Sales Representative - Life Sciences (Houston)

Avantor; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 59,000 - 101,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) with company match

Employee stock purchase program

11 paid holidays

18 PTO days annually

6 weeks parental leave

Job summary

Avantor | VWR is seeking a dedicated Sales Representative to maintain and grow education and medical research sales in the Houston region. This full-time field role involves consultative selling, building relationships, and driving growth across a defined territory.

You will manage end-to-end sales, from prospecting through close, collaborating with product specialists and leadership to achieve targets, while representing Avantor in the field and navigating the full sales cycle including

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent/applicable experience.
• 3+ years of sales experience in a complex environment or 3+ years in life sciences.
• Proven track record of verifiable sales success with consultative/strategic selling.
• B2B sales experience, with distribution experience and/or scientific background preferred.
• Experience with SPIN, Challenger, Miller Heiman and related selling methodologies; proficient in Salesforce.com and Qlikview.
• Willingness to travel to customer locations 5 days a week; must reside in Houston, TX area.
• Holder of a valid Driver's License.

Responsibilities

• Own and grow a defined sales territory with a strategic plan.
• Sell consultatively by understanding customer needs and proposing VWR products and solutions.
• Prospect and acquire new customers while growing existing accounts.
• Build strong, long-term relationships to drive satisfaction and loyalty.
• Collaborate with product specialists, manufacturer partners, and sales leadership.
• Manage a diverse product portfolio and align with company strategies and marketing.

Skills

Consultative selling

Relationship building

Strategic selling

Negotiation

Travel to customer locations

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Salesforce.com

Qlikview

Job description

The Opportunity

Avantor | VWR is looking for a dedicated, high-energy Sales Representative to maintain and grow our Education & Medical Research sales efforts within the Houston region.

This is a full-time, field-based position where you will have the opportunity to consultatively sell VWR’s extensive portfolio of products and services to researchers, scientists, and operational staff. If you have a passion for science, enjoy building relationships, and thrive in a customer-facing sales environment—we’d love to talk.

What you’ll do & How you'll make an impact

As a Sales Representative at Avantor | VWR, you will manage all sales activities within your assigned territory, from prospecting through close. You’ll act as the CEO of your territory, owning your strategy, relationships, and results while driving growth through consultative selling.

Key responsibilities include:

• Own and grow a defined sales territory by developing and executing a strategic sales plan
• Sell consultatively by understanding customer needs and recommending VWR products and solutions
• Prospect and acquire new customers while growing and retaining existing accounts
• Build strong, long-term customer relationships to drive satisfaction and loyalty
• Collaborate with product specialists, manufacturer partners, and sales leadership to support customer success
• Manage a diverse product portfolio and align sales efforts with company strategies and marketing initiatives
• Represent VWR in the field and support all stages of the sales cycle, including negotiation and post-sale support

What you’ll need

We are looking for a disciplined, self-starter, who does what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it. We are looking for team members that can operate by our ICARE values to drive faster than market results. Team members must be able to understand the individual customer drivers and execute on a plan to maximize the value that we can drive for our customers.

Qualifications include:

• College degree or equivalent/applicable experience
• 3+ years of experience working in a complex sales environment, where multiple people are involved in the purchasing decision and there is a solution based selling approach, or 3+ year of life sciences work
• A proven track record of verifiable sales success driving growth with a consultative, strategic selling approach
• Business-to-business sales experience, with preference given to those with distribution experience and a scientific background and/or having work in a laboratory or research environment
• Demonstrated capability to effectively utilize best in class selling processes (e.g. SPIN, Challenger, Miller Heiman) and technology platforms including Salesforce.com and Qlikview
• Willingness to travel to customer locations 5 days a week (must reside in Houston, TX or surrounding suburbs)
• Holder of a valid Driver's License

What we offer you

We are pleased to offer our team a competitive compensation package and a full complement of employee benefits. We strive to offer benefits that will support our associates in being healthy, happy and successful. We offer a number of programs, resources and incentives designed to foster the total health and well-being of you and your family!

Enviromental Working Conditions & Physical Effort (Under Typical Positions)

Typically works in a home office environment with extensive regional travel to customer locations.

Work assignments are diversified. Examples of past precedent are used to resolve work problems. New alternatives may be developed to resolve problems.

A frequent volume of work and deadlines impose strain on routine basis.

Minimal physical effort is required. Work is mostly sedentary but does require walking, standing, bending, reaching, lifting or carrying objects that typically weigh less than 10 lbs.

Pay Transparency

The expected pre-tax pay for this position is $59,150.00 - $100,740.00. This reflects base salary.

This position is subject to incentive compensation, where the expected pre-tax Target Cash Opportunity (“TCO”) for this position is based on the achieved sales and in the amount/range of $98,600.00 - $167,900.00. Actual Pay may differ depending on relevant factors such as prior experience and eligible geographic location. TCO is defined as Base Salary + Target Sales Incentive (Sales Incentive eligible role only).

EEO Statement

We are an Equal Employment/Affirmative Action employer and VEVRAA Federal Contractor. We do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state/province, or local law.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Requests for accommodation will be considered on a case‑by‑case basis. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

For more information about equal employment opportunity protections, please view the Know Your Rights poster.

Privacy Policy

We will use the personal information that you have submitted to us in order to consider your application for the relevant role.

Your privacy is important to us. Please:

for our Privacy Policy which explains the purposes for which we will use your personal information and the ways in which we will handle and retain your information. It also explains the rights you have in relation to your information, and how to contact us with any queries or requests.

3rd Party Non‑Solicitation Policy

By submitting candidates without having been formally assigned on and contracted for a specific job requisition by Avantor, or by failing to comply with the Avantor recruitment process, you forfeit any fee on the submitted candidates, regardless of your usual terms and conditions. Avantor works with a preferred supplier list and will take the initiative to engage with recruitment agencies based on its needs and will not be accepting any form of solicitation.

Benefits

Avantor offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage, wellness programs, health savings and flexible spending accounts, a 401(k) plan with company match, and an employee stock purchase program. Employees also receive 11 paid holidays, accrue 18 PTO days annually, are eligible for volunteer time off and 6 weeks of 100% paid parental leave (except in states that offer paid family leave). These benefits may not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement or those subject to other eligibility rules.

Why Avantor?

Dare to go further in your career.

Join our global team of 14,000+ associates whose passion for discovery and determination to overcome challenges relentlessly advances life-changing science.

The work we do changes people’s lives for the better.

It brings new patient treatments and therapies to market, giving a cancer survivor the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle. It enables medical devices that help a little boy hear his mom’s voice for the first time. Outcomes such as these create unlimited opportunities for you to contribute your talents, learn new skills and grow your career at Avantor.

We are committed to helping you on this journey through our diverse, equitable and inclusive culture which includes learning experiences to support your career growth and success. At Avantor, dare to go further and see how the impact of your contributions set science in motion to create a better world.