Sales Director APS Northeast Asia

Basic Function

LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB) is one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500. 
LyondellBasell (www.lyondellbasell.com) manufactures products at 55 sites in 17 countries.  Advanced Polymer Solution (APS) is a strategic business unit within LYB with $4Bn in revenue, 60 manufacturing sites, serving > 16000 customer and with an active formulation library of over 97000 formulation. It was formed in 2018 following the acquisition of A Schulman and is a global leader in compounding solutions. The business is highly complex and being excellent at running a complex business with high service level is part of the business model. 
APS has launched a transformational program to grow earnings from just over $100 MM in 2022 to >$500MM in 2027.  The Sales Director, APS Notheast Asia, is a critical role to lead Notheast Asia (NEA) Sales team to drive growth in a few selected high priority segments where APS aspires to one of the global leaders in material solutions.

Purpose of the role is to lead the APS NEA Sales Team. The Sales Director will assume full ownership and accountability for all sales activities in NEA, executing the respective business line strategies, based on restore the base and accelerate growth in the target Product Market Combinations, focusing on customer centricity, innovation, circularity and collaboration.   

This leader role is to give guidance to the sales managers to develop a detailed sales strategy by in depth assessment of customer needs, market trends, competitive environment, understanding the value chain, players and assessing what alternative strategies could be and in making the final choice for an action-oriented strategy that drives profitable growth.

This includes direction on specific Key accounts and OEM’s should target and build partnerships with, translating this into Key account plans. The sales team then drives this plan with clear strategic priorities and enablers, Commercial Excellence projects, into execution and creates a healthy and robust Growth funnel with a volume, and margin plan that is aligned with each business goals (Value Enhancement Program).

Roles & Responsibilities

• Develops together with the sales team a sales strategy for APS NEA. 
• Together with the Business Team identifies customer needs, market trends, competitive environment, value chain assessment of applications that are attractive for APS to target and through this understanding develops strategic options for how to create value, including new Business Models and Channels To Market to apply.
• Defines where to play (who to target, who to partner with) within the target Product Market Combinations and the value propositions to develop (target applications) and supports the innovation team in creating concepts of offerings (solutions).
• Builds together with the New Business Development (NBD) team a growth funnel and manages a stage gate process in driving them to commercialization. 
• Develops a specific funnel for sustainability projects in the respective businesses.
• Together with NBD develops a target list of OEM’s/Brand Owners and builds relationships and networks across the targeted segment value chain to obtain market intelligence.  
• Implements MarCom plans including sales tools for value propositions.
• Together with Business managers develops a Value Based pricing strategy for sustainable solutions capturing a premium over our existing solutions.
• Builds strong link to main stakeholders in APS Leadership Team APAC; New Business Development Director, Business Director, Integrated Business Planning (IBP), PAD, Manufacturing to align on strategy and execution 
• Ensures all sales related policies (Contract management, pricing, etc) are implemented and adopted accordingly.
• Controls (T&E) budget within agreed upon limits
• Drives Commercial Excellence projects (pricing, segmentation, channels to market, etc)
• Develops, motivates and mobilizes team to work safe and to deliver results
• Build dashboard and KPI’s for monitoring success of sales strategy execution (examples are: Volume/CM growth, Growth funnel size and success rate, NPS, Quality, pricing, etc)

Area of Expertise, Requirements

• Has industry knowledge in the APS products and markets and strong strategic thinking
• Background in Compounds and or Masterbatch businesses
• Background in driving growth projects with customers from concept to commercialization that has a strong technical involvement and often requires a team approach
• Background in Commercial Excellence; Segmentation, value-based pricing
• Committed to ensuring and implement highest safety and ethics policies and standards
• Can interface at very senior levels at customers as well as engage with technical leaders
• Can build strong teams including recruiting, coaching and mentoring
• Experience in manage and prioritize a portfolio of project activities. Not being afraid of killing projects as needed.  Knows the concepts of stage gate process and can build a disciplined management process.
• Understand how to leverage product/application developments across OEMs/brand owner/ regions

Min. Qualifications

Education

• Master’s degree in business, industrial marketing, science or engineering

Work Experience 

• 15-20 years of experience in diverse range of technical, business and/or commercial roles, business development and project management experience, as well as exposure to automotive or consumer or industrial industry
• Has a track record of successfully driving growth 
• Has experience in driving complex collaborative growth project with customers often including teams on each sides and with steering team between the companies

Languages

• English and Chinese, additional language preferred

Competencies

Preferred Competencies

• Leadership – Demonstrated ability motivating people toward common goals and objectives; looks for new opportunities and innovations; makes the distinction between personal, employee and company interests; has an overview of relevant processes and a desire to see them concluded successfully
• Strategic Thinking – Knows how to develop a strong strategic plan and understands how to assess a complex value chain.
• Business Acumen – Knows how businesses work; knowledgeable in current and possible future policies, practices, trends, technology and information affecting his/her business and organization; knows the competition; is aware of how strategies and tactics work in the marketplace
• Decision Quality – Makes good decisions based upon a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience and judgment; most of his/her solutions and suggestions turn out to be correct and accurate when judged over time; sought out by others for advice and solutions 
• Organizational Agility - Knowledgeable about how organizations work; knows how to get things done both through formal channels and the informal network; understands the origin and reasoning behind key policies, practices, and procedures; understands the cultures of organizations. 
• Priority Setting – Spends his/her time and the time of others on what's important; quickly zeros in on the critical few and puts the trivial many aside; can quickly sense what will help or hinder accomplishing a goal; eliminates roadblocks; creates focus
• Customer Focus – Anticipates and acts with the customer, internal and external, in mind; is dedicated to meeting and/or exceeding the expectations and requirements of the customer to deliver exceptional value; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and continually seeks feedback and information to improve products, applications and services
• Interpersonal Capability – Builds appropriate rapport with others; is comfortable receiving coaching and feedback from others; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; diffuses even high-tension situations comfortably; encourages cooperation and collaboration; is candid with others; solves problems with others with a minimum of noise
• Motivating and Developing others – Creates a climate in which people want to do their best. Empowers others. Invites input from each person and shares ownership and visibility. Makes each individual feel his/her work is important. Is someone people like working for and with; Inspires and mobilizes people and is able to assess potential of employees and provide development growth through coaching and feedback
• Product and Technical Knowledge – In-depth knowledge of LyondellBasell’s products and associated applications. Looks for opportunities to continuously learn about LYB products and services to be able to clearly articulate these in a strong value proposition for customers and OEM/brand owners
• Presentation and Communication Skills – Presents information in a simple way, clearly communicating the key messages and engages the audience. Communicates openly and clear. Simplifies complex issues where possible and share information freely; Finding the right wording and tone, even under pressure, appropriate to the audience 
• Understands marketing principles/value in use analysis
• Strong project management skills
• Global orientation
• Good understanding of sustainability concepts