Head of Appl Eng & OnSite Representative

Henkel; Madison Heights (MI); On-site; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Work-Life Balance

401k & Share Plan

Annual performance bonus

Parental Leave & Family Support

Job summary

Henkel in Michigan seeks a senior leader to drive the regional Application Engineers and OnSite team for Automotive OEMs, setting strategic direction and developing future leaders across all technologies and plants.

You will coach senior managers, guide global and regional strategies, and prioritize customer relationships while enabling innovation with development teams. This onsite role requires travel 20-50% and a strong technical background in adhesives or related industries.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in process or chemical engineering.
• 10+ years leading large, cross-functional teams at director level.
• Deep technical knowledge in adhesives, coatings, or related industries.
• Experience influencing global/regional strategies across SBUs.
• Ability to mentor senior leaders and develop future leaders.

Responsibilities

• Lead regional AE team for Automotive OEMs and set strategic direction.
• Coach and mentor senior managers and engineers; develop future leaders.
• Provide strategic technical guidance to key accounts and drive continuous improvement.
• Oversee collaboration with product development teams; align innovation with business goals.
• Champion customer feedback and KPIs at executive level; drive process improvements.
• Oversee laboratory workflow to enable collaboration with development teams.
• Utilize AI tools to improve efficiency, analysis, benchmarking, and predictive interventions.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic direction

Coaching & mentoring

Executive stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in process or chemical engineering

Tools

Adhesives/Coatings knowledge

Job description

What you´ll do

• Lead the regional AE team for Automotive OEMs, setting strategic direction and empowering Application Engineers & OnSite Representatives and their Managers to drive performance across all technologies and plants of key accounts Focus on coaching and mentoring senior managers and engineers as well as identifying and developing future leaders in the overall organization
• Foster the development and personal growth of all team members, while providing a framework for continuous business and technical related trainings for all OnSite Representatives across all technologies relevant to the Automotive OEM business
• Provide strategic oversight for technical guidance to key accounts at all customer levels, while focusing on continuous improvement and leveraging best practices globally/regionally
• Drive technical strategy rather than day-to-day troubleshooting
• Lead efforts in setting the framework for value-added visits, such as audits, troubleshooting, and demonstrations, but delegate the execution to your leadership team
• Focus your own engagement on regional customer relationships and escalated strategic issues
• Lead the collaboration with application equipment and product & technology development teams at a strategic level, ensuring innovation aligns with business goals
• Champion customer feedback and KPI results at an executive level and ensure your managers execute process improvements
• Oversee laboratory workflow and prioritization to ensure seamless collaboration with development teams to ensure technical customer satisfaction
• Leverage the use of AI tools for the purpose of increasing organizational efficiency to enable deeper analysis, benchmarking and root cause analysis to enable predictive interventions

What makes you a good fit

• Bachelor's degree in process or chemical engineering
• Extensive experience (10+years) leading large, cross-functional teams at a director level, including managing senior leaders and influencing global/regional strategies.
• Deep technical knowledge, with the ability to guide strategy and innovation within adhesives, coatings, or related industries, while delegating tactical problem-solving to your senior team.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally and globally, setting the direction and aligning strategies at an SBU and total overall business level.
• Success in developing leadership capabilities within your team and fostering technical expertise at a senior level.
• Ability to influence global and regional strategies, communicate effectively with executive stakeholders, and ensure alignment.
• Capable of managing a wide range of responsibilities and traveling as needed (20-50%) to support high-level business needs.
• This role is an onsite role - selected candidate will work in the office 5 days per week unless traveling for business

Some benefits of joining Henkel

• Health Insurance: affordable plans for medical, dental, vision and wellbeing starting on day 1
• Work-Life Balance: Paid time off including sick, vacation, holiday and volunteer time, flexible & hybrid work policies (depending on role), and vacation buy / sell program
• Financial: 401k matching, employee share plan with voluntary investment and Henkel matching shares, annual performance bonus, service awards and student loan reimbursement
• Family Support: 12-week gender neutral parental leave (up to 20 weeks for parents giving birth), fertility support, adoption & surrogacy reimbursement, discounted child and elderly care, and scholarships
• Career Growth: diverse national and international growth opportunities, access to thousands of skills development courses, and tuition reimbursement

The salary range for this role is $175,000.00 and $200,000.00. This range represents the good‑faith minimum and maximum wages the Company reasonably expects to offer for this role at the time of posting. In addition to base salary, this position may be eligible for incentive pay or other forms of compensation, as applicable. The Company also offers a comprehensive benefits package as described above. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate’s skills, experience, education, training, and work location. This posting is intended to comply with all applicable state and local pay transparency laws.

Henkel does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms or employment agencies. Unsolicited referrals and resumes are considered Henkel property and therefore, Henkel will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited referral. At Henkel, we come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe the uniqueness of all our employees is the power in us. Henkel is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.

JOB ID: 26102086

Job Locations: United States, MI, Madison Heights, MI

Application Deadline: As long as the vacancy is listed on our Career Site, we are happy to receive your application