Technical Key Account Manager - Buffalo, NY

Position Summary

The purpose of this position is to provide outstanding technical and testing client service support to an assigned client and their vendor partners.  Develop and maintain productive client relationships through professional service by applying knowledge within safety standards and regulations to various consumer products.  Protect the client's brand by actively participating in developing, implementing and measuring continuous improvement to the client's technical processes.  Liaise with Technical Services (TS) as it relates to support, consultation, interpretations and governance.  

In Addition, this position is to develop strong and sustainable working relationships with assigned clients while providing global functional leadership for the management of client programs and develop plans and implement growth strategies for assigned client portfolio.  Provide updates and overall account health status to Executive teams.

Objective

• Fully understand client organization, their business model, goals and strategies (including leadership personnel, key initiatives, news and financials) to drive business development activities. Ensure alignment of BVCPS resources with client needs and expectations to realize client satisfaction.
• Fully accountable to deliver “Health of Account” reports to Executive Leadership and Operations. Ensure market alignments Metrics are achieved and soft issues are managed effectively.
• In coordination with PL and TS, develop and manage the sale of “New Services” to existing accounts. Achievement of incremental sales.
• Manage client and vendor relationships while assuring optimal operational performance and contributing to the mutually beneficial client/service provider relationship. To provide technical, safety and quality assurance consultation support for the client in the areas of specifications, standards, regulations and research.  To provide outstanding technical and testing client service support to the client and their vendor partners.

Major Roles & Responsibilities

Technical

• Assist in the development, implementation and maintenance of internal and external client documentation, standard operating procedures, quality assurance protocols/standards, as well as compliance with policies, procedures and standards
• Continual improvement of client program in terms of efficiency and effectiveness
• Lead technical portions of client meetings, presentations and seminars and develop and deliver service line training presentations for client and supplier seminars.
  Participate in meetings with the client to introduce and explain BV's services in the appropriate service line.
• Support on boarding of new vendors or staff for the client. 
• Alignment of internal technical documents for more consistent operational execution.
• Provide technical support in the development of client standards and / or revision of existing standards.
• Manage, analyze and communicate technical issues/questions.  In conjunction with TS, research solutions as needed and provide recommendations for resolutions and required product improvement for product safety and performance requirements.
• Investigate consumer complaints and product failures by investigating historical reports such as past Line Review comments, test reports, communication with sourcing offices, etc., in order to identify root cause of failure and corrective or preventative action.
• Contribute to special projects (i.e., competitor product studies, manual updates, etc.) as requested by the client and/or internal business partners.
• Keep up to date on technological changes in assigned areas of responsibilities through industry publications, seminars and working with Subject Matter Consultant (SMC) in TS.
• Attend seasonal product line reviews and participate in product development meetings.
  Support team in preparing power point presentations, conducting Merchant and vendor training, developing training materials and agenda.
• BVCPS technical contact for all safety/regulatory issues/questions associated with assigned consumer product programs for clients.
• Participate in inter- and intra- company actions teams, including team members from client.
• In conjunction with the IRC, perform applied research to support standards development or product research as well as injury research as needed.
• Attend safety related consumer product conferences needed to keep safety knowledge and skills current.
• Interface with local staff members and with other BVCPS locations to ensure global technical consistency regarding regulatory requirements interpretations, client safety requirements and operations and process activities.
• Contribute to a mutually beneficial client / service provider relationship.

Account Management

• In coordination with Product Line, Operations and Executive Sponsor develop and implement “Win-Back” strategies for accounts where BVCPS has lost market share. A process to bring existing client from dissatisfied to not dissatisfied / satisfied and recapture lost sales, move from OOA to Primary or exclusive.
• Manage the P & L for assigned accounts including accurate forecasting and budgeting.
• Interface with clients to continuously calibrate their expectations with BVCPS performance and resolve or escalate issues that do not meet client expectations.
• Identify and coordinate the development of additional BVCPS services offerings (IAC, SA, etc) to fully maximize BVCPS’ engagement with the client.
• Manage price negotiation, discounts, contracts, RFP’s between client and BVCPS related parties.
• Collect, monitor and disseminate data on sourcing and/or market trends along with client needs to feedback to the operations team.     
• Monitor, identify and communicate to relevant parties any risk or opportunities based on continuous review of the health of the account.
• Ensure creation and execution of account reviews quarterly (SBR)
• Manage client meetings and presentations along with participating in training seminars and/or tradeshows.
• Maintaining account activates in Sales Force.com (Accounts, Opportunities, Contacts, etc.)
• Other duties as required.

 Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Must have an understanding and general competency in areas of technical regulations, standards, and compliance and requirements that relate to the consumer products market (retailers and brands).
• Must have, or be able to quickly develop, relationships at various levels in assigned accounts.
• Must have an understanding of product development and sourcing – how the process works and where BVCPS services fit in.
• Ability to interpret technical information and translate into common terminology.
• Strong written and verbal communications and interpersonal skills
• Excellent organizational skills to organize / prioritize individual workload to meet or exceed deadlines
• Ability to juggle multiple tasks and changing priorities in a very busy environment
• Strong analytical / problem solving / process improvement skills
• Strong leadership skills to guide diverse areas and staff
• Strong technical aptitude and/or broad technical knowledge
• Direct global cross functional teams as required to complete project directives
• Proven ability to provide project management and lead project teams to success
• Strong training and presentation skills
• Ability to represent Bureau Veritas in customer facing interactions (on the phone or in person)
• Must be able to interact with both internal and external customers.
• Required background in consumer products
• Proficiency in MS Office

Experience and Educational Background Required for the Job

• 4 year degree in related technical field required, MBA or technical Master’s degree a plus
• 3 years of industry related experience.