Key Account Manager

Smiths Group; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

John Crane, a business of Smiths Group, seeks a Key Account Manager to strengthen relationships with priority customers in North America. The role focuses on revenue growth through upselling, cross-selling, and strategic collaboration with senior management.

You will align customer objectives with our solutions, lead cross-functional discussions, and work with GAM-led strategies to meet orders, margins, and customer success across the region.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a related field.
• Experience in sales/account management with negotiations and contracts.
• Strong networking and communication skills across multiple levels.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders in assigned accounts.
• Execute the global account strategy in alignment with GAM.
• Understand customers' objectives and align solutions accordingly.
• Grow revenue through upselling and cross-selling within existing accounts.
• Lead technical discussions and support decision-making within engineering standards.

Skills

Relationship management

Negotiation

Strategic account management

Communication skills

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Marketing, Business Management, or related field

Tools

CRM software

MS Office

Job description

John Crane, a business of Smiths Group, is a global leader in mission-critical flow control solutions for energy and process industries that enable efficient and sustainable operations. Our products include mechanical seals and systems, couplings, bearings, filtration systems, and predictive digital monitoring technologies.
We have a global network of more than 200 sites in over 50 countries and employ more than 6,000 people worldwide. We partner with our customers to help them keep their operations safe, reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and meet the latest environmental standards.
John Crane is part of Smiths Group. For over 170 years, Smiths has been pioneering progress by engineering for a better future. We serve millions of people every year, helping to create a safer, more efficient, productive, and better-connected world across four global markets: energy, security & defence, space & aerospace, and general industrial. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Smiths employs approximately 16,000 colleagues in over 50 countries.

Job Description

The Key Account Manager (KAM) is responsible for developing, managing, and strengthening relationships with assigned customers at the local level. This role focuses on building trusted partnerships with senior management stakeholders and creating mutual value through strategic collaboration.

As a sales-focused position, the KAM drives revenue growth by identifying, developing, and securing new business opportunities within existing customer accounts. The role requires a strong understanding of customer needs, the ability to align solutions with business objectives, and a proactive approach to expanding account potential while ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction and long-term retention.

Responsibilities include but not limited to the following:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders and senior leaders within assigned customer accounts, serving as the primary point of contact for all account-related matters.
• Deploy and execute the global account strategy in alignment with direction provided by the Global Account Manager (GAM).
• Develop a deep understanding of customers’ business objectives, challenges, R&D priorities, and strategic requirements to effectively align company solutions.
• Identify and capitalize on opportunities to grow revenue through upselling, cross-selling, and expanding the scope of services within existing accounts.
• Lead technical discussions and support customer decision-making while ensuring compliance with internal engineering standards and policies.
• Develop and execute account plans to achieve order intake, sales, and margin targets in collaboration with local and global account teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Engineering, Marketing, Business Management, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience is preferred. High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Experience in Sales and/or Account Management, including customer relationship management, negotiations, contracts, and related legal/commercial matters.
• Outstanding networking, relationship-building, and communication skills, with the ability to influence customers and stakeholders at multiple organizational levels.
• Recognized industry expertise in Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for rotating equipment and a strong understanding of associated end‑user markets.
• Ability and willingness to travel approximately 50%, primarily throughout North America, including occasional travel to Canada. Global travel may occur for internal company events as needed.
• Facilitate effective communication and information sharing between the GAM, KAM network, regional sales teams, customer service, and global project teams.
• Experience working within a global, culturally diverse organization is preferred.

Job grade and compensation will be determined based on qualifications and relevant experience.

Additional Information

With colleagues stretching across the globe, we are proud of our diversity. To foster inclusivity, we run employee resource groups (ERGs) to provide a safe space for employees to connect and support each other. Our cross-business ERGs include Veterans, Pride Network, Black Employee Network, Women@Work Network, and Neurodiversity.

Across our company, we recognize excellence, culminating in the Smiths Excellence Awards, our annual celebration of the most extraordinary activities, people, and projects that best showcase our strengths and help drive our business forward. We announce these on our annual Smiths Day, a global celebration of Smiths around our network.

Join us for a great career with competitive compensation and benefits, while helping engineer a better future.

We believe that different perspectives and backgrounds are what make a company flourish. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, economic status, disability, age, or any other legally protected characteristics. We are proud to be an inclusive company with values grounded in equality and ethics, where we celebrate, support, and embrace diversity.

We believe that different perspectives and backgrounds are what make a company flourish. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment regardless of color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, economic status, disability, age, or any other legally protected characteristics. We are proud to be an inclusive company with values grounded in equality and ethics, where we celebrate, support, and embrace diversity.