Distributor Development Manager Jobs in Illinois

Eaton's ES AMER NAS division is currently seeking a Segment Development Manager - Retail. This is a remote role that will sit within the United States.
What you'll do:
The Segment Development Manager in Eaton's Distributed Infrastructure division is a strategic market development role focused on driving growth within a specific industry segment rather than direct sales. This individual drives Eaton's go-to-market strategy for the target vertical by developing growth initiatives, building partnerships, providing training, and aligning cross-functional teams to expand Eaton's presence and revenue in that segment. This role emphasizes market development, vertical-specific growth initiatives, partnership building, and collaboration with product, marketing, and sales teams to tailor solutions for vertical needs. Success is measured by vertical market growth (ex- achieving segment sales targets, increasing customer adoption and market share gains of Eaton's power management and IT infrastructure solutions), successful execution of strategic programs, and increased customer (end user and channel partner) engagement in the segment. In doing so, the SDM serves as a bridge between the market and Eaton's internal teams, collaborating with sales, product management, and marketing to tailor solutions and messaging to vertical needs. The SDM serves as a bridge between the market and Eaton's internal teams, ensuring that customer needs and industry trends in the vertical guide Eaton's offerings and tactics.
Key Responsibilities:

• Vertical Analysis, Strategy & Planning: Shape and execute vertical market strategies for Eaton's Distributed Infrastructure offerings. Conduct market research to identify trends, customer needs, and growth opportunities.
• Market Development: Drive campaigns, solution bundles, and thought leadership to grow Eaton's presence and revenue within segment. Partner with marketing to deliver vertical-focused messaging.
• Key Accounts: Build strategic relationships with major customers and influencers. Provide industry expertise to support high-profile deals. Collaborate with partners on joint planning, sales enablement, and co-marketing. Pursue new alliances.
• Channel Partnership and Engagement: Strengthen ties with distributors, resellers, OEMs, integrators, and associations. Lead joint planning, co-marketing, and pursue new alliances to expand reach.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Align product management, engineering, marketing, and sales around vertical goals. Share customer insights to guide priorities and execution.
• Voice of Customer: Gather market intelligence (emerging trends, customer needs, competitor activity) and translate it into compelling value propositions and sales tools.
• Sales Enablement and Support: Provide industry insights, join strategic customer meetings as needed, and create tools and training to help sales capture large vertical opportunities. Sales teams retain quota ownership and final negotiations.
• Thought Leadership and Advocacy: Represent Eaton at industry and partner events, contribute to segment content, and build relationships to strengthen Eaton's reputation as a solution provider.
• Continuous Improvement: Monitor trends and adjust strategies to stay ahead, sharing best practices across segments where possible.

Qualifications:
Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution
• Minimum 5 years of business development, market development or B2B sales experience
• Possess and maintain a valid and unrestricted driver's license
• Relocation assistance is not available. Candidate must currently reside in the United States to be considered
• Eaton will not consider applicants for employment, immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1 to H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1, E-3, TN status, I-485 job portability, etc.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience in Business or Market Development
• Channel/Partner Experience: Proven experience collaborating with or managing channel partners or alliances-such as distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), and system integrators-is highly valued.
• Familiarity with power management, data center, or IT infrastructure solutions - and their applications in enterprise environments.
• Electrical industry experience or exposure to Eaton's product areas (UPS systems, racks, power distribution units, etc.)
• Proficiency with CRM software (Salesforce) and analytics tools.
• Existing relationships or network within that vertical are a strong plus, as they can accelerate engagement.

Skills:
Position Criteria:

• Ability to travel up to 50%
• Strategic Thinking and Analysis: Able to see the big picture, analyze market data & trends, and turn insights into actionable strategies.
• Communication and Presentation: Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills to convey Eaton's value.
• Relationship-Building: Strong interpersonal skills to build trust internally (influence across teams) and externally (end customers, partners, industry stakeholders).
• Leadership & Initiative: Proactive, self-driven, and able to lead cross-functional efforts without direct authority. Able to work independently
• Customer Focus: Consultative approach and mindset - listen, understand pain points, and propose value-added solutions. Able to add value beyond just selling products.
• Organizational Skills: Strong time management, task prioritization, and attention to detail and follow up.
• Industry and Product Knowledge: Maintain up-to-date expertise on industry trends, regulations, key players, and Eaton's product portfolio to align solutions with vertical needs.
• Leadership and Initiative: Drive success through proactive leadership and ownership. Inspire without direct authority, act with urgency, solve problems efficiently, and turn challenges into opportunities.
• Change Leadership: Embrace and guide others through change with clarity and confidence.

All positions may require participation in video and in-person interviews as part of the hiring process. All candidates will be evaluated based on job-related competencies, and all candidates' privacy rights and data security will be protected in accordance with applicable laws.
The compensation range for this full-time position includes base pay and target sales performance incentive. This position has a target total compensation range of $123,000-$181,000.
Base salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.
The application window for this position is anticipated to close on 7/25/26
We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.
Eaton believes in second chance employment. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction history will be considered regardless of their arrest or conviction history, consistent with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act and other local laws.
You do not need to disclose your conviction history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, if Eaton is concerned about conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report.
To request a disability-related reasonable accommodation to assist you in your job search, application, or interview process, please call us at 1-800-836-6345 to discuss your specific need. Only accommodation requests will be accepted by this phone number.
We know that good benefit programs are important to employees and their families. Eaton provides various Health and Welfare benefits as well as Retirement benefits, and several programs that provide for paid and unpaid time away from work. Click here for more detail: Eaton Benefits Overview. Please note that specific programs and options available to an employee may depend on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.