Sales Development Leader - Midwest Region

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Sales Development Leader - Midwest Region based in the United States. This role leads sales development and commercial growth across a high-potential Midwest/Central U.S. territory. You’ll work closely with distributor partners, sales teams, fabricators, OEMs, and internal functions to expand market share and strengthen customer relationships. The position combines strategic account development with hands-on technical, product, and commercial support for leading sheet product portfolios. You’ll identify and develop significant new business opportunities while protecting margins and improving overall account profitability. The role requires strong market intelligence, competitive analysis, pricing expertise, and an ability to translate customer needs into actionable growth strategies. You’ll also help drive product adoption through training, joint customer visits, new product introductions, and application development. This is a remote position covering a broad regional territory, with preference for candidates located in major cities with convenient access to an airport.

Lead sales and business development activities across the Midwest/Central United States, with responsibility for driving sales growth, market share, and margin performance across key sheet product portfolios. Support distributor outside-sales teams through technical assistance, product expertise, commercial guidance, joint customer calls, and new account development. Drive core sheet volume growth by participating in distributor training, joint sales calls, product launches, and new product implementation initiatives. Build and maintain strong relationships with distributor leadership, conversion and fabrication partners, OEMs, and other stakeholders across the value chain. Identify, develop, and manage high-value new business opportunities, including opportunities exceeding $5 million in annual potential, through new customer acquisition and competitive share shifts. Create and execute account and branch-level growth plans designed to increase product adoption, sales volume, market penetration, and customer value. Organize product-focused initiatives such as product blitzes, branch training, application development sessions, and product knowledge programs. Conduct regular business reviews with channel partners, assessing performance, new product introduction results, application opportunities, competitive activity, and future growth potential. Collect and analyze account, market, customer, and competitive data to identify opportunities, regional preferences, market changes, and potential risks. Develop competitive strategies for the Midwest market and communicate actionable recommendations to leadership. Implement product and channel strategies with distributor partners in alignment with commercial objectives, volume targets, and margin expectations. Partner with Inside Sales, Customer Service, Pricing, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and other internal functions to ensure effective customer support and commercial execution. Drive continuous commercial process improvements throughout the value chain, from manufacturing and supply through distribution and the ultimate customer. Evaluate fulfillment and supply chain requirements to optimize service levels and minimize transportation and logistics costs. Establish pricing and price points, implement customer price lists, and use appropriate pricing tools to support profitable growth. Determine which distributor partners are best positioned to serve key OEM and fabrication customers based on product, service, geographic, and commercial requirements. Manage the profitability of multiple distributor accounts and focus on contribution-margin growth in addition to top-line sales performance. Address moderately complex commercial and market challenges independently, developing practical and innovative solutions. Coordinate across multiple customer interfaces, including management, outside sales, inside sales, and other commercial stakeholders. Requirements Bachelor’s degree in Business or a related field required; MBA preferred, or an equivalent combination of education and professional experience. Approximately 10 years of sales and/or distribution management experience , preferably in a technical product, manufacturing, industrial, or channel-driven environment. Strong sales and business development background with a demonstrated ability to identify, develop, and close growth opportunities. Extensive knowledge of relevant markets, products, applications, distribution channels, and competitive dynamics. Strong account management and relationship-building capabilities, particularly with complex distributor and customer organizations. Excellent interpersonal, communication, influencing, and negotiation skills. Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with the ability to turn market and customer information into actionable commercial strategies. Demonstrated leadership skills and the ability to influence cross-functional and external teams without relying solely on direct authority. Strong commercial judgment and understanding of pricing, profitability, contribution margin, and supply chain considerations. Ability to manage multiple complex accounts and stakeholders while maintaining focus on growth and customer needs. Ability to provide technical and product guidance to sales teams and customers and translate product capabilities into customer applications. Willingness and ability to travel regularly throughout the Midwest/Central region for customer visits, distributor meetings, training, and business reviews. Candidates based in major cities with convenient access to an airport are preferred. Ability to maintain regular, predictable attendance and work Monday through Friday during assigned operating hours, along with additional hours when business needs require. Benefits Full-time remote position covering the Midwest/Central United States. Competitive compensation and benefits package. Opportunities to work with established, high-profile product portfolios across diverse industrial and commercial markets. Comprehensive learning and professional development programs designed to support long-term career growth. Opportunities to collaborate with sales, manufacturing, supply chain, pricing, customer service, and other cross-functional teams. Significant regional responsibility and autonomy in developing customer, distributor, and market strategies. Opportunity to influence sales growth, market share, customer development, and profitability across a broad territory. Inclusive workplace culture built around respect, collaboration, and equal opportunity. Regular exposure to senior distributor and customer leadership. Opportunities to develop expertise across sales, product applications, channel management, pricing, and commercial strategy.

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