Fishtek Marine

Fishtek Marine is a UK-based specialist manufacturer of fish-friendly engineering products and acoustic fish deterrent systems used in the water, marine and environmental engineering sectors. The business designs and supplies products that help protect fish populations at water intake structures, hydropower facilities and marine engineering projects — a niche but globally relevant area driven by environmental legislation and biodiversity obligations. Fishtek sells very little product in the UK domestic market, with the majority of its business conducted internationally across the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, the Mediterranean and through relationships with UK supermarket groups who source seafood from regulated international fisheries.

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Fishtek needed an International Sales Manager capable of developing and managing business relationships in their core export markets — the Nordics, Baltics and Mediterranean — while also beginning to build relationships with UK supermarket groups that source from international fisheries where Fishtek's products are specified. The role required someone who could operate effectively overseas, attend international trade shows, and conduct commercial conversations in at least one European language as well as English.

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This was one of the more genuinely unusual briefs Sales Recruit UK has handled. Fishtek is a British company that sells almost nothing in the UK — their customer base is almost entirely overseas, their market is highly specialised, and the role required a rare combination of export sales experience, relevant sector credibility and genuine bilingual capability. The number of UK-based candidates with this specific combination was very small. A generalist international sales background was not sufficient — the person needed to be able to engage credibly with environmental engineers, fisheries managers and regulatory bodies in European markets.

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Sales Recruit UK approached this brief as a specialist search, targeting candidates from the environmental engineering, water management and marine sectors with international commercial experience and verified language capability. The SRUK Fit Score process assessed candidates across export market development experience, sector credibility in environmental or marine engineering applications, language skills, and the self-sufficiency needed to manage international relationships largely independently from a UK base.

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