Account/New Business Development Manager- Specialty Plastics

Eastman; Kingsport (TN); On-site; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Eastman is seeking an Account/New Business Development Manager for Specialty Plastics in Kingsport, Tennessee. The role involves developing strategies to enhance sales volume and margin while managing direct buying accounts and driving customer engagement for sustainable technologies.

Ideal candidates will have at least 7 years of sales experience and a Bachelor's degree. Fluency in English and French is required. This position requires the ability to lead cross-functional efforts and build strong customer relationships while uncovering new business opportunities.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of sales experience in account management and new business development.
• Experience developing strategies with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to travel based on business needs.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement territory strategies to grow sales volume.
• Build customer networks to uncover opportunities.
• Lead market segment strategies through cross-functional collaboration.

Skills

Sales experience

Account management

Consultative selling

Fluency in English and French

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA (preferred)

Job description

Account/New Business Development Manager- Specialty Plastics

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive company, Eastman employs approximately 13,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2025 revenue of approximately $8.8 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit www.eastman.com.

The Role

The Account Manager & Business Development Manager is responsible for growing volume and margin year over year across the assigned territory by developing and leading the implementation of account and territory strategies. As a member of the market segment team, this role is responsible for bringing the voice of the customer into the organization and helping inform and implement market segment strategies through cross-functional collaboration.

In addition to managing direct buying accounts that generate revenue and margin, this role will proactively drive downstream engagement with key industry brand owners and retailers to create pull-through demand and unlock new business opportunities.

The Account Manager & Business Development Manager must be able to build broad networks across the customer organization and across the broader value chain, uncover opportunities to collaborate on sustainability, influence customer and Eastman behaviors to address barriers to adoption, and develop mutually beneficial strategies that support the adoption of Eastman’s sustainability technologies. The territory will cover multiple segments, among Medical, Building and Construction, and Retail.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement territory strategies to effectively allocate time and supporting resources in order to grow polymer granulate sales volume and value.
• Develop and implement account strategies to support territory objectives and market segment strategies.
• Build broad customer networks and deep customer relationships to uncover opportunities and influence customer behaviors to achieve strategic objectives.
• As a member of the market segment team, lead discovery, test hypotheses, and help ensure customer objectives of the market strategy are met.
• Manage sales information systems to ensure insights and information are captured by the organization and demand fulfillment is seamless to the customer and cost efficient for Eastman.
• Support commercial execution through effective management of contracts, forecasting, pricing, pipeline creation and maintenance, and call reporting.
• Generate targets aligned with the business strategy to deliver future growth.
• Effectively engage potential customers to learn more about their unmet needs and buying process; challenge customers to provoke consideration of new ways of winning.
• Understand potential customer’s business before engaging that customer.
• Present information that enables the prospective customer to clearly understand the value proposition of potential solutions and how these solutions can help the customer win.
• Steward the customer’s development, evaluation and decision-making for the new solutions.
• Identify opportunities and act to strengthen Eastman’s position in the eyes of the customer.
• Use Opportunity Management processes to effectively prioritize, track and drive sales opportunities.
• Collaborate with internal resources to ensure Opportunities are provided with the required resources to ensure timely funnel movement.
• Cultivate a broad network of relationships across the value chain and within the customer organizations beyond procurement (e.g., Operations, Technology, Senior Leadership, Marketing, etc.) to enable successful development of new business.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, or equivalent relevant work experience, is required. MBA would be beneficial.
• Minimum 7 years of sales experience is required (Account Management and New Business Development).
• Experience in key account management and consultative selling is required.
• Experience developing and executing account strategies with cross-functional team members is required.
• Fluency in English and French is required. Additional European language capability would be an advantage.
• Ability to travel based on business needs is required.
• Preferred candidate location: France.

Eastman Chemical Company is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, pregnancy, veteran status or any other protected classes as designated by law.

Eastman is committed to creating a highly engaged workforce, where everyone can contribute to their fullest potential each day.