Strategic Customer Relations Manager

ebm–papst Inc. 

Job Description 

Department: SBF - ACV

Job Title: Strategic Customer Relations Manager

Summary

The Strategic Customer Relations Manager is responsible for leading the customer relations function supporting the company’s strategic OEM customers. This position provides leadership and direction to the Strategic Customer Relations team while ensuring a high-touch, proactive, and consistent customer experience.

The Strategic Customer Relations Manager serves as a key liaison between strategic customers, Sales, Planning, Operations, Manufacturing, Engineering, Purchasing, Logistics, and other internal functions. The role is responsible for developing strong customer relationships, anticipating and resolving issues, ensuring effective communication of demand and supply information, and driving alignment between customer requirements and internal capabilities.

Essential Duties of the Job

•    Lead, coach, develop, and manage the Strategic Customer Relations team, establishing clear expectations, priorities, account coverage, and performance standards while ensuring consistent execution across strategic OEM customers.

•    Partner closely with SBF – ACV leaders and account managers to align customer priorities, account strategies, communication, and actions while ensuring clear ownership and coordination between Sales and Customer Relations.

•    Develop and maintain relationships with key contacts at strategic OEM customers as appropriate, ensuring a proactive, high-touch customer experience and serving as a senior point of contact for significant customer needs, concerns, and escalations.

•    Establish expectations for effective customer meeting preparation, communication, follow-up, and accountability, and provide support or escalation when significant customer commitments or issues require management involvement.

•    Partner with Planning, Manufacturing, Purchasing, Logistics, Engineering, Quality, and other internal functions to align customer requirements with operational capabilities and drive execution of agreed-upon priorities.

•    Maintain visibility to significant customer service, delivery, backlog, and supply risks across strategic accounts, providing leadership, prioritization, and escalation support when issues cannot be resolved through normal processes.

•    Proactively identify emerging customer, supply, or operational risks and drive communication, mitigation plans, and corrective actions before issues escalate.

•    Serve as the escalation point for complex customer issues, leading cross-functional resolution of significant delivery, supply, order, quality, billing, shipping, or service concerns.

•    Establish and communicate customer priorities when demand, supply, or capacity constraints occur, balancing customer requirements, business priorities, and available resources.

•    Ensure effective processes are in place for the Strategic Customer Relations team to manage customer forecasts, orders, consumption trends, and demand changes, with appropriate escalation of significant risks or changes requiring management attention.

•    Ensure the Strategic Customer Relations team provides accurate and timely line-of-balance, forecast-versus-consumption, and other customer reporting necessary to support effective communication and decision-making.

•    Support strategic customer projects, new product introductions, prototypes, and significant account changes by ensuring effective coordination and communication among the customer, Sales, Engineering, Operations, and other stakeholders.

•    Establish, monitor, and communicate key performance indicators for Strategic Customer Relations, including relevant measures of customer service, delivery performance, backlog, past dues, forecast alignment, and execution.

•    Identify and lead continuous-improvement initiatives that enhance the strategic customer experience and improve the tools, reports, processes, communication, and operating practices used to support strategic customers.

•    Provide leadership with visibility to significant customer developments, demand changes, supply constraints, service risks, and other issues that may impact strategic accounts or business performance.

•    Perform other duties and support special projects as assigned.

Education and/or Experience 

•    Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain, Operations, Sales, or a related field preferred; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

•    Minimum 5 years of progressive experience in customer relations, customer service, inside sales, account management, supply chain, or a related function, preferably supporting OEM or complex B2B customers.

•    2+ years of direct people-leadership experience

•    Experience supporting strategic, high-value, or complex customer accounts preferred.

•    Experience working in a manufacturing environment and coordinating across Sales, Planning, Operations, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing preferred.

•    Experience with ERP systems, preferably SAP, and strong Microsoft Excel skills preferred.

All Employees are expected to:

•    Follow the Employee Handbook policies and procedures and uphold organizational values.

•    Contribute to building a positive work environment.

•    Report for work consistently and on time.

•    Report supervision conditions or practices that are unsafe to ebm-papst and its employees

Benefits: Eligible employees receive a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental and vision insurance; HSA options; life and disability insurance; voluntary supplemental benefits; a 401(k) retirement plan with company contributions; and paid time off.