Vice President Innovation Business Development Jobs in Minnesota

Position Summary/Reporting Relationships:

The New Business Development Manager identifies, qualifies, develops, and converts new OEM and strategic customer opportunities within assigned markets, segments, and geographies. This role owns the prospective account portfolio from initial outreach through qualified opportunity development, proposal coordination, negotiation, and transition into sustainable customer partnership. Success requires disciplined prospecting, strong technical and commercial curiosity, value-based selling, accurate pipeline management, and consistent collaboration with Estimating, Engineering, Operations, and Account Management to deliver profitable growth aligned with Dalsin Industries’ goals.

Reporting relationships: Reports to the VP of Sales and Marketing; interacts routinely with NPI Program Manager, Engineering, Estimating, CSR, Account Managers, Production, Purchasing, Scheduling and Quality.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

The New Business Development Manager must be able to perform the following essential functions, with or without reasonable accommodation.

• Build and execute targeted business development plans for assigned markets, segments, geographies, and prospective account portfolios.
• Develop a deep understanding of regional market dynamics, target industries, customer needs, competitive positioning, and opportunities that align with Dalsin’s metal fabrication and contract manufacturing capabilities.
• Generate qualified prospects through disciplined outreach, networking, referrals, regional events, existing contacts, research, and coordinated marketing or sales campaigns.
• Qualify leads rigorously, define opportunity fit, identify key stakeholders, and advance opportunities through a documented sales process in the CRM.
• Maintain a healthy pipeline with clear next steps, accurate stage definitions, realistic close timing, and regular forecast updates for leadership review.
• Lead discovery conversations that clarify customer requirements, technical needs, buying criteria, budget expectations, timing, risks, and decision-making process.
• Coordinate with NPI Program Manager, Estimating, Engineering, Quality, Production, and other internal stakeholders to scope opportunities and develop accurate, competitive proposals.
• Develop proposals independently when appropriate and partner with estimating personnel to ensure pricing, assumptions, lead times, and value messages are clear and commercially sound.
• Sell on total value, manufacturability, quality, delivery, partnership, and lifecycle fit rather than competing primarily on price.
• Negotiate favorable agreements with prospective customers, including pricing, terms, joint development expectations, launch requirements, and appropriate risk considerations.
• Analyze emerging account profitability, margin potential, project fit, and opportunities for margin improvement.
• Build productive internal relationships that support speed, quality of response, effective handoffs, and customer satisfaction throughout the opportunity development process.
• Maintain consistent, professional communication and timely follow-up with prospects and customers to understand evolving needs and position Dalsin as a responsive partner.
• Identify ideas for new services, capability positioning, market penetration, and business development improvements.
• Provide regular updates to the VP of Sales & Marketing on pipeline status, customer activity, forecast changes, project progress, market intelligence, risks, and support needs.
• Support Dalsin Industries’ policies, procedures, core values, and company activities.
• Travel to strategic prospects, customers, trade events, and project service providers as needed, estimated up to 50%.

Key Relationships:

• Internal – NPI Program Manager, Estimators, Account Managers, Customer Service Representative, Production/Shop Management, Purchasing, Quality, VP of Sales and Marketing.
• External - Customer technical, purchasing, and executive contacts, suppliers and strategic partners.

Measurements and indicators of success (KPIs): 

• New qualified opportunities generated within targeted markets and account profiles.
• Pipeline quality, CRM hygiene, next-step discipline, and forecast accuracy.
• Win rate, gross margin quality, and alignment of new opportunities with Dalsin’s capabilities and strategic goals.
• Quality and completeness of opportunity scoping, handoffs, proposal inputs, and customer communication.
• Strength of customer relationships developed during the prospect-to-customer transition.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, or equivalent relevant experience preferred.
• Completion of professional sales, negotiation, business development, or consultative selling coursework preferred.

Experience:

• 10+ years of increasing sales or business development responsibility with OEM customers, preferably in metal fabrication, contract manufacturing, engineered products, or custom manufacturing services.
• Demonstrated success developing new accounts, qualifying complex opportunities, and converting prospects into long-term customer relationships.
• Experience with consultative selling, value-based selling, proposal development, pricing discussions, and negotiation of commercial terms.
• Experience using ERP, MRP, and CRM systems to manage accounts, opportunities, activities, forecasts, and customer information.
• Experience collaborating with estimating, engineering, quality, production, or operations teams in a technical manufacturing environment preferred.

Skills & Competencies:

• Strong prospecting, networking, lead qualification, account development, and opportunity management skills.
• Ability to read, interpret, and discuss engineering drawings, bills of material, technical specifications, and manufacturability considerations related to complete metal product manufacturing.
• Strong business acumen, analytical thinking, margin awareness, and data-driven decision-making ability.
• Excellent verbal communication, professional writing, presentation, and customer-facing communication skills.
• Exceptional negotiation, objection handling, problem-solving, and follow-through skills.
• Ability to manage multiple prospective accounts and projects concurrently with urgency, organization, and attention to detail.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• CAD familiarity, including SolidWorks or similar software, preferred but not required.

Travel Requirements and Work Environment:

• Office-based at company headquarters with regular shop/production walkthroughs. 
• Manufacturing or customer-site environments may be encountered during plant visits, customer meetings, project reviews, or tours.
• Travel expectations (up to 50%), to customer or supplier sites as needed.
• Must be able to perform computer-based work and spend time on the shop floor when requested.
• Reasonable accommodations available.