Commercial Operations Manager

Wabtec•Erie, PA

12h•$104,800 - $149,300•Hybrid

About The Position

The Commercial Operations Manager owns the end-to-end Inquiry-to-order process (ITO) for Freight Global Services product lines in North America and other regions as necessary. This role supports sales engagements by shaping deal strategy, aligning customer requirements with sales and business objectives, and developing outcome-based commercial solutions that are competitive, executable, margin-protective, and meet customer objectives. As a member of the Services Commercial team, you will lead the commercial execution for a portfolio of complex, high-value opportunities driving commercial project coordination, early risk identification, and mitigation planning. You will run the required functional and leadership governance cadence, ensure disciplined use of the Commercial Risk Tool (CRT), and deliver decision-quality analyses and recommendations (scope, assumptions, pricing, margin, risk, and deal structure). You will author customer-facing proposals and contracts that communicate a winning value story and establish clear, enforceable terms and conditions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Business, or a technical field from an accredited college or university
Minimum of 10 years of experience in sales, commercial operations, application engineering, and/or locomotive services
Minimum of 5 years of experience within the Transportation Industry

Nice To Haves

Experience with Locomotive maintenance services agreements
Ability to distil complex data sets into meaningful conclusions and drive data-backed decisions.
Executive-level presentation skills
Experience managing multi-functional interactions
Process development and execution skillset
Ability to prioritize and manage multiple individual and team responsibilities for multiple complex projects
Top-notch problem-solving skills
Excellent technical and/or commercial writing and reading comprehension skills
Leading in a complex, matrixed environment with experience managing multiple deadlines
Clear thinker able to simplify complex scenarios to logic strategies/positions
Six Sigma Greenbelt/Blackbelt certification or equivalent Quality certification

Responsibilities

Lead the development of competitive, executable commercial proposals for complex Service opportunities, owning the deal strategy with sales directors and account managers, including negotiating terms and conditions, margins, pricing, and other aspects required to close contracts and agreements.
Analyze complex data sets to develop decision-quality insights that inform deal structure, risk-adjusted profitability, and business prioritization.
Own and lead end-to-end deal process in collaboration with the cross-functional team, including all aspects of contract management, commercial proposals, deal strategy reviews, CRT implementation, risk management and mitigation plan, internal costing, margin analysis, market-level pricing and customer negotiations in conjunction with internal functions.
Be the commercial integrator for all deal elements resulting in commercially sound outcome-based solutions and proposals in a timely matter.
Lead virtual and global project teams with stakeholders including sales, legal, finance, risk, product management, engineering, services, and other functions to maximize customer value and meet business goals.
Present to leadership throughout the ITO process to ensure that all commercial elements and risk factors are vetted as well as business approvals are properly secured and reflected in the scope, profitability, and structure of the proposal.
Progress the opportunities from the initial customer request for quotation to contract closure.
Identify, develop and drive process improvements.