Director, Fabrics Business Unit

Are you ready for your next career move? Valmet’s North America Services team is seeking a dynamic and self-driven leader to manage, grow, and develop our Fabrics business, including Paper Machine Clothing and Filtration. This role combines strategic business leadership with hands-on customer engagement, supporting our continued growth and strengthening our presence across the US and Canada.

Every day, Valmet teams around the world share the feeling of achieving something great — that moment when everything works together. If you’re passionate about business growth, team leadership, and delivering exceptional customer value, this may be your next opportunity.

The Director of Fabrics is responsible for managing all aspects of the Fabrics business in North America. This includes strategic planning, sales management, product leadership, market development, and customer engagement.

You will bring a broad understanding of industry technologies, marketplace dynamics, and customer requirements. You’ll support your team through strategic direction, sales coordination, proposal development, project oversight, and technical guidance related to Paper Machine Clothing and Filtration.

A key focus of this role is enabling profitable growth while ensuring high customer satisfaction and representing Valmet’s diverse portfolio of solutions.

Business & Strategic Leadership

• Set strategic direction for the Fabrics business in North America and drive regional business plans.
• Oversee product management, proposal development, reference management, and warranty/guarantee processes.
• Lead market analysis and identify opportunities for growth across North America.
• Manage business volume, profitability, inventory, and consignment analysis.

Sales & Customer Engagement

• Support a regional sales team across the US and Canada, providing guidance on strategy, presentations, proposals, and negotiations.
• Actively participate in customer meetings to build and maintain strong long-term relationships.
• Promote Valmet’s premium fabrics offerings while ensuring strong technical application support on paper machines (specification, inspection, installation, system reviews).

Team Leadership & Project Execution

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of sales, technical, and product professionals.
• Support project execution and ensure commitments are met.
• Coordinate cross-functional efforts within a matrixed organization.

Requirements

• College or university degree in engineering, paper science, business, or a related field.
• 5–7 years of relevant technical experience (machine engineering, process management, mill operations, maintenance management, or similar).
• 10+ years of experience leading sales teams, managing strategic plans, a forward looking mindset and a proven track record of execution of targeted business plans.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage a wide regional territory.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites throughout North America and attend global events overseas.

We offer a challenging work environment that values innovation and suits development-minded people who enjoy working in a fast-paced and dynamic setting. Includes a generous wage and benefits package that includes a company 401k with company match as well as company-funded pension.

Valmet is where the best talent from a wide variety of backgrounds comes together. With 19,000 professionals around the world, we are the leading global developer and supplier of technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper, and energy industries, and serve an even wider base of process industries with our automation systems and flow control solutions. Our commitment to moving our customers’ performance forward requires creativity, technological innovations, service know-how – and above all, teamwork.

Join the team!