[Hiring] Vice President of Sales @Minerals Technologies

Role Description

The primary function of the Vice President (VP) is to drive sales and profitability for the North American (NA) MTI Pet Care group. The VP will oversee approximately $270M of sales in NA, consisting mostly of finished goods private label cat litter to retail partners, as well as supply of bulk cat litter to national brands in NA. The position will work closely with various groups including:

• Pet Care Marketing
• R&D
• Finance
• Customer Service
• Operations

Furthermore, the VP will need to be aligned with MTI resource units, such as Supply Chain/Logistics and HR. The VP will lead a team of approximately seven people consisting of:

• Sales Managers
• Sales Analytics Manager
• Replenishment
• Product Managers

The VP will ultimately be responsible for carrying out strategic account plans for key accounts and potential new accounts, working with the Global BU President and possibly other leadership to deliver on targeted growth projections.

Responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Establish and build strong relationships within the team.
• Engage, motivate, and inspire the team through effective communication, coaching, training, and skill development.
• Share and analyze data collected by the commercial team to drive business growth.
• Manage the weekly forecast in collaboration with the BU finance team/controller.
• Achieve strong Voice of Customer (VOC) to increase innovation and sales for strategic accounts.
• Understand business development opportunities and capital projects for continued growth.
• Demonstrate and lead the business in alignment with MTI Values and Transformational Rules for Leaders.

Environmental Health and Safety

• Accountable for establishing a robust Safety Culture.
• Deliver 100% Compliance with all EHS policies and programs with Zero Injuries & Zero Environmental Releases.

Operational Excellence

• Manage, support, and achieve Operational Excellence and Lean goals through various initiatives.
• Utilize Suggestions, Gemba, 5S, Lean Events, Coaching for Continuous Improvement, Leader Standard Work, Visual Management, Kanban, VOC, Standard Work, and Quality Management System.

Innovation

• Work with the technical team to develop and commercialize new technologies based on customer needs identified by Voice of the Customer activities.

Qualifications

• Previous experience in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) is required.
• Strong financial acumen related to income statements, returns on capex investments, cost statements, etc.
• Transformational leadership skills demonstrated by the ability to inspire and lead a team.
• Bias for action and achievement with personal accountability for team performance.
• Capacity to communicate a sense of urgency and inspire those around them.
• Skills to coalesce an organization and lead changes supporting strategic business objectives.
• Superb communication, presentation, contract negotiation, and influencing skills (written and verbal).
• Ten (10) years or more of managing sales and business functions within a team environment.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or technical/engineering is required.
• MBA is desirable but not required.

Travel

• Travel - up to 35%-50% of time, including regional and some international locations.
• Must have a valid driver’s license and passport.
• Ideal candidate should be based within reasonable distance of a major airport.

Career Progression Potential

• Success in this role positions the incumbent to compete for other positions of greater responsibility within MTI.