Director, Market & Business Development - Performance Materials

Ingevity; North Charleston (SC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Ingevity seeks a results‑driven leader to own the commercial side of early‑stage growth opportunities in our Performance Materials team. You will translate customer conversations into clear value propositions, coordinate with R&D, and guide projects through Stage Gate to commercialization.

You will manage multiple opportunities, balance strategic priorities, and collaborate across functions to ensure commercials align with technical capabilities and market needs.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years in B2B industrial markets such as chemicals, materials, automotive components, filtration, engineered products, or similar.
• Experience taking an idea from concept to something that real customers have seen, handled, reacted to, or tested.
• Experience with products that have technical differentiation or IP‑protection, where the value has to be communicated clearly.

Responsibilities

• Lead the commercial side of early‑stage growth opportunities and build a simple, clear commercial picture for each opportunity.
• Work with a technical counterpart to prioritize features that matter to customers.
• Guide ideas through Stage Gate by grounding decisions in customer feedback rather than assumptions.
• Oversee the commercial strategy for multiple platforms and shape where to focus time and investment.
• Define long‑term platform growth and position across segments; prepare opportunities for sales handoff.

Skills

B2B Industrial

Customer discovery

IP protection

Opportunity portfolio

R&D liaison

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, chemistry, materials, or business

MBA preferred

Job description

Job Family Group: Sales and Business Development Are you ready to do something remarkable? Ready to collaborate with an incredible team to solve problems that improve people’s lives? Meet Ingevity. At Ingevity, we develop innovations that purify, protect and enhance the world around us. Our products enable oil to flow better, crops to grow fuller, roads to last longer and ensure that the air we all breathe is cleaner. Our people come from all different backgrounds and help reimagine new possibilities daily. We understand there is no challenge too big and no contribution too small. We seek out new ideas for tackling complex problems and celebrate achieving the improbable. We value each person’s unique talents and synergize them to create meaningful impact and sustainable solutions for our customers and our world. Bold. Energetic. Ingenious. Genuine. If these qualities describe you, we’d love for you to join Ingevity!

Position Overview

We’re looking for someone who genuinely enjoys figuring things out – someone who is curious, willing to test ideas, talk to customers early, and help us separate the winners from the nice‑to‑have ideas. This role sits inside our Performance Materials team and will partner directly with a technical lead to take early‑stage opportunities from rough concept through the Stage Gate process and toward commercialization. This is a hands‑on role, not a desk‑only strategy job. You will spend time with customers, observe how they work, ask questions, and help us learn quickly what matters and what doesn’t. You’ll also help us make smarter choices about where to invest our time and where to say "not worth it." If you like building something from the ground up, enjoy ambiguity, and don’t need every detail perfectly defined before you move forward, you’ll do well here. This role may be classified at either the Manager or Director level depending on the experience and capability of the selected candidate. The responsibilities below reflect the full scope of the role; some elements may be emphasized more heavily at the Director level.

How you'll impact Ingevity

Lead the commercial side of early‑stage growth opportunities. Build a simple, clear commercial picture of each opportunity – who it’s for, why it matters, what they’re using today, and what would make them switch.

Work side‑by‑side with a technical counterpart to make sure we’re prioritizing the right technical features, not just the ones that seem interesting internally.

Help guide ideas through Stage Gate by grounding decisions in real customer feedback instead of assumptions. Oversee the commercial strategy for multiple platforms at once, helping shape where we focus our time and investment across the broader portfolio.

Help set or refine the criteria we use to greenlight, pause, or stop opportunities, and bring a stronger voice into investment discussions at Stage Gate reviews.

Talk to customers early and often: get out of the building, talk to potential users, buyers, engineers, and anyone who actually touches or specifies the product. Turn customer conversations into insights: what they value, what they ignore, what would make or break adoption. Build early relationships with the kinds of customers who can help us learn quickly. Shape early strategic marketing work without the jargon. Identify the most promising segments and applications – not with a huge binder, but with a clear story about who cares and why.

Translate customer needs into value propositions that make sense and can be tested. Work with Research & Technology technical team (R&T) to make sure development lines up with what customers actually need, not what we assume they’ll want. Define the long‑term platform growth strategy including where each opportunity fits and how we position ourselves across segments. Support commercialization without overpromising structure. When an idea shows promise, help us define the basics: how it gets positioned, what matters for adoption, and where it logically fits in the value chain. Help us understand what early trials, specs, or qualifications might look like. Prepare the opportunity so that, when the time comes, a salesperson can pick it up and run with it. Lead the early commercialization strategy for one or more platforms, ensuring consistent positioning, pricing logic, and market messaging across related opportunities.

Work across functions like a partner, not a coordinator. Bring customer learning into technical discussions with R&T, Ops, Supply Chain, and others. Help the team stay honest about what the market cares about vs what we wish the market cared about. Build trust with technical teams by showing them real, practical insights from customers.

What you'll need to succeed

• Experience 5–10 years in B2B industrial markets such as chemicals, materials, automotive components, filtration, engineered products, or similar.
• Experience taking an idea from concept to something that real customers have seen, handled, reacted to, or tested.
• Experience with products that have technical differentiation or IP‑protection, where the value has to be communicated clearly.
• Comfortable managing several early‑stage opportunities at once and deciding which deserve more time and which don’t.
• Experience working closely with R&D, engineering, or technical teams and translating customer needs into technical development priorities.
• Exposure to specification‑driven markets (automotive, electronics, industrial materials, engineered systems), where performance, testing, or application requirements shape adoption.
• Experience leading complex opportunity portfolios, influencing investment decisions, and shaping multi‑year platform strategy is preferred.
• Experience coaching or leading other BD, product, or commercial team members is preferred.

Skills

• Strong curiosity – you need to enjoy asking questions and learning fast.
• Ability to test assumptions instead of polishing them.
• Comfortable building a simple, clear story from incomplete information.
• Solid executive communication skills: talking to customers, translating technical details, writing concise summaries, and influencing senior leaders’ decisions.
• Ability to work independently and move things forward with minimal instruction.
• Not afraid to say, "This idea isn’t strong enough – let’s stop investing here."

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, chemistry, materials, business, or similar field required.
• MBA, technical graduate degree, and/or equivalent experience leading multi‑function commercial/technical teams is preferred but not required.

Other Requirements

• Up to ~25 percent travel to customers, plants, or labs.
• Ability to be hands‑on during early customer testing or trials.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
• Please note: This is not a position that Ingevity will consider for employment sponsorship. This means that Ingevity will not sponsor in any NIV category (including TN, E‑3, H‑1B, O‑1) or submit the position in the H‑1B Registration.

Recruiting Agencies

Recruiting Agencies: Ingevity does not accept unsolicited resumes and therefore, will not be responsible for any fees associated with unsolicited resumes.

Ingevity is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled.

Ingevity is a company made up of extraordinary people of every race, religion and background, all worthy of the same dignity. Our differences are one of our great strengths. Join us in building a culture of increasing diversity and respect – a culture where everyone belongs.

Headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina, Ingevity operates from 23 locations around the world and employs approximately 1,600 people. For more information, visit Ingevity.com.