Business Development Manager

Job Summary:

This highly motivated, customer-facing Business Development Manager will drive specification wins and commercial adoption of company circular-economy offerings in downstream applications. Success in this role depends on front-end commercial capability: proactive prospecting, rapid customer influence across functions, and repeated on-site engagement. This is a high-intensity, field-first role and requires a self-directed, competitive seller who thrives on frequent travel and fast ramp-up with limited formal training.

This is a high-touch, field-first role requiring frequent in-person customer engagement across account site visits and industry.

Job Responsibilities:

• Generate and qualify target opportunities aligned with business strategy; build and execute account penetration plans.
• Own front-end customer engagement: discover unmet needs, map buying processes, and influence specification decisions across procurement, R&D, operations, and senior leadership.
• Drive specification wins from initial contact to hand-off: lead customer evaluation processes, steward pilots/trials, present compelling commercial and technical value, and secure adoption/specification.
• Maintain a high cadence of in-person customer engagement.

• Use public and commercial intelligence to refine market approach and prioritize accounts.
• Collaborate with Account Managers and internal technical resources to ensure smooth transition and scalable delivery once opportunities move to sales.
• Maintain CRM and opportunity management discipline to prioritize limited capacity and accelerate funnel movement.

Qualifications Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s or PhD preferred but not required if commercial track record is strong.
• 5–10+ years of B2B/industrial/business development or strategic account sales with a demonstrated record of winning specifications or converting trials into production business.
• Proven front-end commercial skills: prospecting, stakeholder mapping, influencing non-procurement stakeholders, negotiating specification outcomes.
• Exceptional verbal communication and presentation skills; comfortable presenting to C-suite, operations, and technical audiences.
• Proven track record of thriving in high-travel, customer-facing roles (50%+ travel) and managing heavy face-to-face cadence.

• Self-starter with high drive, energy, competitive mindset, and ability to prioritize in a lean operating model.
• Experience with CRM and opportunity management tools.
• Experience navigating long, matrixed downstream buying processes in packaging, coatings, adhesives, or specialty polymers. (nice-to-have)
• Prior success in circular-economy or sustainability-driven product commercialization. (nice-to-have)