Job Description
Role Profile
We are seeking a highly commercial, customer-facing Business Development Manager to drive specification wins and commercial adoption of Eastman’s compostable offerings in downstream applications. Success in this role depends less on lab-centric technical depth and more on front-end commercial capability: proactive prospecting, rapid customer influence across functions, and repeated on-site engagement. This is a high-intensity, field-first role and requires a self-directed, competitive seller who thrives on frequent travel and fast ramp-up with limited formal training.
This full-time, remote position is home-office based, ideally in the Central to East Coast area. Expect significant travel (typically 50–70%). Reporting to the Commercial Director, this role offers an exciting opportunity to develop new business for our Aventa compostable offerings in downstream applications.
Responsibilities
- Generate and qualify target opportunities aligned with business strategy; build and execute account penetration plans.
- Own front-end customer engagement: discover unmet needs, map buying processes, and influence specification decisions across procurement, R&D, operations, and senior leadership.
- Drive specification wins from initial contact to hand-off: lead customer evaluation processes, steward pilots/trials, present compelling commercial and technical value, and secure adoption/specification.
- Maintain a high cadence of in-person customer engagement
- Use public and commercial intelligence to refine market approach and prioritize accounts.
- Collaborate with Account Managers and internal technical resources to ensure smooth transition and scalable delivery once opportunities move to sales.
- Maintain CRM and opportunity management discipline to prioritize limited capacity and accelerate funnel movement.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree; Master’s or PhD preferred but not required if commercial track record is strong.
- 5–10+ years of B2B/industrial/business development or strategic account sales with a demonstrated record of winning specifications or converting trials into production business.
- Proven front-end commercial skills: prospecting, stakeholder mapping, influencing non-procurement stakeholders, negotiating specification outcomes.
- Exceptional verbal communication and presentation skills; comfortable presenting to C-suite, operations, and technical audiences.
- Proven track record of thriving in high-travel, customer-facing roles (50%+ travel) and managing heavy face-to-face cadence without burnout.
- Self-starter with high drive, energy, competitive mindset, and ability to prioritize in a lean operating model.
- Experience with CRM and opportunity management tools.
- Experience navigating long, matrixed downstream buying processes
- Prior success in sustainability-driven product commercialization. (nice-to-have)