Applications Engineer

About the role

Support the Applications Engineering Department by closely collaborating with customers to deliver solutions that optimize their systems and improve performance. The role involves identifying new opportunities within existing customers, exploring new markets, and securing production business to drive annual sales growth. You will collaborate internally, provide excellent customer support externally, and apply strong technical experience to aid in product and system selection, understanding, and implementation.

Responsibilities

• Represent the company with assigned customers, establishing relationships with key customer engineers to develop new business opportunities and increase sales.
• Leverage sales skills to identify new prospects, convert leads, and develop a robust sales pipeline.
• Seek opportunities to leverage existing product portfolio into new markets or applications to grow same-line revenue.
• Conduct regular on-site visits with customers to identify opportunities and build connections.
• Assist in marketing and sales efforts, including trade shows, product training, and market trend analysis.
• Respond to application inquiries from all parties (Customer, Engineering, Production, Management) in a timely manner.
• Prepare accurate and competitive quotes for customers based on product specifications or technical proposal requests.
• Review, translate, and apply customer inquiries and technical specifications to design and/or project specifications and goals.
• Understand the form, fit, and function of products and their use in customer systems.
• Provide value through optimized solutions, continuous improvement, and cost reduction opportunities.
• Effectively communicate with internal and external customers, coordinating with internal Product Engineering groups to resolve customer issues.
• Act as the “Voice of the Customer” to ensure customer expectations are understood and exceeded.
• Understand customer timelines, design goals, and key deliverables throughout a project, and proactively communicate these within the organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering
• 5+ years of experience in Technical Sales, Applications Engineering, or Product Engineering
• Strong communication, negotiation, and project management skills
• Customer travel 25%-50%, domestically and internationally
• High mechanical aptitude
• Valid driver's license
• Experience in hydraulics, equipment manufacturing, and OEM

Skills

• Experience with hydraulics
• Experience working at or with large equipment manufacturers
• Experience working with large companies and navigating organizational politics and processes

Work Environment

Report to the Applications Engineering Manager and work on a team that includes 2 Applications Engineers, a Field Service Manager, and a Customer Change Coordinator. Work hours are from 8am to 5pm. Travel will involve using a company credit card for flights and hotels, with meals and incidentals expensed via Time & Expense.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $40.86 - $52.84/hr. Individual compensation offered within this range will depend on qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Benefits

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may include:

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital insurance
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Schedule

This is a Contract to Hire, fully onsite position based in Portage, MI.