Sales Director

Milliken & Company, an innovation company that has been exploring, discovering, and creating ways to enhance people’s lives since 1865.  With expertise across a breadth of disciplines including specialty chemicals, floor covering, and performance materials, we work around the world to add value to people’s lives, improve health and safety, and make the world more sustainable.  We have a global presence with 42 manufacturing facilities located in the U.S., U.K., Belgium, France and China.  In addition, sales and service operations are located throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. 

Headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina, our eight thousand associates across 46 locations are a diverse global team of scientists, engineers, manufacturers, designers, thinkers, and problem solvers. People who come to work every day with curious minds and an unwavering commitment to delivering sustainable solutions for our customers and communities. Named to the World’s Most Ethical Companies list by Ethisphere Institute for 15 consecutive years, we rally behind a common purpose: to positively impact the world for generations.

The China plastic Additives business is a very important region for our plastic additives business representing roughly 22 % of our global revenue. The business consists out of additives sales to polypropylene and polyethylene producers as well as sales of additives, colorants and masterbatches to masterbatch and converter companies. The sales teams consists out of a team dedicated to support the resin producers, a sales team responsible for converters and brands and a business development responsible for inter-material replacement opportunities. The technical team consist out of TSD engineers and a lab with lab associates.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Sales Director China is responsible for managing a team of ~ 30 associates. The team consists out of sales associates, TSD associates, lab associates and sales support functions. Together with his/her team the Sales Director will be responsible for managing the daily commercial business of in the China region. He/she will be responsible for executing on the revenue targets set by the senior leadership and will be responsible for maintaining and growing market share as well as new business development. Reporting to the Sales Director will be 3 team leaders: a) upstream sales manager b) downstream sales manager c) TSD leader and support functions. The Regional Sales Director is part of the global Plastic Additives leadership team and will be responsible for refining and developing the local China strategy.

This role reports to the Global Vice-President Plastic Additives.

 Key activities supporting this critical function will include:

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage the daily commercial operations of the China team
• Manage a group of 4 team leaders; support the individuals in their performance and individual development
• Travel together with the team members and establish and maintain customer relationships
• Together with HR, be responsible for hiring, performance management and succession planning
• Execute against the annual targets set by management and report monthly financial updates against the growth targets
• Create a 3- 5 year strategic plan, set priorities for the team and execute against the agreed priorities
• Develop a pipeline of new opportunities to ensure a long-term healthy growth of the business
• Together with marketing, provide clear analysis and strategic direction for the China market
•  

QUALIFICATIONS

• A high energy leader with a great sense of ownership.  “It’s my business” mentality.
• Exhibit a sense of urgency and independent initiative toward accomplishing objectives
• Bachelor's degree in chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.  MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years professional work experience, with expertise in sales and a minimum of 8 year of management of a team is required
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in a multi-national company, expertise with distributors is a strong advantage
• Strong leadership skills and ability to inspire people to reach a common goal
• Effective communication and presentation skills
• Ability to forge working relationships quickly across the China network of customers and industry associations, demonstrated cultural agility
• Ability to travel >50% of the time across China
• Fluent in Mandarin and English