[Hiring] Strategic Account Manager @Sonoco

Role Description

This position is responsible for leading strategic account management activities for assigned Protective Packaging customers, with emphasis on appliance, HVAC, electronics, durable goods, and industrial manufacturing markets. The role owns customer strategy, relationship development, revenue growth, profitability, pricing coordination, service performance, product quality, new business development, and cross-functional execution.

The successful candidate will work closely with sales, operations, engineering, quality, finance, customer service, and product development teams to expand Sonoco’s value proposition and strengthen Sonoco’s position as a strategic partner to assigned accounts.

What you will be doing:

• Responsible for strategic account relationships and direct account management at select sites.
• Develop and manage strong relationships with key customer stakeholders across procurement, engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, and executive leadership.
• Own assigned Protective Packaging strategic accounts, including account strategy, growth plans, profitability, customer satisfaction, and execution across all participating Sonoco locations.
• Prepare and maintain strategic account plans, including relationship mapping, opportunity pipeline, pricing strategy, revenue and margin objectives, competitive position, value-creation initiatives, and long-term growth plans.
• Lead cross-functional execution of account plans with plant, regional sales, operations, engineering, quality, customer service, finance, product development, and division leadership teams.
• Monitor protective packaging, appliance, HVAC, electronics, durable goods, material, logistics, sustainability, and manufacturing trends that impact assigned accounts and provide regular updates to management.
• Analyze customer potential, sales performance, forecast changes, and volume trends to support account planning and business decisions.
• Coordinate pricing, contract, bid proposal, specification, quality, service, and commercial commitments with appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Identify and lead customer value projects that improve total cost of ownership, including packaging performance, damage reduction, freight and logistics efficiency, labor productivity, material optimization, SKU rationalization, quality improvement, and manufacturing flow.
• Keep line and staff personnel informed as to competitive activity at accounts assigned, including share, price, quality, product offerings, and all other areas of involvement.
• Work with design, engineering, operations, and product development resources to identify protective packaging solutions, new applications, material substitutions, productivity improvements, sustainability improvements, and expanded use of existing product platforms.
• Partner with plant and regional teams to resolve customer complaints, quality issues, service concerns, and open action items in a timely and professional manner.
• Communicate regularly with other Sonoco businesses and functional teams to coordinate activity on common accounts, identify cross-selling opportunities, share customer intelligence, and present one coordinated Sonoco approach to the customer.
• Protect assets, confidential and restricted information, developments, specifications, materials, legal obligations, and other such data in contacts with external parties.
• Comply with all company policies.
• Ensure AR/DSO is managed and kept within the terms of the customer agreement.
• Coordinate regular business reviews with assigned accounts to review performance, service, quality, forecast changes, open issues, innovation priorities, and joint value-generation opportunities.
• Attend appropriate industry events and customer-facing forums and develop subject-matter expertise in targeted Protective Packaging markets, including appliance, HVAC, electronics, durable goods, and industrial manufacturing.
• Reports to the Senior Director, Protective Packaging & Partitions.
• Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of Sonoco including businesses, organizational structure, value drivers, products and services, and competitive market position.
• Can deliver Boardroom level presentations.
• Questions and challenges the status quo.
• Displays honesty and integrity, and honors company, customer and personal commitments.
• Builds a team vision and identifies opportunities for multifunctional collaboration and management of a strategic customer.
• Demonstrates consistent, methodical work habits to drive and complete the account management process, within time and resource constraints.

Qualifications

• A 4-year college degree is required.
• 7–10+ years of commercial, strategic account, business development, technical sales, or account leadership experience in protective packaging, industrial packaging, engineered materials, appliances, HVAC, durable goods, electronics, or related manufacturing markets.
• Prior experience in protective packaging is required; direct experience serving appliance, HVAC, electronics, durable goods, or industrial manufacturing OEMs is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to sell value-based solutions, quantify customer ROI, and communicate the business impact of packaging improvements through TCO, damage reduction, logistics savings, labor efficiency, quality improvement, and sustainability benefits.
• Experience managing complex, multi-location customer relationships and working cross-functionally with manufacturing, engineering, quality, finance, supply chain, and executive stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to develop/quantify value are required.
• Must have strong written and oral communication skills.
• Must have good working knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
• Travel will be required as an expectation of this role and could be up to 50% depending on where candidate is located.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents, including FSA and HSA options.
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match.
• Wellbeing tools and resources to support holistic health, including an Employee Assistance Program with a variety of services.
• Paid time off and holidays to recreate, rejuvenate and care for the health of yourself and family.
• Variety of company paid and voluntary employee-paid insurance plans including life, personal accident, and disability insurance.
• Tuition reimbursement.