Job Description/Specification:
Hitachi Energy is seeking a HUB Sales Operations Manager to support sales performance across its Middle East and Africa (MEA) Service business. The role combines sales operations, business analytics, forecasting, CRM governance, and process improvement to help commercial teams make faster and better-informed decisions.
This opportunity is particularly relevant to professionals with experience in Salesforce, Power BI, sales forecasting, pipeline management, and B2B commercial operations.
Key Responsibilities
- Improve sales processes, pipeline governance, opportunity management, and commercial workflows across the MEA Service organization.
- Manage sales operations processes and identify bottlenecks that may affect efficiency, forecasting, or sales performance.
- Maintain Salesforce data quality and act as a regional subject matter expert for CRM reporting and governance.
- Develop Power BI dashboards, KPI scorecards, automated reports, and other business intelligence tools.
- Analyze sales pipelines, forecasts, order intake, conversion rates, and performance trends to identify risks and growth opportunities.
- Support budgeting, forecasting, and revenue planning activities in line with business objectives.
- Lead forecast, pipeline, and business performance reviews and recommend corrective actions where required.
- Implement and optimize CRM, analytics, automation, and sales enablement tools.
- Train users on Salesforce, Power BI, forecasting procedures, and sales analytics.
- Work with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Front-End Sales, and Local Service Units to align priorities and improve commercial performance.
Requirements
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business Analytics, Data Science, Sales, Marketing, or a related discipline.
- At least five years of experience in Sales Operations, Business Analytics, Commercial Excellence, or a similar function.
- Strong practical experience with Salesforce reporting, CRM governance, forecasting, and pipeline management.
- Hands-on experience using Power BI, data visualization, reporting automation, and analytics.
- Ability to convert complex datasets into clear commercial insights and recommendations.
- Strong communication, stakeholder management, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, international, cross-functional environment.
- Experience supporting sales operations across multiple countries is advantageous.
- Exposure to B2B sales and/or the energy sector is preferred.
Why You'll Love This Opportunity
- Work across a multi-country MEA sales organization.
- Combine commercial strategy with analytics, technology, and process improvement.
- Gain broad exposure to Salesforce, Power BI, forecasting, and sales performance management.
- Work closely with senior commercial and functional stakeholders.
- Contribute directly to improved sales efficiency, data quality, and business growth.
Who Should Apply?
This role is well suited to an experienced sales operations or commercial analytics professional who enjoys working at the intersection of data, technology, and sales.
The ideal candidate is commercially minded but comfortable working with data and digital tools. You should enjoy investigating why sales performance changes, identifying weaknesses in pipelines or forecasts, and turning analysis into practical recommendations.
Professionals from Sales Operations, Commercial Excellence, Business Intelligence, Revenue Operations, Sales Analytics, or B2B commercial environments could be strong candidates. Experience within energy or industrial businesses would provide additional relevance.
Skills That Will Help You Succeed
The position requires a combination of technical and commercial capabilities.
Key skills include:
- Salesforce CRM and reporting
- Power BI and data visualization
- Sales forecasting
- Pipeline management
- KPI and performance analysis
- Reporting automation
- CRM data governance
- Business intelligence
- Process optimization
- Commercial analytics
- Stakeholder management
- B2B sales operations
Strong communication is particularly important because the role requires translating complex data into information that sales and business leaders can act upon.
How to Stand Out
Your CV should demonstrate measurable improvements, rather than simply listing Salesforce and Power BI as technical skills.
Highlight examples where you improved forecast accuracy, increased pipeline visibility, automated reporting, improved CRM data quality, reduced manual reporting time, or helped sales teams identify revenue opportunities.
Where possible, include numbers. For example, mention the size of the sales organization supported, number of countries covered, reporting frequency, percentage improvement in forecast accuracy, hours saved through automation, or measurable improvements in pipeline conversion.
If you have built Power BI dashboards or Salesforce reporting systems used by senior management, make those achievements prominent.
Interview Preparation
Expect questions such as:
- How do you improve sales pipeline governance?
- What makes a sales forecast reliable?
- How have you used Salesforce to improve sales performance?
- Describe a Power BI dashboard you developed and the business decision it supported.
- How would you identify poor-quality CRM data?
- Tell us about a reporting process you automated.
- How do you handle disagreement between sales forecasts and analytical data?
- How would you improve sales visibility across multiple countries?
Prepare practical examples showing how your analysis resulted in a specific business action or measurable improvement.
Career Growth
Experience in regional Sales Operations can lead toward positions such as Sales Operations Director, Commercial Excellence Manager, Revenue Operations Leader, Business Intelligence Manager, Commercial Analytics Lead, or broader regional commercial management roles.
The combination of CRM, analytics, forecasting, automation, and commercial strategy can also provide a strong foundation for future leadership positions in digital sales transformation and business performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much experience is required?
The position requires at least five years of experience in Sales Operations, Business Analytics, Commercial Excellence, or a related area.
Which technical tools are important?
Salesforce and Power BI are particularly important, along with experience in reporting automation, data visualization, forecasting, and CRM governance.
Is an energy-sector background required?
Energy-sector experience is preferred, but the role also considers professionals with relevant B2B sales and commercial operations experience.
What type of professional is best suited to this role?
A commercially minded analytical professional who can work with CRM and BI tools while communicating insights effectively to sales and business leaders.
What makes a CV stronger for this position?
Quantifiable achievements involving forecasting, pipeline management, reporting automation, CRM improvements, dashboards, sales performance, or process optimization can significantly strengthen a candidate's profile.