[Hiring] Business Development Manager @Plastic Executive Recruiters

Role Description

An established advanced materials manufacturer is expanding its commercial team and introducing new polymer technologies into the market. This is a hands-on technical business development role for someone who can develop new customers while confidently discussing materials, extrusion processes, coatings, applications, and customer trials with engineers and manufacturing teams. The role covers the Americas, with candidates based in the Eastern, Central, or select Mountain time zones preferred. As the business grows, this individual is expected to have the opportunity to move into commercial leadership and help build the sales organization.

• Develop new customers and applications for polymer and advanced-material technologies.
• Identify opportunities involving extrusion coatings, paper coatings, laminations, adhesives, functional coatings, and other polymer applications.
• Work onsite with customers to understand their equipment, processes, material requirements, and technical challenges.
• Lead commercial and technical conversations with engineering, R&D, operations, procurement, and executive decision-makers.
• Support customer trials, material evaluations, qualification programs, and commercialization.
• Develop opportunities from initial prospecting through trial, qualification, negotiation, and commercial production.
• Partner with R&D, technical, manufacturing, and product-development teams on new applications and product introductions.
• Manage pipeline, customer activity, opportunities, and forecasting through Salesforce.
• Travel approximately 50% throughout the Americas.

Qualifications

• Technical bachelor's degree required – Chemical Engineering, Polymer Science, Materials Science, Chemistry, Packaging Engineering, or related discipline.
• 5+ years of business development, technical sales, market development, application development, or related commercial experience.
• Strong working knowledge of extrusion and polymer processing.
• Experience with coatings, extrusion coatings, paper coatings, adhesives, laminations, polymers, or related material technologies strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success developing new customers and applications, not simply managing an established territory.
• Experience supporting customer trials, material qualification, new-product introductions, or commercialization.
• Ability to confidently conduct technical customer discussions without requiring an applications engineer to lead every conversation.
• Hands-on experience using Salesforce CRM.
• Ability to travel approximately 50%.

Benefits

• Opportunity to help introduce new material technologies and develop markets from the ground up.
• Work directly with both customers and technical teams.
• Highly visible role with the potential to progress into commercial leadership as the business grows.