Business Development Manager, SMS

The Asahi Kasei Group operates with a commitment of creating for tomorrow.  Our business sectors, Material, Homes, and Health Care, contribute to the development of society by anticipating the changing needs of those around the world. We look for candidates that offer a fresh perspective and a variety of skills to help us achieve our commitment.

We are currently seeking applications to fill the following job opening at Celgard where we develop and manufacture membrane battery separators that are critical components used in lithium-ion batteries for electric drive vehicles (EDVs) and energy storage systems (ESS).

Company:

Job Description:

About the Role

The Manager, Business Development Specialty Membrane Solutions (SMS), will have direct management responsibilities for delivering on Celgard’s growth initiatives and sales efforts for all products and applications beyond Lithium applications mainly in NA region. The purpose of this position is to prepare and deliver business development strategies and to grow the specialty business product segment for Celgard. This includes expanding the customer base and growing sales for current specialty products and applications while searching out and developing market segments in new and adjacent spaces beyond. This person will focus on creating long-term value with new customers, markets, and relationships as well as commercializing new products and processes.
This position reports to the Director of Strategic Marketing and SMS. Key focus is as follows:

• Manage and expand Celgard existing SMS applications, e.g. transdermal patches and textile.
• Develop and expand Celgard footprint into new SMS applications. This includes but is not limited to in vent, HVAC, filtration, ion-exchange and adjacent Li-Ion battery application such as Na-ion.
• Developing and directing multiple global sales channels simultaneously using unique value chains that include Celgard and the management of distributors, agents, partners and consultants.
  

This position has no direct reports. However, the position will direct and coordinate the activities of other regional sales representatives, distributors and agents in their duties to grow sales of Celgard Specialty products in their respective region and/or value channel.

Key Accountabilities

• Responsible for driving profitable sales growth for Celgard’s specialty product portfolio through the effective execution of product management, brand and channel management strategies.
• Direct N. America sales activities utilizing internal and external resources.
• Direct the phase gate and commercialization processes for new products in these market segments and applications working across businesses internal and external
• Understand and effectively communicate the company's value proposition, technology, process and current partnerships
• Develop new business models and go to market strategies based on best way to serve each market segment
• Direct cross-functional and cross-organizational business actions to meet customer and product needs.
• Develop multi-level relationships within customer organizations.
• Identify new product/market/business opportunities.
• Collect and Provide Market/Customer/Competitor intelligence.
• Work with Marketing, Sales and R&D to develop strategic selling initiatives.
• Provide support for payment, engineering and customer support issues.
• Develop annual sales budget by customer and for the total of the Specialties business.
• Develop and maintain customer database.
• Negotiate contracts and long-term agreements with customers.

Other responsibilities:

• Develop in-depth knowledge of company offerings to identify profitable business opportunities.
• Build solid relationships with customers, vendors and distributors, as well as sales and marketing teams.
• Researching emerging trends and recommending new company offerings to satisfy customers’ needs.
• Presenting business or marketing opportunities to company executives and management.

Qualifications

Education Background:

·         Must have bachelor’s degree with a preference for Business Administration or Engineering,

Knowledge & Experience: 

·         Minimum of 7+ years’ experience in a B2B sales, technical sales or business development environment with extensive travel, international experience, and diverse customer selling base; 2 years of B2C experience preferred.

·         Experience in pharma, healthcare and medical packaging is highly preferred.

·         Must have experience in pricing strategies.

·         Strong ownership and resilience in developing business and managing customers and potential customers is required.

·         Preferred experience in developing and validating product and channel strategies, defining product requirements and managing successful product commercialization in business-to-business settings.

·         Experienced in translating membrane characteristics into application benefits and value proposition is strongly preferred.

·         Experience in developing new membrane-based applications through external partners is strongly preferred.

·         Ability to work well across the organization and constructively influence team objectives and outcomes is required.

·         Must have strong presentation skills.

·         Knowledge of key sales concepts, practices, and procedures is required.

Key Attributes:

·         Must possess a learning mindset.

·         Strong communication skills including the ability to interface with senior management is required.

·         Ability to use data to help drive decisions is required.

·         Must possess ability to handle multiple priorities and navigate in a highly matrixed environment.

·         Must be a self-starter with a natural curiosity and bias for action with the desire to impact the business through analysis/data.

·         Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with management and cross-functional teams, for both technical and non-technical audiences are required.

·         Demonstrated ability to influence at varying levels across the organization is required.

·         Must demonstrated ability to operate independently.

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Asahi Kasei and Celgard Values

• Sincerity – Being sincere with everyone
• Challenge – Bolding taking challenges, continually seeking change
• Creativity – Creating new value through unity and synergy

Travel

Must be able and willing to travel up to 50% for domestically and abroad for training and visiting other company locations. 

Perks & Benefits

• Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits, effective 1st day of the month
• Flexible Spending Account & Health Savings Account
• Vacation + 8 Paid Holidays + 24 Hours of Floating Holidays
• 401K Safe Harbor Contribution + Matching
• Paid Parental Leave after a Year of Employment
• Employee Assistance Program
• Life & Disability Insurances

About Us

For more than 50 years, Celgard has proven itself as a global leader in the development and production of high-performance membrane technology. Celgard specializes in solvent-free, dry-process, microporous membranes used as separators that are a major component of lithium-ion batteries that power a broad range of electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage systems (ESS). Celgard® membrane is also used in specialty applications such as satellites and military installations as well as other barrier-type applications like technical textiles for waterproof and breathable apparel. Headquartered in the United States, we operate manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and China and have sales and technical service staff located strategically throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. 

Celgard, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Polypore International, LP, an Asahi Kasei Company. With manufacturing facilities or sales offices in nine countries serving six continents, Polypore brings advanced development and manufacturing know-how as well as unique problem-solving capabilities to customers' lithium-ion battery development teams. The Asahi Kasei Group is a diversified group of companies led by holding company Asahi Kasei Corp., with operations in the material, homes, and health care business sectors. With more than 46,000 employees around the world, the Asahi Kasei Group serves customers in more than 100 countries. We are Creating for Tomorrow!

Location Information

Charlotte, NC, known as the Queen City, is a thriving metropolitan area of over 2.6 million people across 15 counties. It is situated just north of the South Carolina border and is close enough to drive to the mountains and the beach in two-three hours. Charlotte brings diversity in people, industries and living, from urban to rural. It is ranked second among 25 largest cities for most desirable place to purchase a home by Nerdwallet.com and is ranked eighth among the top 10 big booming cities by CNNmoney.com. Charlotte is home of one of North Carolina’s largest college campuses, UNC Charlotte. Along with a friendly southern culture, Charlotte offers dining, arts, museums, major league basketball, a national football team, a soccer team, a minor league baseball team, NASCAR, shopping, festivals, a variety of amenities and quick access to several parks for people who love to be outdoors.

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As an equal opportunity employer, Asahi Kasei believes a diverse workforce will provide us with the ability to continuously support the changes in the economy, society, and environment.