Kitchen Sales Designer
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Join Howdens where our trade depots are recruiting Kitchen Sales Designers who thrive in a fast-paced sales environment. We’re looking for commercially minded individuals who can build strong relationships, influence buying decisions and exceed sales targets.
We can offer you a successful career as a Kitchen Sales Designer, and you don’t need previous design experience. We’ll provide you with comprehensive design and sales training to create exceptional kitchens for our trade customers and their clients.
What we can offer you:
- Competitive salary, brilliant bonuses and outstanding depot incentives
- Full CAD, product and sales training via our Ready to Trade Programme
- Competitive Pension Plan up to 12% company contribution
- Up to 32 days annual leave per year including bank holidays, rising with service
- Generous staff discount on Howdens products
- Buy-as-you-earn share scheme
- 40 hour working week working every other Saturday morning.
- No Sunday or Bank Holiday working
- Career progression opportunities into sales management roles
- Virtual GP access and wellbeing support for you and your family
What we are looking for:
- Results driven with experience of reaching sales targets and KPI
- Ability to build trusted relationships with our trade customers and their client
- Excellent communication skills, able to convey your ideas clearly and effectively
- Full UK Driving license with access to your own vehicle for home visits
- Strong attention to detail and an eye for design
- CAD skills are preferred, but not essential as you will receive training
What you will be doing:
- Driving sales performance and profit by achieving your depot targets
- Building strong customer relationships through professional design support
- Delivering exceptional customer service throughout the project
- Conducting home visits to measure, assess and understand your client’s needs
- Negotiating prices confidently while protecting margin and design integrity
- Planning and creating inspirational and practical designs utilising your strong product knowledge to advise customers and resolve queries throughout the process
About Us:
Howdens Joinery is the UK’s number one trade kitchen supplier providing thousands of products across kitchens, joinery, and hardware. We have over 950 depots throughout the UK and Europe, making us the first choice for more than 460,000 loyal trade professionals. With an ambitious and credible growth plan, we continue to build on our £2.4 billion turnover.
How to apply:
If Howdens sounds like the kind of place where you can build and develop your career as a Kitchen Sales Designer, then we are keen to hear from you.
Howdens is founded on the principle of being Worthwhile for ALL concerned. We’re working hard to ensure we provide an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome. We will do everything we can to support you during your application. If you need us to make any adjustments to our recruitment process, please email with the job title and location, and we will be happy to help you.
#LI-LO1 #CVL INDKSD #Reed
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV personal statement with a specific sales achievement (e.g. 'exceeded depot targets by 22%') — the advert explicitly prioritises results-driven candidates who hit KPIs.
📊 Quantify every sales result: 'Grew account base by 15 trade clients in 6 months, increasing repeat order value by £8,000 per quarter' to mirror the advert's focus on targets and profit.
🎯 Mention any CAD software experience (e.g. Winner Design, ArtiCAD, Fusion 360) in your skills section even if basic — the advert lists CAD as preferred and Howdens will build on it via their Ready to Trade Programme.
🚗 Confirm your full UK driving licence and vehicle access explicitly in your CV header or profile — the advert lists this as a firm requirement for conducting home visits.
🤝 Include a bullet under each relevant role demonstrating trade or B2B relationship management, referencing the type of customer (builders, contractors, developers) to align with Howdens' 460,000 trade professional customer base.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Exceeded monthly B2B sales targets by an average of 18% over 12 consecutive months, generating £320,000 in additional depot revenue through proactive trade account management.
- •Conducted 40+ client home visits per month to measure, assess and translate briefs into CAD kitchen designs, achieving a 92% quote-to-order conversion rate.
- •Negotiated bespoke pricing agreements with 25 repeat trade contractors, protecting an average gross margin of 34% while growing account spend by £6,500 per client annually.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Howdens Joinery. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Howdens Joinery
Dear Hiring Manager,
Howdens Joinery's reputation as the UK's number one trade kitchen supplier — serving over 460,000 trade professionals — is precisely why the Kitchen Sales Designer role in Sheffield caught my attention. With a proven track record of hitting sales targets and building trusted relationships with trade customers, I am confident I can drive depot performance and deliver the design quality Howdens is known for.
My background in trade sales and customer relationship management has equipped me with the commercial mindset and negotiation skills this role demands. I have consistently exceeded KPIs in previous positions, managing multiple client projects simultaneously while protecting margin and maintaining design integrity. I am eager to develop my CAD capabilities further through Howdens' Ready to Trade Programme and apply strong product knowledge to create practical, inspirational kitchens for trade clients and their customers.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through how you would use CAD software to plan a kitchen for a client with an irregular-shaped room.
- ›How do you calculate margin when negotiating a discounted price with a trade customer?
- ›Describe the steps you take during a home visit to gather accurate measurements and understand a client's design brief.
- ›How would you use Howdens' product range to upsell from a standard kitchen to a premium specification?
- ›What process do you follow to manage multiple kitchen projects at different stages simultaneously within a depot environment?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you exceeded a sales target — what actions did you take and what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to rebuild a relationship with a trade customer who was unhappy with a project.
- ›Give an example of when you had to negotiate a price confidently while protecting your company's margin.
- ›Tell me about a time you had to adapt your design recommendations to meet a client's budget without compromising quality.
- ›Describe a situation where you managed competing priorities across several customers and how you ensured all deadlines were met.
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you exceeded a sales target — what actions did you take and what was the outcome?
Give an example of when you had to negotiate a price confidently while protecting your company's margin.