Key Account Manager (Sparta, WI)

Northern Engraving Corp.; Sparta (WI); On-site; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Northern Engraving is seeking a Key Account Manager to serve as the core liaison for its global strategic customers. This role involves managing global customer relationships, conducting research on client needs, and implementing commercial plans for sales expansion.

The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of experience in global account management, particularly in the automotive industry, and possess strong negotiation and communication skills to handle international customer engagements effectively.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in global account management.
• Proficient in identifying business opportunities and implementing commercial plans.
• Experience in the automotive industry preferred.

Responsibilities

• Manage global customer strategic relationships and coordinate customer development.
• Conduct research on customers' business needs and market trends.
• Develop and implement commercial plans for sales expansion.

Skills

Global commercial negotiation skills

Cross-cultural communication

Organizational capabilities

Microsoft Office proficiency

Sales growth expertise

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Management, Engineering, or Automotive-related fields

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Job description

Purpose

The Key Account Manager is the core liaison for the company's global strategic customers. This position oversees the maintenance and expansion of cooperative relationships under the customer's global business layout, leads full-cycle commercial collaboration and information flow. By accurately identifying customer needs, formulating medium and long-term cooperation strategies, and implementing commercial plans, it achieves mutual growth of customer value and company profitability, and builds sustainable global strategic partnerships.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Responsible for global customer strategic relationship management. This involves coordinating the development of new customers and the deepening of existing core customer relationships worldwide; establishing and maintaining long‑term strategic cooperative relationships in conjunction with the customer's global business layout.
• Conducting in‑depth research on customers' global business needs, development plans, and market trends to accurately identify customers' potential needs and pain points. Acts as the global information hub between customers, the company, and its affiliates to ensure efficient and accurate cross‑regional and cross‑departmental information flow, synchronizing customer feedback and corporate resource support.
• Responsible for commercial planning and sales expansion. Accurately identify short‑term (1~3 years), medium‑term (3-5 years), and long‑term (over 5 years) business opportunities of customers and the global market; take the lead in formulating phased commercial business plans, clarifying sales targets, implementation paths, resource allocation, and expected profit returns.
• Promotes the implementation of commercial plans; track progress regularly, analyze execution deviations, and dynamically adjust strategies to ensure the achievement of sales targets and profit indicators. Responsible for developing global sales expansion strategies, exploring new business scenarios and cooperation models; negotiating transnational business opportunities on behalf of the company with customers, finalizing cooperation details, and ensuring the successful landing of new business opportunities.
• Provide high‑level customer service globally, establish a rapid response mechanism, and promptly handle customer issues, complaints, and emergencies in cross‑regional cooperation. Maintain and manage the global customer commercial open items list (including contract performance, payment settlement, demand changes, etc.) to ensure closed‑loop management of matters. Regularly report cooperation progress to customers, collect customer satisfaction feedback, and continuously optimize service processes and cooperation models.
• Lead and coordinate global cross‑departmental collaboration (Project Management, Cost Control, Design, Engineering, Manufacturing, etc.) to ensure full‑cycle commercial support for customer projects. Link regional teams of the company to coordinate resource allocation and collaborative advancement of customers' global business, and resolve process barriers and communication obstacles in cross‑regional cooperation.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Management, Engineering, or Automotive‑related fields is required; Master's preferred. Professional certifications such as Project Management Professional (PMP) or Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) preferred.
• At least five (5) years' experience in global account management. Global account management experience in the automotive industry preferred.
• Excellent global commercial negotiation skills and cross‑cultural communication skills (written + verbal), capable of effectively handling transnational customer engagement scenarios.
• Proficient in business opportunity identification, short/medium/long‑term commercial plan formulation and implementation, with a proven track record of sales growth or customer development success.
• Outstanding organizational and coordination capabilities, as well as cross‑departmental and cross‑regional collaborative leadership skills, able to effectively motivate teams to advance global projects.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) with strong data analysis and report writing capabilities.
• Willingness to travel frequently internationally/regionally, self‑driven, and have a strong desire to exceed sales budget targets.
• Familiar with the automotive industry supply chain, manufacturing processes, and global market dynamics.
• Experience as a Global Key Account Manager in multinational enterprises, with successful cases of serving global customers of well‑known automotive brands preferred.
• Engineering or manufacturing background, able to deeply understand customer technical needs and product implementation logic is beneficial.