NORTH AMERICA SALES SPECIALIST- SPECIALTY CHEMICALS

About the role

The Sales Specialist for Specialty Chemicals is a segment expert responsible for accelerating Yokogawa’s growth in the Specialty Chemicals market, with strong emphasis on batch and semi-batch processes. This role blends technical domain expertise, business development, and customer engagement.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as Yokogawa’s industry expert for Specialty Chemicals, including batch applications, polymerization, resins, coatings, adhesives, fine chemicals, and intermediates.
• Provide best practices, domain insights, and guidance on ISA-88, batch recipe management, quality consistency, flexibility, and operational excellence.
• Build a personal network within the segment and represent Yokogawa at industry conferences, workshops, and technical forums.
• Identify customer pain points, challenges, and mid- to long-term needs; translate them into Yokogawa solutions.
• Support sales teams in uncovering and qualifying new projects (greenfield, brownfield, expansions, MRO).
• Conduct discovery sessions and strategic conversations with operations, engineering, process control, maintenance, IT/OT, and leadership.
• Develop and implement relationship management plans for complex and strategic accounts—including influencers, technical stakeholders, and corporate decision makers.
• Build and maintain strong customer relationships based on trust, delivery, and operational value.
• Ensure a two-way flow of information between customers and Yokogawa; drive timely resolution of customer needs and issues.
• Solicit customer feedback and action it internally to improve service levels, solution fit, and long-term satisfaction.
• Lead cross-functional teams—including Solutions Consulting, Engineering, Product, Service, and Marketing—to design tailored product-and-service packages aligned with customer requirements.
• Influence internal stakeholders to align proposals with customer needs while maintaining margin and strategic focus.
• Introduce internal subject matter experts where needed and coordinate value demonstrations, workshops, and technical assessments.
• Support opportunity strategy, solution framing, and commercial positioning for major pursuits.
• Maintain pipeline accuracy and account intelligence within Salesforce (or applicable CRM).
• Provide insight to global and regional teams on market trends, competitive activity, and system/process improvements.
• Work with Business Marketing and Market Intelligence to develop segment campaigns, case studies, and value propositions.
• Provide input to global Materials teams on segment priorities, competitive dynamics, digitalization trends, and evolving batch needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a STEM discipline (Chemical Engineering preferred).
• 6–10+ years of experience in Specialty Chemicals, batch processing, process control, or industrial automation.
• Deep understanding of batch processes, ISA-88, recipe management, and quality/repeatability challenges.
• Strong business development, customer-facing, or sales support experience within the process industries.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret strategy and translate it into actionable plans and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage complex, multi-stakeholder engagements.
• Willingness to travel frequently (planned and short-notice) across North America.

Preferred Experience

• With DCS/SIS, MES/batch systems, instrumentation, APC, historians, or digital/analytics solutions.
• Exposure to North American chemical clusters (Gulf Coast, Louisiana, Midwest).
• Prior experience in a global organization with multi-site customer structures.

Competencies & Attributes

• Customer-centric with strong consultative skills.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to lead long-cycle relationship development.
• High integrity, professionalism, and commitment to Yokogawa values.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence without authority and collaborate across functions and cultures.
• Self-driven, organized, and capable of managing multiple initiatives concurrently.