I joined Hilti as a global trainee on the Outperformer program, where my first role was in sales as an account manager in Germany. I next moved into marketing and worked on projects across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands. Then I relocated to the UK, where I’m still based today, having done another project in marketing, as well as a project in product management for the northern Europe region.

The most important element of this job is teamwork, and I just love being a team leader now. We really take things on together, solve them together, get the job done together, celebrate together. No one has all the answers. It’s simply about working as a team and feeding off the energy and support around you.
 

I first started with Hilti as a Sales Intern in Phoenix, Arizona while pursuing an MBA at Thunderbird School of Global Management. As an intern, I was responsible for real projects that resolved complex business problems. I was given freedom and guidance to figure out how to solve challenges, and my recommendations were put into action by Hilti leaders. The experience gave me a preview of what a career at Hilti could be like. After graduation, I chose to continue my Hilti journey as an Account Manager in the Phoenix market. Since joining Hilti, I have had many cross-functional development opportunities in several areas of the business, including sales, human resources and marketing. Each new role felt like a risk at first, but it has always been clear that Hilti wants me to succeed in any challenge and will provide all the necessary training and support. I’ve learned so much from these experiences and stretch assignments, and the things I've learned have benefited me in my current role as a Division Manager. As a Division Manager, I continue to be impressed by the sales culture at Hilti. We love to win, and we love to do it as a team. We train hard, we work hard, and we celebrate success. When we have setbacks and losses, we come together as a team and work to make our next attempt successful. I love coaching and leading others within that environment. For the future, I look forward to opportunities to develop my career across the globe. In every role, I have interacted with colleagues from around the world. Our teams are diverse in every aspect, and that makes my daily work even more meaningful.

I joined Hilti 11 years ago and spent my first three years training sales teams in customer relationship management. It was an exciting experience for me because being so close to the sales force gave me a great understanding of the Hilti business model. I then moved to our product marketing team in Italy’s head office. I was a chemical product manager responsible for developing our product strategy for fire stop and PU foam. From there, I went into strategic marketing as a trade manager, which meant working with area sales managers to improve competence among account managers and to implement corporate strategy in that specific segment.

That’s three different jobs in six years - and this was just in Milan.

From there, I moved to Sicily and back into sales, this time as area sales manager. It was a great opportunity to leave the business environment and learn how to manage a team in the field. I was so happy.

Right now, I’m in the north west of Italy as sales director for a much bigger region. I’m still learning so much, yet, with every new role, I feel I can contribute more and more. I also feel there’s space to express my entrepreneurial spirit. Hilti let me do that.

Throughout my career, my different managers have constantly given me feedback to increase my own awareness of my strengths and areas for development. It’s been thanks to this that I’ve realized my career path is steered towards sales.

In fact, my proudest moment was achieving top sales growth and credit management as area sales manager in Sicily. Although, saying that, developing people is perhaps my greatest achievement.