Director of Sales

Company Details

Darling Ingredients repurposes and recycles materials from the animal agriculture and food industries – transforming them into essential ingredients that do everything from feeding animals to fertilizing crops to fueling planes and nourishing people. We are the number one publicly traded company of our kind, operating a global family of brands and businesses that span more than 260 facilities in over 15 countries.

Our unique scale allows us to make entire industries less wasteful and more sustainable, helping move the world toward a more circular economy.

The Director of Sales is responsible for driving revenue and/or raw material growth, managing strategic customer relationships, and overseeing market execution within their designated line of business. This role involves developing and executing sales strategies, managing key customer relationships, and analyzing market trends to identify new opportunities with customers and our internal teams. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of the sales process, a proven track record of success in a high‑volume sales management role, possess excellent leadership qualities, coordinate closely with operations and R&D, and align category goals with the overall business objectives.

• Develops and executes comprehensive sales strategies to expand markets, optimize product mix, and maximize margins within the category that align with corporate objectives, market conditions, and competitive dynamics.
• Identifies new business opportunities, emerging customer needs, and whitespace segments to accelerate growth.
• Responsible for managing sale of products and forecasting annual sales objectives.
• Negotiates and executes contracts with key strategic customers.
• Builds executive level relationships with key accounts, ensuring retention, satisfaction, and upsell opportunities.
• Leads sales prospecting for potential new business.
• Collaborates with Operations and other departments to coordinate superior service by resolving customer challenges, aligning capabilities with market demands, initiatives, and ensuring proper inventory management.
• Communicates clearly and concisely of sales position, margins, projections to various levels of management, and freight needs.
• Works closely with all internal teams to ensure alignment of sales strategies and support throughout.
• Ensures consistent use of CRM, adherence to sales methodologies, and operational discipline across the region/business line.
• Identifies and analyzes competition to include new vs. lost business, efforts vs. results, gross margins and market share.
• May recruit, coach, and mentor team members to exceed performance expectations.
• Uses data‑driven insights to evaluate team performance, refine strategy, and improve sales effectiveness.
• Manages or assists regional budgets, resource allocation, and ROI for sales programs.
• Manages or assists quarterly and annual operating targets for the assigned region/business line, ensuring predictable forecasting and consistent pipeline health.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in related field; or
• 8+ years of experience or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
• Proven ability to hire, develop, and retain top sales talent.
• Demonstrated success in building and executing regional sales strategies.
• Strong command of forecasting, pipeline management, and performance analytics.
• Ability to present to senior leadership and influence cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Familiarity with designated business line market, customer base, and competitive landscape.

• Background in designated line of business (e.g., general sales, agricultural business/sales, rendering processes, petfood, or animal nutrition markets).
• Proven track record of negotiating large supply contracts.
• Proficiency in CRM systems and sales analytics.
• Detail oriented; highly organized; self‑motivated; ability to multi‑task.
• Work well in a team environment.
• Agility in decision making.
• Strong knowledge of P&L reporting.
• Excellent communication skills with both internal and external customers.
• Experience working…