Service Director, South America

Lead the transformation as Service Director, South America

Are you ready to lead a service business with clear commercial impact? Join us as Service Director for South America and take ownership of Service operations for Automation Solutions across Brazil and Chile. You will lead technical and commercial teams, shape the business mindset, and unlock growth within an underused installed base. This is your opportunity to strengthen recurring services, deepen customer engagement, and build a more proactive, market-facing organization.

Your responsibilities

• Lead Service operations for Automation Solutions across South America, with accountability for the business unit P&L, revenue, margin, and EBITDA.
• Manage service sales and lead multidisciplinary technical and commercial teams across Brazil and Chile, covering approximately 30 employees and 5 direct reports.
• Transform the organization from an internally focused model into an external, proactive, commercial, and customer-oriented service business.
• Expand opportunities across the installed base by strengthening the sales funnel, increasing prospecting and customer visits, and growing service recurrence.
• Develop services beyond the solid spare parts operation by advancing contracts, projects, consultative sales, lifecycle planning, and customer roadmaps.

Expectations for you

• You have a proven record of growing revenue, creating opportunities, and developing business within installed bases.
• You bring leadership experience in automation-related industries, preferably with exposure to pulp and paper, energy, oil and gas, or global automation players.
• You have led multidisciplinary teams of approximately 30 people and worked effectively in matrix structures with global leadership.
• You have full accountability for business results and understand service KPIs including pipeline, proposals, lifecycle planning, customer visits, and budget planning.
• You hold a master-level education and are fluent in English.
• You are available to work on-site in Sorocaba/Brazil.

To succeed in this role

You will combine strong business orientation with forward thinking, commercial drive, and relationship building. Your change-management capability and clear, consistent communication, especially in one-to-one conversations, will help you rebuild trust and re-engage a team that has experienced leadership transitions. You will inspire action, influence stakeholders, and turn growth opportunities into measurable business results.

We also expect you to align with Valmet’s Leadership Principles —practical behaviours that guide how we lead, collaborate, and succeed together:

• Take accountability – Act with ownership, set clear expectations, and follow through
• Lead with courage – Champion change, try bold ideas, and learn quickly
• Build on trust – Listen to understand, be open, and create psychological safety
• Collaborate for growth – Work across boundaries, value diverse perspectives, and focus on customer value

We offer

This is a visible leadership role with direct responsibility for business performance and team transformation.

Valmet offers an inspiring and challenging position in an international work environment, with the opportunity to contribute directly to business growth and customer value. You will have room to lead change, work across boundaries, and develop a service organization with strong market potential.

When everything works together

Valmet is where the best talent from a wide variety of backgrounds comes together. We work together with our customers throughout the entire lifecycle, delivering cutting-edge technologies and services as well as mission-critical automation and flow control solutions. Backed by more than 225 years of industrial experience and a global team of over 19,000 professionals close to customers, we are uniquely positioned to transform industries toward a regenerative tomorrow.

At Valmet, diversity of thought drives innovation. We are committed to a respectful and inclusive environment, where people can be themselves and are supported to contribute at their best. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential, never on personal characteristics such as gender, gender identity, age, ethnicity, nationality, disability, neurodiversity, religion, sexual orientation, or political views.

Join the team – and lead the way with us!

www.valmet.com/careers