Business Development - Sales Engineer

Position Summary

Hayden Industrial is seeking a commercially driven Business Development / Sales Engineer to support the continued growth of its engineered heat-transfer and cooling products.

This role is intended for someone who is prepared to be active in the market: identifying opportunities, visiting customers, developing relationships, attending industry events and progressing opportunities from initial contact through technical and commercial qualification.

The successful candidate will combine the energy and persistence of a business-development professional with sufficient engineering knowledge to understand customer applications, ask the right questions and communicate Hayden’s technical value.

Key Responsibilities

Business development

• Identify and develop new customers, applications and market opportunities for Hayden’s product portfolio.
• Build a structured pipeline across priority sectors, including data centers, power generation and industrial cooling
• Research target customers, engineering consultants, contractors, OEMs, developers and end users.
• Establish contact with new prospects through direct outreach, referrals, industry events and site visits.
• Qualify opportunities based on technical fit, commercial potential, timing, decision-making structure and competitive position.
• Develop account-entry plans for strategic customers and market segments.
• Maintain consistent follow-up from initial contact through specification, quotation and order placement.
• Re-engage dormant customers and opportunities where Hayden has relevant technical capability.

Customer engagement

• Travel regularly to meet customers, consulting engineers, contractors and project stakeholders.
• Attend customer offices, project sites, factories and industry events as required.
• Develop relationships at engineering, procurement, project-management and executive levels.
• Understand the customer’s application, operating conditions, technical constraints and commercial drivers.
• Lead early-stage discovery discussions and gather the information required for Hayden to develop a suitable technical solution.
• Coordinate internal support from Application Engineering, Product Management, Project Management and Operations.
• Present Hayden’s capabilities, product range, manufacturing footprint and value proposition.
• Provide professional and timely responses throughout the sales process.
• Remain engaged after quotation to understand customer feedback, competitor positioning and the actions required to progress the opportunity.

Technical sales

• Develop a strong working knowledge of Hayden’s heat-transfer and cooling products.
• Understand customer requirements relating to thermal performance, fluid conditions, ambient conditions, noise, power consumption, footprint, materials, controls and regulatory compliance.
• Review customer specifications and identify the key technical and commercial requirements.
• Work with Application Engineering to develop technically compliant and commercially competitive selections.
• Explain product configurations and performance trade-offs clearly to customers.
• Support technical presentations, specification reviews and value-engineering discussions.
• Identify requirements that are unusual, technically difficult or commercially high risk and escalate them appropriately.
• Assist customers in developing practical equipment specifications where requirements are not yet fully defined.
• Support the development of standard sales tools, presentations, application guides and market-specific technical content.

Trade shows and market presence

• Represent Hayden at relevant trade shows, conferences and customer events.
• Support the selection of events based on target markets and commercial priorities.
• Arrange meetings with existing and prospective customers before each event.
• Proactively engage with attendees rather than relying only on booth traffic.
• Ensure that all leads and actions are recorded, qualified and followed up promptly.
• Gather market intelligence on competitors, product trends, customer investment and emerging applications.
• Provide structured post-event reporting, including leads, opportunities, market observations and required actions.
• Support technical seminars, lunch-and-learn sessions, webinars and other customer-facing activities.

Sales process and reporting

• Maintain accurate opportunity and customer information within the company CRM system.
• Develop and maintain a credible sales pipeline and forecast.
• Record customer interactions, decision criteria, next actions and target dates.
• Coordinate quotation activity and ensure that internal teams receive complete and accurate information.
• Track quotations through the customer’s review and approval process.
• Provide regular reporting on:
• • New opportunities.
  • Customer visits.
  • Pipeline value.
  • Forecast order timing.
  • Market activity.
  • Competitor intelligence.
  • Key obstacles and required internal support.
• Support contract and commercial discussions in coordination with Sales leadership and other business functions.
• Ensure that commitments made to customers are properly reviewed and approved internally.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Degree, technical qualification or demonstrable experience in Mechanical Engineering, HVAC, refrigeration, thermal systems, process engineering or a related field.
• Experience in technical sales, applications engineering, business development or customer-facing engineering.
• Ability to understand engineered products and communicate technical concepts clearly.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
• Confidence initiating contact with new customers and developing relationships from an early stage.
• Willingness to travel frequently, including international travel.
• Willingness to attend trade shows, conferences and customer events.
• Strong written and spoken English.
• Good organizational skills and disciplined follow-up.
• Ability to manage multiple opportunities and stakeholders simultaneously.
• Competence with CRM systems, Microsoft Office and professional presentation tools.

Preferred

• Experience selling heat exchangers, dry coolers, fluid coolers, air-handling equipment, refrigeration products or other capital equipment.
• Knowledge of data-center cooling or other mission-critical cooling applications.
• Experience working with consulting engineers, EPC contractors, mechanical contractors, OEMs or large end users.
• Familiarity with technical specifications, schedules, drawings and tender documentation.
• Experience developing new territories or market segments.
• Existing industry relationships within one or more of Hayden’s target markets.
• Experience working across North American and international markets.

Personal Attributes

• Energetic, persistent and comfortable creating activity rather than waiting for enquiries.

• Technically curious and willing to develop detailed product knowledge.

• Prepared to travel and spend significant time in front of customers.

• Strong sense of ownership and personal accountability.

• Comfortable working independently while coordinating effectively with internal teams.

• Professional, credible and confident in customer meetings.

• Commercially aware without being overly transactional.

• Able to balance customer responsiveness with internal discipline.

• Strong at following through on commitments and closing out actions.

• Willing to undertake the practical groundwork required to develop a new customer or opportunity.

• Resilient and comfortable with the longer sales cycles associated with engineered capital equipment.

• Quality of market intelligence provided to Product Management and Sales leadership.

Travel Expectations

Regular travel is a core requirement of this position. Travel may include customer offices, project sites, Hayden facilities, trade shows and industry events. Travel may account for approximately 50% of working time, with periods of higher travel around major events and customer-development initiatives.