Key Account Manager - (Automotive Account Management Experience Required)

About SK Battery America (SKBA)

As the flagship entity of SK On and a leader in the electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing sector, SKBA is at the forefront of advancing high nickel technology. With an impressive revenue of $2 billion and dedicated team of over 3,000 employees, we provide high-energy density battery cells to top automotive brands like Ford, Volkswagen, and Hyundai Motors. SKBA's North American expansion is marked by strategic joint partnerships with industry giants such as Ford and Hyundai, underscoring our commitment to the evolving EV landscape.

SK Battery America’s Key Account Manager is responsible for overseeing the relationships of the company with our most important customers (OEMs). This position is responsible for securing and building strong connections with key clients and cross-functional communication with other departments such as manufacturing, sales & marketing, SCM, project management (PM), R&D and quality management to resolve customer’s request and to achieve mutual satisfaction. This role will also need to interact with external stakeholders to solve urgent complex commercial & technical problems by identifying and evaluating alternatives or by providing necessary information and advice. This position requires some on-call support.

About the Role

• Conducts regular contact and communication with purchasing and other key program personnel relative to relationship development and closure of commercial issues.
• Consults with the application team in the identification and closure of commercial issues with the objective of increasing market share, optimizing profitability, and maintaining the positive perception of SKBA as a world-class supplier
• This position will generally be assigned to programs that are less complex in nature, i.e. carry-over programs or programs involving existing technologies

Your Responsibilities

• Promotes SKBA to the customer
• Aligns customer communications with SKBA policies, philosophy, structure, capabilities, business plans, and strategy
• Works to ensure customers view SKBA as innovative, proactive, and capable
• Provides input in the development of objectives and strategies and carries out assignments to achieve the goals of the Application Team, General Manager, and Director of Sales

• Considers customer direction, market demand, competitor direction, SKBA's competitive position (i.e. capabilities, price, quality, penetration, market perception), and corporate group strategy while engaging the customer in the resolution of issues and/or the exploration of new opportunities
• Stays abreast of potential new business opportunities
• Remains knowledgeable of customer's business strategy, participates in the assessment of validity and relevance of opportunities, and appropriately communicates information and opportunities within SKBA

• Helps define and communicate customer requirements to the application teams
• Attends Product Development and other program team meetings to provide commercial goals and provide input into the resolution of commercial issues
• Responds to commercial information requests from Engineering
• Attends production runs with manufacturing representatives, as required
• Responds to tooling questions (generally non-technical) such as timing and cost
• Processes quotes and follows up on deliveries as required

• Completes tasks and resolves issues to ensure compliance to program objectives and commercial targets
• Assures timely and accurate documentation of sales and marketing deliverables as established per the product delivery process
• Ensures timely flow of business documents between the customer and SKBA
• Ensures documentation of key positions and agreements
• Ensures documented agreements meet finance guidelines and requirements
• Assists in the development and leads negotiation of program pricing and responds to internal, corporate, and customer pricing requests
• Under the guidelines and parameters set by senior sales personnel and application team management: reviews and submits quotes and other commercially related correspondence to the customer, provides target pricing, responds to quotation feedback
• Drives closure on commercial issues
• Assists as required in resolving quality and production issues and commercial aspects of engineering change issues as they relate to the customer

• Tracks "loss monies" and open cost issues and develops and implements closure strategies
• Consults with application team and matrix support organization regarding cost reduction proposals
• Provides input concerning priority, likelihood of customer acceptance, and applicability to program business strategy
• Coordinates submission of proposals and responds to customer inquiries

• Develops customer presentations
• Supports the requirements as detailed in Standard Operating Procedure 8000 (Quality Management System)
• Ensures employees work in the manner consistent with the organization's established objectives and targets utilizing protective equipment, devices, measures, and procedures as promulgated by state and federal regulations
• Establish clear goals for workplace health and safety

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience in automotive sales, program management, or engineering management preferred
• Knowledge of customers (major automotive OEMs--especially Ford and VW), product (EV battery cells, modules, components, and materials), and supply base preferred
• Customer networking abilities
• Strong communication skills: verbal, written, and technical presentations
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to successfully coordinate and complete multiple tasks within and across departments to meet established and changing deadlines
• Demonstrated successful performance with independent problem solving and presentations
• Proficient with Microsoft Office applications