Managing Director, Jebsen Robotics

Purpose of the Job

Jebsen Group is launching Jebsen Robotics as a greenfield platform built to bridge China’s most capable robotics manufacturers with high-potential markets in Europe and beyond. This is not intended to be a conventional distribution business. The ambition is to build a scalable, integrated solutions platform that connects hardware sourcing, technical integration, aftersales, and innovative commercial models including Robotics-as-a-Service.
Backed by the Group’s balance sheet, deep relationships across Greater China, and established presence in Europe, this venture has genuine structural advantages. We are looking for a rare profile: someone with the commercial instincts of a founder, the cross-cultural fluency to operate at senior level in both Chinese manufacturing environments and European enterprise markets, and the conviction to build from zero.
This is not a role for a career executive looking for a step up. It is a role for someone who has built something meaningful before, sees an inflection point in global robotics adoption, and wants to be the person who builds the platform to capitalise on it.
In the first 12–18 months, the mandate is primarily to validate and build, not to manage. That means identifying the right principals, proving the commercial thesis, winning early customers, shaping the operating model, and creating the foundations for a business that can scale beyond DACH into additional European markets and eventually other regions.
Our objective is to build Jebsen Robotics into a leading global integrated solutions platform for robotics and automation, starting with a focused, commercially credible entry into Europe.

Responsibilities

1. Define the Thesis and Win the First Deals
   • Market Thesis: Define where Jebsen Robotics can create asymmetric value by connecting Chinese robotics innovation with European enterprise demand.
   • Principal Selection: Identify which Chinese robotics OEMs, across service, industrial, or adjacent categories, represent the strongest partnerships for European market entry based on product quality, pricing, serviceability, and willingness to commit to exclusive or preferential arrangements.
   • European Entry Architecture: Determine the right entry markets within Europe, with DACH as the initial anchor, and design the commercial architecture required to win early customers.
   • First Deals: Close the first meaningful contracts personally, acting as the frontline salesperson before a broader team is built.
   • Commercial Models: Develop models such as outright sale, leasing, rental, and RaaS that reduce adoption friction and accelerate market penetration.
     
     
2. Build the Principal and Partner Network
   • Anchor Principals: Develop deep, trusted relationships with two to three tier-one Chinese robotics manufacturers as anchor principals.
   • Technical Integration: Establish the technical partnerships and integration capabilities required to turn hardware distribution into a solutions business.
   • Aftersales Infrastructure: Build the service and support capabilities needed to ensure customer satisfaction, recurring revenues, and long-term retention.
   • Group Leverage: Use the Group’s existing relationships in Europe, including across automotive, beverage, and other verticals, as opening doors where applicable.
     
     
3. Architect the Platform for Scale
   • Operating Model: Design the operating model, governance, and organisational structure required to expand beyond DACH to additional European markets and eventually other regions.
   • Lean Team Build: Build a lean, high-impact leadership team, recruiting for cultural fit, founder mentality, and execution capability.
   • P&L and Capital Discipline: Own the P&L from day one and manage capital allocation with discipline, reflecting the Group’s expectation of a credible path to profitability.

Requirements

• Founder Mentality: Has built something from scratch, whether a business, division, or market, and understands what it takes in the early stages when there is no brand, no team, and no playbook.
• Hands-on Builder: Comfortable with ambiguity, willing to work without a support structure, and energised rather than paralysed by the absence of process.
• Genuine Cross-Cultural Fluency: Able to earn trust with Chinese founders and executives in Shenzhen, Hangzhou, or similar manufacturing environments, and do the same with German procurement heads, CEOs, or enterprise buyers in Frankfurt, Munich, or other European markets.
• Commercial Conviction: Has carried a number and closed large, complex deals, ideally in hardware, technology, or solutions businesses where the sales cycle is long and trust-dependent.
• Strategic Clarity: Can think at platform level, set priorities, and say no, recognising that the wrong principal, market, or business model choice early will be expensive to unwind.
• Language Skills: Excellent English required. Mandarin is a meaningful advantage; German or other European languages are a secondary advantage.