Distribution Channel Manager

Fuchs Lubricants Co.; Harvey (IL); On-site; USD 96,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

FUCHS Lubricants Co. in the United States is seeking a Distribution Channel Manager to develop and optimize the distributor network across Industrial, Specialty, Automotive, and Mining sectors.

You will partner with pricing, demand planning, and marketing to enable consultative selling, align territories, and drive profitable growth, with up to 50% travel.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Science, or Business.
• 5-10 years of lubricants distribution experience across industrial, automotive, or specialty.
• Proven B2B sales experience in a technical field.
• Experience with distributor scorecards, joint business plans, or training programs.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with customer focus.
• Excellent written and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority.
• Willingness to travel at least 50% domestically.

Responsibilities

• Develop, manage, and optimize the distributor network and channel structure.
• Create annual joint business plans with volume, growth, and marketing goals.
• Establish distributor scorecards and conduct reviews.
• Collaborate with distributors to generate end-user business and training events.
• Assist distributors in shifting to consultative selling with services.
• Design training and certification programs for partners.
• Work with Pricing, Demand Planning, Customer Service, Marketing to ensure pricing and availability.
• Drive adoption of digital tools and maintain CRM-based plans and pipelines.

Skills

B2B sales

Presentation skills

Relationship building

Cross-functional alignment

Travel 50% domestically

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Science/Business

Job description

MOVING YOUR WORLD by focusing on your success:

FUCHS offers a challenging and rewarding working environment where employees are encouraged to develop and grow. We stand behind our core values: trust, creating value, respect, reliability, and integrity. Ours is a culture that fosters creativity and empowerment, values work/life balance, and gives you the freedom to excel. At FUCHS we aim to nurture your capabilities, ideas and career.

Salary:

FUCHS offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience in a similar position. The salary range for this position is up to $160,000 per year and up to (3) manager shares, but actual salary will vary depending upon a new hire's experience and qualifications as well as internal equity.

Your Responsibilities:

The Distribution Channel Manager reports to the Vice President of Commercial Excellence and is responsible for developing and optimizing FUCHS's distributor network across all divisions in the United States including: Industrial, Specialty, Automotive, and Mining. This role builds the channel into a true extension of the FUCHS commercial organization, driving distributor performance, market coverage, and profitable growth across the full FUCHS portfolio. Working closely with Pricing, Demand Planning, Customer Service, and Marketing, the Distribution Channel Manager equips distributor partners to shift from order-taking to consultative selling of the complete lubricants-plus offering, including technical services, oil analysis, and reliability programs.

Key responsibilities include:

• Develop, manage, and continuously evaluate the distributor network and channel structure recommending additions, exits, or territory realignments, onboarding new partners in underserved territories, and establishing clear territory assignments and account mapping to eliminate channel conflict.
• Develop annual joint business plans with each distributor including: volume targets, growth initiatives, product-mix goals, and marketing activities. Also responsible in setting budgets, goals, and growth targets aligned to FUCHS objectives.
• Establish distributor scorecards tracking sales growth, product-mix penetration, inventory turns, payment performance, and lead conversion, and conduct regular business reviews against plan.
• Collaborate with distributors to identify, pursue, and close new end-user business. Act as a technical and commercial resource and execute lead-generation programs through joint calls, end-user training, and product demonstration events.
• Support distributors in transitioning from order-taking to consultative selling, equipping their teams to position the full FUCHS lubricants-plus offering, including technical services, oil analysis, and reliability programs.
• Design and deliver product, application, and technical training for distributor sales teams, and develop certification or tiering programs that reward high-performing partners with enhanced support, co-marketing investment, and preferred positioning.
• Partner with Pricing, Demand Planning, Customer Service, and Marketing to ensure consistent pricing, product availability, and service levels, and to localize co-branded materials and campaigns for distributor deployment.
• Drive distributor adoption of FUCHS digital tools - ordering portals, technical resource libraries, and CRM-based opportunity tracking - and maintain accurate account business plans, performance reports, and pipeline updates in CRM.

Percentages indicate the approximate share of time dedicated to each area and may vary with the maturity of the channel and business priorities.

Qualifications we are looking for:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Science, or Business
• 5-10 years of lubricants distribution experience, with exposure across industrial, automotive, or specialty markets preferred
• Proven B2B sales experience in a technical field preferred
• Experience building or managing distributor scorecards, joint business plans, or channel training programs a plus
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a strong customer-focused approach
• Excellent written and presentation skills
• Proven relationship-building and influencing skills
• Ability to align cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority
• Willingness to travel at least 50% domestically

These are your benefits:

FUCHS offers a challenging and rewarding working environment where employees are encouraged to develop and grow as professionals. In this role, you will have the opportunity to work on projects that will expand your experience and challenge your abilities in the global marketplace. The position also offers an excellent compensation package and a comprehensive suite of benefits. Detailed benefit information can be found at this link: https://fuchs.com/us/en/benefits.

FUCHS Lubricants Co. is an equal employment opportunity (EEO)/AA employer and strongly supports diversity in the workplace (m/f/d/v).