Sales Director Coatings Americas

Synthomer is a leading supplier of high-performance, highly specialised polymers and ingredients that play vital roles in key sectors such as coatings, construction, adhesives, and health and protection – growing markets that serve billions of end users worldwide. Headquartered in London, UK and publicly listed there since 1971, we employ c.3,900 employees across our 5 innovation centres of excellence and more than 29 manufacturing sites across Europe, North America and Asia. Around 20% of our sales volumes are from new and patent protected products.

At our innovation centres of excellence in the UK, Germany, China, Malaysia and Ohio, USA we collaborate closely with our customers to develop new products and enhance existing ones tailored to their needs, with an increasing range of sustainability benefits. Since 2021, we have been proud holders of the London Stock Exchange Green Economy Mark, which recognises green technology businesses making a significant contribution to a more sustainable, low-carbon economy.

The Sales Director Coatings Americas will lead the commercial strategy and execution for the €50M Coatings Business Unit in the region. This role is responsible for driving sales growth, volume expansion, and gross margin improvement across the U.S. market. The position will ensure delivery of annual budget targets while implementing a robust growth strategy focused on new customers, innovative products, and long-term business development aligned with the 5-year plan.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic & Commercial Leadership

• Develop and execute a consistent commercial strategy to strengthen market position and enhance profitability in alignment with the overall BU objectives.
• Drive and support sales team efforts to deliver agreed business targets—volumes, revenues, profitability (by product and territory), and working capital.
• Identify gaps to the budget and define specific actions to close them; proactively assess, manage, and communicate progress toward plan, including contingencies.
• Adopt and ensure the use of commercial excellence tools across the sales team to enable effective sales strategies and best practices.
• Ensure accurate forecasting by the team and actively participate in the Demand Planning process within IBP to maintain a reliable monthly sales outlook.

Leadership & People Development

• Promote, openly support, and live the core values of the Company: Safety, Health & Environment (SHE), Accountability, Innovation, Teamwork, and Integrity.
• Build a high-performing sales organization by recruiting top talent, fostering a culture of accountability, and providing ongoing coaching and professional development.
• Set clear goals and KPIs for the Sales Team, monitor progress, and implement corrective actions to ensure consistent delivery of results.
• Inspire and motivate the team through strong communication, transparent decision-making, and recognition of achievements.
• Lead organizational change initiatives to adapt to market dynamics, ensuring agility and resilience within the team.

Customer & Market Focus

• Identify and capture new business opportunities, expand the customer base, and introduce new products to support sustainable growth.
• Build and leverage deep customer insights to inform marketing initiatives and guide technology development projects.
• Represent the voice of the customer internally, ensuring strategic decisions reflect market needs and strengthen long-term partnerships.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree required and/or combination of education and related experience in lieu of degree. Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of ten years’ experience in a leadership role in the Sales & Marketing of Specialty Chemical products. Fifteen or more years preferred.
• Strong track record and proven sales experience in the chemicals industry and knowledge of end-use applications.
• Full commitment to business integrity, customer value, teamwork, innovation, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).
• Excellent communication, negotiation and presentation skills.
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with customers.
• Self-motivated with a strong sales drive, determination and target-oriented mindset.
• A mission-driven, team player with the desire to make an impact and difference.
• Ability to plan and manage at both strategic and operational levels.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills across cultures.
• Experience working across cultures collaboratively in a global organization.
• Excellent MS Office software experience, CRM and planning tools (e.g. C4C, Salesforce, Arkieva).
• Valid driver’s license and ability to travel up to 60%.
• Ideal candidate will be located in Ohio and/or the Eastern half of the United States, within driving distance of a major airport.

🌍 Global Benefits Overview

• 💰 Competitive, market-aligned compensation

• 🎯 Discretionary global bonus scheme

• 📈 Discretionary Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) – for senior positions

• 🚗 Company car or car allowance – varies by region and role

• 🩺 Healthcare – tailored to regional locations

• 👶 Parental leave and family support – maternity, paternity, adoption (aligned with regional policies)

• 🏡 Working options – flexibility where it matters, based on role and business needs

• 📚 Learning & development opportunities – training, online platforms, buddy/mentorship programs, Internal Synthomer University with L&D offers

• 💙 Wellbeing support – employee assistance program (EAP), mental health resources, wellbeing initiatives

• 🌱 Retirement / pension contributions – plans vary by country

• 🤝 Culture of Inclusion – where everyone can thrive

• 🏆 Performance culture, global reward & recognition programmes