Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Acculabs operates at the intersection of chemistry, engineering, and advanced manufacturing, providing specialty chemical solutions and laboratory services for demanding industrial applications. The Business Development Manager will generate new business across the metal-finishing industry by prospecting target accounts, leading commercial and technical discovery, coordinating trials and application work, and converting qualified opportunities into long-term production business.
Responsibilities
- Build and maintain a prioritized target-account list across attractive industries, geographies, and finishing processes; prospect consistently through phone, email, LinkedIn, referrals, trade shows, and direct plant outreach
- Develop relationships with process engineers, plant managers, plating managers, quality leaders, operations leaders, purchasing teams, and ownership
- Run first-level technical discovery on process conditions, substrates, pretreatment, plating/finishing steps, specifications, and production economics; quantify commercial potential before committing technical resources
- Serve as commercial owner of opportunities while coordinating with Acculabs' Technical Director, laboratory, and technical service team; coordinate samples, lab evaluations, line trials, and proposals through to close
- Communicate Acculabs' value beyond price — chemistry performance, process stability, technical support, laboratory capabilities, and total operating economics — and manage objections, pricing conversations, and negotiations
- Maintain an accurate CRM pipeline, prioritize opportunities by strategic fit and revenue potential, and provide regular visibility into prospecting, trial status, and forecasted revenue
- Support select existing customer or distributor relationships when strategically important, without displacing the core mandate to create new business
Skills
- Meaningful professional sales experience in technical and/or industrial products or services
- Sufficient technical understanding to become credible quickly with plating and finishing professionals
- Demonstrated high initiative, urgency, persistence, and personal accountability — a true hunter
- Willingness and ability to prospect aggressively for new business
- Comfort operating in manufacturing plants with both technical and commercial stakeholders
- Ability to learn complex chemistries, processes, applications, and customer economics
- Strong questioning, listening, discovery, communication, and follow-up skills
- Ability to organize and advance multiple complex opportunities simultaneously
- Willingness to travel regularly for customer meetings, plant visits, trials, and industry events
- Regular customer travel is required
- Experience in metal finishing, electroplating, anodizing, surface treatment, or a closely related environment
- Direct experience with electroplating chemicals, surface-finishing chemistry, or technical service in the finishing industry
- Existing relationships with captive plating or finishing operations
- Experience managing accounts and/or a territory
- Technical service, application engineering, process engineering, plating management, or lab experience combined with strong commercial aptitude
- Familiarity with cleaning/pretreatment, zinc and zinc-alloy plating, electroless nickel, copper/nickel/chromium plating, anodizing, conversion coatings, wastewater treatment, or surface-finishing process control
- Midwest preferred (Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, or another manufacturing-rich market with practical access to Chicago); remote considered for candidates with meaningful metal-finishing experience
- Candidates closer to Chicago with less direct plating experience may be considered for more intensive in-person technical development
Benefits
- Remote work considered for candidates with meaningful metal-finishing experience
- Regular customer travel is required
Company Overview