Research And Development Manager Jobs in Freeport, IL

JOB SUMMARY

The Business Development Manager is responsible for driving profitable growth by identifying, developing, and winning new customers and new business opportunities for the company’s combustion equipment, industrial products, services, and engineered solutions.

This is a hunter-focused business development role. The successful candidate will be responsible for opening doors, developing new relationships, getting into industrial facilities and manufacturing plants, uncovering customer needs, creating qualified opportunities, and converting those opportunities into profitable new business.

This individual will be expected to actively build a territory and customer base rather than rely primarily on inbound leads, existing accounts, or an established book of business. Significant time will be spent in the field prospecting, visiting customers and prospects, networking, developing relationships, and advancing opportunities through the sales process.

The ideal candidate is a proven industrial sales or business-development professional with a demonstrated ability to sell complex technical products, equipment, engineered solutions, or industrial services. Experience with combustion systems is highly desirable, but the company will consider strong industrial sales professionals with a demonstrated track record of successfully developing new business in complex technical environments.

The successful candidate will combine strong business-development skills with the technical curiosity and problem-solving ability necessary to understand customer applications and position the company’s solutions effectively.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Identify, develop, and win new business within assigned markets and territories, with primary responsibility for new customer acquisition and new account development.
• Develop and execute a proactive territory and prospecting strategy focused on generating new revenue and expanding the company’s customer base.
• Open doors with targeted industrial companies, manufacturing facilities, plants, engineering organizations, and other prospective customers where the company does not currently have an established relationship.
• Conduct consistent outbound prospecting through cold calling, email outreach, networking, industry events, referrals, site visits, targeted campaigns, and other business-development activities.
• Research target industries, companies, facilities, applications, projects, and decision-makers to identify high-value prospects and opportunities.
• Build relationships with plant managers, engineering managers, maintenance leaders, operations personnel, procurement professionals, corporate decision-makers, and other technical and executive-level stakeholders.
• Spend significant time in the field meeting prospects and customers, visiting industrial facilities, and developing new opportunities.
• Identify customer challenges, operational requirements, capital projects, equipment needs, and service opportunities and recommend appropriate products, equipment, services, and engineered solutions.
• Develop opportunities from initial prospecting through qualification, site evaluation, solution development, proposal, negotiation, and close.
• Build and maintain a qualified new-business pipeline sufficient to support assigned revenue and growth objectives.
• Establish and execute account-entry strategies for target customers where the company does not currently have an established relationship.
• Pursue complex, consultative sales opportunities involving technical requirements, multiple stakeholders, engineering considerations, capital expenditures, and longer sales cycles.
• Prepare proposals, quotations, presentations, account strategies, and sales plans in coordination with engineering, service, operations, and management teams.
• Present technical solutions and clearly communicate the company’s value proposition, capabilities, differentiators, and expected customer benefits.
• Develop relationships with equipment manufacturers, engineering firms, contractors, consultants, and other industry partners when appropriate to generate new opportunities.
• Monitor competitive activity, market trends, capital projects, customer needs, and emerging applications within assigned markets and territories.
• Maintain accurate and timely records of prospecting activities, contacts, opportunities, proposals, sales forecasts, and pipeline status within the company’s CRM or sales-management system.
• Meet or exceed established goals for new accounts, qualified pipeline, new revenue, gross margin, sales activity, and opportunity conversion.
• Provide regular territory plans, prospecting activity reports, pipeline reviews, and accurate sales forecasts to management.
• Maintain relationships with newly acquired customers and identify opportunities for additional equipment, service, engineered solutions, and follow-on business.
• Work collaboratively with internal engineering, service, operations, and management teams to ensure successful transition and delivery of sold projects.
• Represent the company professionally at customer meetings, industry events, trade shows, and other business-development activities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Demonstrated success as a true new-business hunter, with a track record of opening new accounts, developing opportunities, and winning business from customers who were not previously buying from the company.
• Proven ability to generate opportunities through cold calling, networking, direct prospecting, field visits, referrals, and other proactive business-development activities.
• Proven ability to sell complex technical products, industrial equipment, engineered solutions, or industrial services.
• Strong business-development, prospecting, relationship-building, presentation, communication, and negotiation skills.
• Ability to establish credibility quickly with plant-level, technical, engineering, operations, procurement, and executive-level decision-makers.
• Strong consultative selling and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to understand technical customer requirements and translate them into practical equipment, product, service, or engineered solutions.
• Highly self-motivated, disciplined, competitive, persistent, and results-oriented.
• Comfortable initiating conversations with new prospects and pursuing opportunities that may require multiple contacts and a long sales cycle.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple prospects, opportunities, and sales cycles simultaneously.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to identify, qualify, prioritize, and develop sales opportunities based on customer need, probability, value, and profitability.
• Ability to manage a territory independently and take ownership of business-development results with minimal day-to-day supervision.
• Ability to work effectively with engineering, service, operations, and management teams to develop and close complex opportunities.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite and CRM or related sales-management software.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Sales, Marketing, Business, Engineering, or a related field preferred; OR
• Five or more years of successful industrial sales, business development, technical sales, engineered solutions, industrial equipment, industrial services, or related experience.
• Demonstrated success in new customer acquisition, new account development, and revenue growth strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated history of meeting or exceeding sales, revenue, margin, or business-development objectives.
• Experience selling complex technical products, equipment, engineered solutions, capital equipment, or industrial services preferred.
• Experience managing long sales cycles involving multiple technical and business stakeholders preferred.
• Experience selling into manufacturing plants, industrial facilities, process industries, or other technical environments preferred.
• Experience with combustion systems, burners, industrial furnaces, ovens, thermal processing equipment, or related technologies is highly desirable but not required.

REQUIREMENTS

• Working knowledge of NFPA 86 Standards for Ovens and Furnaces preferred.
• Ability and willingness to learn combustion systems, equipment, applications, and related technical requirements.
• Intermediate proficiency with Microsoft Office products.
• Ability to use or learn appropriate test and measuring equipment.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively throughout the assigned territory and regularly visit customer and prospect facilities.
• Must possess a valid driver’s license and maintain an excellent driving record.
• Ability to regularly visit industrial facilities, manufacturing plants, customer job sites, and other field locations.
• Ability to work in and around industrial environments while following applicable customer and company safety requirements.

PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

Success in this position will be measured primarily by the individual’s ability to create, develop, and win profitable new business. Performance expectations will include:

New Revenue

• Achieve or exceed the annual new-business revenue target established by management.
• Consistently convert qualified opportunities into new customer revenue.
• Develop a sustainable book of new business that supports the company’s growth objectives.

New Accounts

• Establish and acquire new customer accounts within assigned markets and territories.
• Demonstrate consistent progress in penetrating targeted companies and industrial facilities where the company has limited or no existing business.
• Develop relationships across multiple levels of target organizations to create opportunities and establish long-term customer relationships.

Qualified Pipeline

• Maintain a healthy, qualified sales pipeline at a level sufficient to support assigned revenue objectives.
• Consistently generate new qualified opportunities rather than relying on inherited or existing opportunities.
• Maintain accurate opportunity stages, values, close dates, next steps, and probability within the CRM.
• Demonstrate continuous pipeline development through proactive prospecting and field activity.

Gross Margin and Profitability

• Meet or exceed established gross-margin objectives on new business.
• Develop opportunities that align with the company’s target markets, capabilities, pricing strategy, and profitability requirements.
• Avoid pursuing revenue that does not meet established margin or strategic criteria.

Sales Activity and Business Development

• Maintain consistent levels of outbound prospecting, customer visits, plant visits, networking, and other new-business-development activities.
• Demonstrate the ability to independently identify target accounts, create contacts, secure meetings, uncover opportunities, and advance prospects through the sales process.
• Demonstrate measurable progress from prospecting → qualified opportunity → proposal → closed new business.

Overall Success

The successful Business Development Manager will demonstrate the ability to open doors, establish relationships, create qualified opportunities, build a strong pipeline, win new accounts, generate profitable revenue, and establish the company as a trusted technical resource within targeted industrial markets.