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Technical Service Manager, Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan

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Opportunity Snapshot

Celgard is a recognized global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing battery separators that are used in high performance lithium battery markets. The markets we serve -- which include electric and hybrid vehicles; consumer electronics such as laptops, cell phones and digital cameras; medical devices; and various military applications -- are showing some of the strongest growth around and enable our company to maintain a high level of growth year after year. We also recently acquired a new business in Korea and are always developing new product platforms which continue to broaden our global product portfolio. Such dynamic initiatives make this a very exciting time to join our team.

As our Technical Service Manager, your mission will be to achieve our sales goals in the Japan Region through the following contributions:

Increasing the recognition of Celgard's product value at the customer level
Providing solutions in the customer's use of our product
Quickly resolving quality and technical problems for our customers
Identifying customer and market needs for Celgard products for future sustainable growth

Since Celgard is an American company, you will enjoy several unique advantages, including the ability to:

Interface globally with our operations in the U.S., China and Korea
Travel internationally for training and sales meetings
Advance your career more rapidly, either within Japan or by making the transition to one of our other international offices

Our Requirements

BA, MS or Ph.D. in Electrochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry or Material Science
3+ years experience in technical service for chemical related products in electronics or automotive related industries, with extensive experience in problem resolution
Experience in product qualification processes such as design review, APQP and PPAP
Strong communication and influencing skills with the ability to balance the customer needs and the internal organizational requirements
Sound knowledge or experience in quality management systems
Solid proficiency in a Microsoft Office environment
Fluency in both Japanese and English (including writing, reading, listening and speaking)

Preferred, but not required:

Experience in the battery industry, especially Li-ion application

Who We Are

Proprietary Celgard trilayer membranes 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, and other high performance devices. 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. NYSE-listed Polypore International, Inc is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with eleven manufacturing facilities and thirteen sales/service offices located in nine countries serving six continents.

More About Your Role

Reporting directly to the President of Celgard KK in our Tokyo office, you'll leverage your previous work experience, attend formalized training at the company's U.S. headquarters, and work closely with our Account Managers and other staff in this office to quickly get a handle on our environment, our customer requirements, and your responsibilities in this role, which will include:

Communicating effectively with our customers, as well as the Celgard organization, on technical and quality issues associated with the application of Celgard products.
Professionally resolving quality issues with a good understanding of the Celgard process and the influence on battery performance, and properly maintaining all related documentation.
Identifying customer requirements for Celgard products as well as their needs in their battery performance, and defining the specification of Celgard product.
Qualifying Celgard products for both new and existing customers with a good understanding of qualification processes in customer and industry requirements (i.e. PPAP).
Providing recommendations to customers' battery designs utilizing the internal knowledge of our Battery Specialists.
Monitoring competitive activities in the industry.
Monitoring market trends and code development in the battery industry.
Working closely with our Account Managers in the region to manage customer relationships and satisfaction.

In general, you'll support four to five large customers primarily located within Japan and interact on a daily basis with their engineering and managerial staff. You'll also spend 30-40% of the time taking day trips to visit new and existing customers.

Keys to Success

Success in this role will require a depth of technical knowledge in order to make informed recommendations and effectively solve customer issues. Typically, such issues and requirements cannot be defined as "standard" and will require outstanding problem solving skills.

Excellent communication skills will also be very important. For example:

Your capacity to resolve customer issues and assist the sales process will rely on your ability to effectively communicate with the customer, listen to their needs, and understand their requirements.
You will also interact with these companies -- and with many levels within each company -- on a regular basis. You will use your communication skills to speak to each person's level of technical understanding and to build strong trust-based working relationships with these contacts.
You will need to balance the customer's needs with our own business interests, and this will entail maintaining a high level of diplomacy as you represent Celgard and ensure our interests, while at the same time championing customer satisfaction.
You'll also need to maintain an open flow of communication with your coworkers here in Japan -- as well as with the company's Quality, Production and Manufacturing staff in the U.S. -- to find solutions and effectively manage customer issues in a timely manner.

If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity, and you meet the required qualifications, we look forward to hearing from you.