully, Director of Business Development, VenTech Search
Phone: 602-888-8408 | Email: sully@ventechsearch.com | ventechsearch.com