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Global VP of Sales & Technical Service
NC - Charlotte
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Opportunity Snapshot
In this role you will have the opportunity to showcase your leadership skills and ability to deliver results: we're hiring impact players who have the potential to move up as we continue our remarkable growth. If you're satisfied with maintaining the status quo, this is not the position for you. Not only are we a leader in our markets, but those markets also are showing some of the strongest growth around. Even while other industries are cutting back, we are continuing to grow at a rate higher than 10% year over year. This is an ideal time to join us: you'll take on global challenges as you develop and implement strategies to secure our position as a supplier of choice in the burgeoning electric and hybrid vehicle market.
Your mission will be to deliver leadership (to a group of about fifteen) that goes beyond mere sales management, ensuring the entire sales process functions like a well-oiled machine and that this diverse global group is successful. To be a good fit for this opportunity you will have significant experience leading international sales and technical support of physical products in a business with revenue greater than 100 million USD. We're looking for a professional with a track record of success in fostering the processes that drive sales growth. You also will need to truly enjoy traveling, as you can expect to be on the road 50 to 75% of the time, in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Celgard is a recognized global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing battery separators that are used in high performance lithium battery markets. Celgard is part of half billion dollar Polypore International, Inc. We have aggressive strategic plans to grow revenue and the bottom line at double digit rates over the next five years, supporting strong cash flow and a highly profitable business model.
What Else You'll Bring to the Table
In addition to the qualifications detailed above, you'll need:
A bachelor's degree in engineering or a physical science.
B2B experience in a highly technical market.
Demonstrated experience in Asian markets, particularly China, Japan, and Korea.
Proven leadership skills that include internal and external communication, strategy development and tactics implementation, and the ability to balance customer needs with profitable business growth.
A demonstrated willingness to take calculated risks.
Preferred but not required:
An advanced degree in engineering or physical science and/or an MBA.
Battery industry experience.
Proficiency in Chinese, Japanese and/or Korean.
Our first preference is that you are based out of our Charlotte, NC headquarters, but we are open to you working from a home office anywhere in the US or even in Asia.
What's in It for You
No slowing here -- Celgard and Polypore continue to grow, as our product line is used in a diverse number of applications (many in growth markets) including laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, medical devices, and various military applications. In addition:
The emerging market for technology related to electric and hybrid vehicles will only accelerate our growth over the next five to ten years.
In May 2008 we acquired a new technology along with production facilities in Korea, which means we now have the broadest portfolio in our industry.
Our approach to growing sales is progressive and innovative, and you'll take it to the next level.
We are proactive about strategically developing new products and product improvements, not just tweaking an existing line for individual customers.
Across our organization we are investing in process and infrastructure improvements so support our growth, such as expanding our Charlotte facility by 110,000 square feet and implementing an entirely new ERP.
High impact -- we have sales plans in place, of course, but you'll assume ownership of them and play a key role in developing them moving forward. We encourage an entrepreneurial approach and will provide support when you need it but also the "elbow room" you need to succeed.
Career development -- while you'll have the opportunity to make an impact in short order, we're also looking for a candidate who has the potential, one day, to become the Vice President/General Manager or even the CEO.
Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive salary and incentives, we offer a comprehensive benefits package. To put it another way: if you lead us to the potential we know is out there, we'll make sure you're happy.
Great place to live and work -- with history stretching back before the American Revolution, Charlotte has burgeoned into a cosmopolitan city with a Southern flair. The "Queen City" is the nation's second largest financial center, and a number of Fortune 500 corporations make their headquarters here. In 2008 Relocate-America.com named Charlotte the "Best Place to Live in America," based on such factors as employment opportunities, crime rates, and housing affordability. Relocation assistance is available.
More About Your Role
If you're a good fit for this position, you already know most of what this job entails. However, to be sure we're providing a complete picture, here are some details.
Reporting to the Vice President and General Manager, you will assume direction of a team that includes four Area Sales Managers and an Internal Operations Manager. In many ways this is a classic sales leadership role: guiding and motivating your team, cultivating relationships with customers, developing and executing strategies to grow the top line, ensuring excellent service after the sale. Two things, however, set this position apart from others: the opportunity for a strong leader to take a solid sales organization to the next level, and the vitality of our markets.
Your key objectives will include:
Providing leadership and guidance to the Global Sales and Technical Service organization that facilitates the selling process.
Cultivating valued business relationships with key customers at the appropriate levels and conveying a firm understanding of the customer's business and political drivers to influence the selling process.
Ensuring that the customer perspective is the driving force behind all value-added business activities.
Developing and executing the annual sales plan, while adhering to sales forecast and account planning processes.
Creating an atmosphere in which new products are used as vehicles for successful accomplishment of long-range plans.
Providing leadership to the business as a member of the Celgard Leadership Team and building working relationships that accelerate current and future strategies and plans.
You will travel primarily to China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, but also to Europe and within North America. Overseas trips typically will be one to two weeks.
Keys to Success
Your challenge will be to monitor all aspects of the sales process, from the development of strategy to ongoing account management, and keep each part tuned and humming. This will include coaching and ensuring they provide leadership for their teams and supporting your team (without micromanaging), reviewing processes, ensuring robust communications, and more. In addition, in order to be an outstanding Global VP of Sales and Technical Services, you will demonstrate initiative and independence, such as identifying opportunities, partnering with peers to formulate a response to those opportunities, and bringing recommendations to the leadership team.
If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the minimum qualifications, we want to hear from you!
Who We Are
Proprietary Celgard membrane separators are a leading industry standard in rechargeable lithium battery applications. They are typically used in electronic applications such as notebook computers, cellular telephones, digital cameras, powertools and other high performance devices. In the near future, they will be a significant part of the batteries in HEV's and EV's.
In addition, Celgard is the global leader in supplying battery separators for disposable lithium batteries used in photographic equipment, medical devices, and various military applications. Other energy storage technologies that use Celgard battery separators include vented nickel-cadmium aircraft batteries, zinc-air hearing aid batteries, and supercapacitors.
Celgard is part of Polypore International, Inc, a global high technology filtration company specializing in microporous membranes. Polypore's flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes are used in specialized applications that require the removal or separation of various materials from liquids, primarily in the ultrafiltration and microfiltration markets. Based in Charlotte, NC, Polypore International, Inc has manufacturing facilities or sales offices in nine countries serving six continents.
Opportunity Snapshot
In this role you will have the opportunity to showcase your leadership skills and ability to deliver results: we're hiring impact players who have the potential to move up as we continue our remarkable growth. If you're satisfied with maintaining the status quo, this is not the position for you. Not only are we a leader in our markets, but those markets also are showing some of the strongest growth around. Even while other industries are cutting back, we are continuing to grow at a rate higher than 10% year over year. This is an ideal time to join us: you'll take on global challenges as you develop and implement strategies to secure our position as a supplier of choice in the burgeoning electric and hybrid vehicle market.
Your mission will be to deliver leadership (to a group of about fifteen) that goes beyond mere sales management, ensuring the entire sales process functions like a well-oiled machine and that this diverse global group is successful. To be a good fit for this opportunity you will have significant experience leading international sales and technical support of physical products in a business with revenue greater than 100 million USD. We're looking for a professional with a track record of success in fostering the processes that drive sales growth. You also will need to truly enjoy traveling, as you can expect to be on the road 50 to 75% of the time, in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Celgard is a recognized global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing battery separators that are used in high performance lithium battery markets. Celgard is part of half billion dollar Polypore International, Inc. We have aggressive strategic plans to grow revenue and the bottom line at double digit rates over the next five years, supporting strong cash flow and a highly profitable business model.
What Else You'll Bring to the Table
In addition to the qualifications detailed above, you'll need:
A bachelor's degree in engineering or a physical science.
B2B experience in a highly technical market.
Demonstrated experience in Asian markets, particularly China, Japan, and Korea.
Proven leadership skills that include internal and external communication, strategy development and tactics implementation, and the ability to balance customer needs with profitable business growth.
A demonstrated willingness to take calculated risks.
Preferred but not required:
An advanced degree in engineering or physical science and/or an MBA.
Battery industry experience.
Proficiency in Chinese, Japanese and/or Korean.
Our first preference is that you are based out of our Charlotte, NC headquarters, but we are open to you working from a home office anywhere in the US or even in Asia.
What's in It for You
No slowing here -- Celgard and Polypore continue to grow, as our product line is used in a diverse number of applications (many in growth markets) including laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, medical devices, and various military applications. In addition:
The emerging market for technology related to electric and hybrid vehicles will only accelerate our growth over the next five to ten years.
In May 2008 we acquired a new technology along with production facilities in Korea, which means we now have the broadest portfolio in our industry.
Our approach to growing sales is progressive and innovative, and you'll take it to the next level.
We are proactive about strategically developing new products and product improvements, not just tweaking an existing line for individual customers.
Across our organization we are investing in process and infrastructure improvements so support our growth, such as expanding our Charlotte facility by 110,000 square feet and implementing an entirely new ERP.
High impact -- we have sales plans in place, of course, but you'll assume ownership of them and play a key role in developing them moving forward. We encourage an entrepreneurial approach and will provide support when you need it but also the "elbow room" you need to succeed.
Career development -- while you'll have the opportunity to make an impact in short order, we're also looking for a candidate who has the potential, one day, to become the Vice President/General Manager or even the CEO.
Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive salary and incentives, we offer a comprehensive benefits package. To put it another way: if you lead us to the potential we know is out there, we'll make sure you're happy.
Great place to live and work -- with history stretching back before the American Revolution, Charlotte has burgeoned into a cosmopolitan city with a Southern flair. The "Queen City" is the nation's second largest financial center, and a number of Fortune 500 corporations make their headquarters here. In 2008 Relocate-America.com named Charlotte the "Best Place to Live in America," based on such factors as employment opportunities, crime rates, and housing affordability. Relocation assistance is available.
More About Your Role
If you're a good fit for this position, you already know most of what this job entails. However, to be sure we're providing a complete picture, here are some details.
Reporting to the Vice President and General Manager, you will assume direction of a team that includes four Area Sales Managers and an Internal Operations Manager. In many ways this is a classic sales leadership role: guiding and motivating your team, cultivating relationships with customers, developing and executing strategies to grow the top line, ensuring excellent service after the sale. Two things, however, set this position apart from others: the opportunity for a strong leader to take a solid sales organization to the next level, and the vitality of our markets.
Your key objectives will include:
Providing leadership and guidance to the Global Sales and Technical Service organization that facilitates the selling process.
Cultivating valued business relationships with key customers at the appropriate levels and conveying a firm understanding of the customer's business and political drivers to influence the selling process.
Ensuring that the customer perspective is the driving force behind all value-added business activities.
Developing and executing the annual sales plan, while adhering to sales forecast and account planning processes.
Creating an atmosphere in which new products are used as vehicles for successful accomplishment of long-range plans.
Providing leadership to the business as a member of the Celgard Leadership Team and building working relationships that accelerate current and future strategies and plans.
You will travel primarily to China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, but also to Europe and within North America. Overseas trips typically will be one to two weeks.
Keys to Success
Your challenge will be to monitor all aspects of the sales process, from the development of strategy to ongoing account management, and keep each part tuned and humming. This will include coaching and ensuring they provide leadership for their teams and supporting your team (without micromanaging), reviewing processes, ensuring robust communications, and more. In addition, in order to be an outstanding Global VP of Sales and Technical Services, you will demonstrate initiative and independence, such as identifying opportunities, partnering with peers to formulate a response to those opportunities, and bringing recommendations to the leadership team.
If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the minimum qualifications, we want to hear from you!
Who We Are
Proprietary Celgard membrane separators are a leading industry standard in rechargeable lithium battery applications. They are typically used in electronic applications such as notebook computers, cellular telephones, digital cameras, powertools and other high performance devices. In the near future, they will be a significant part of the batteries in HEV's and EV's.
In addition, Celgard is the global leader in supplying battery separators for disposable lithium batteries used in photographic equipment, medical devices, and various military applications. Other energy storage technologies that use Celgard battery separators include vented nickel-cadmium aircraft batteries, zinc-air hearing aid batteries, and supercapacitors.
Celgard is part of Polypore International, Inc, a global high technology filtration company specializing in microporous membranes. Polypore's flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes are used in specialized applications that require the removal or separation of various materials from liquids, primarily in the ultrafiltration and microfiltration markets. Based in Charlotte, NC, Polypore International, Inc has manufacturing facilities or sales offices in nine countries serving six continents.
Celgard LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.
