Principal Business Development Manager – Air & Water OEM

GE Appliances•Louisville, KY

12d•Remote

About The Position

GE Appliances is hiring a Principal Business Development Manager to lead identification, prioritization, and advancement of OEM growth opportunities across manufacturers, plumbing/HVAC distributors, contractor roll-up groups, and other strategic channel partners. The role serves as a commercial subject matter expert in the Air & Water OEM space, shaping account and segment pursuit strategies, evaluating opportunity fit, and translating external market needs into business requirements and cross-functional execution plans. This highly autonomous individual-contributor role influences commercial priorities and operational readiness through close collaboration with product, engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, service, and finance teams, along with Haier engineering, manufacturing, and product management teams in China. It has direct impact on OEM pipeline quality, profitable revenue growth, customer acquisition strategy, and scalable OEM commercial processes. The role is based in Louisville, Kentucky, and the working environment may be remote, office-based, and customer-facing. Frequent travel of approximately 80% is required, including travel to prospects, customers, industry events, GE Appliances locations, and manufacturing partners; international travel to Asia may be needed. Occasional off-hours meetings may be required to collaborate across time zones. The role may involve a flexible work arrangement created with the employee’s leader. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States at hire and maintain that authorization without current or future employer or school sponsorship. GE Appliances will not sponsor employment-based visas for this position.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Supply Chain, or a related field; equivalent experience may substitute for the education requirement.
At least 7 years of relevant experience in OEM sales, B2B technical sales, business development, national account sales, channel development, or related commercial roles in manufacturing or industrial environments.
Demonstrated experience leading complex opportunities through a structured commercial process, from prospect development and qualification through proposal development, negotiation support, and launch transition.
Experience evaluating customer needs, commercial tradeoffs, technical constraints, and execution risks to shape practical, profitable business opportunities.
Experience influencing cross-functional stakeholders across product, engineering, operations, supply chain, quality, service, and finance in support of commercial outcomes.
Experience working with customers in HVAC, plumbing, water heating, water treatment, building products, distribution, or related manufacturing sectors.
Strong knowledge of OEM business development, channel strategy, and technical/commercial selling in HVAC, plumbing, water, or related manufacturing environments.
Ability to resolve complex commercial and operational issues by evaluating customer requirements, margin implications, technical constraints, supply considerations, and execution risk.
Ability to manage complex business development work from market targeting through launch transition with a high degree of autonomy.
Strong communication and influencing skills, including translating market needs and technical considerations into actionable business requirements, pursuit strategies, and commercial recommendations.
Ability to operate with minimal day-to-day oversight and drive outcomes through structured coordination, sound judgment, stakeholder alignment, and informal leadership.
Legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire and able to maintain authorization without current or future employer or school sponsorship.
Willingness to travel frequently (approximately 80%) for prospects, customers, industry events, company locations, and manufacturing partners, including international travel to Asia as needed.
Ability to attend occasional off-hours meetings to collaborate across time zones.

Nice To Haves

Experience selling to or working with OEM manufacturers, plumbing/HVAC distributors, contractor roll-ups, consolidators, national service platforms, or strategic sourcing teams.
An existing network in plumbing, HVAC, water heating, water treatment, building products, contractor services, distribution, or OEM channels.
Experience supporting private-label, OEM supply, branded-program, or cross-border manufacturing partnerships.
Experience collaborating with global manufacturing, engineering, or product teams to support customer solutions and launch readiness.
Experience helping establish commercial processes, qualification frameworks, or go-to-market discipline in an emerging or growth-oriented business space.
Ability to collaborate effectively across U.S.- and Asia-based teams on customer requirements, technical feasibility, execution expectations, and program timing.
Strong commercial acumen in OEM supply, branded-program, private-label, or strategic-sourcing environments.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute OEM growth strategies for assigned customer and channel segments, including target-account prioritization, whitespace identification, and pursuit planning.
Identify and prioritize manufacturers, plumbing/HVAC distributors, contractor organizations, strategic sourcing customers, and adjacent channel partners with OEM, private-label, or branded-program needs.
Build, manage, and refine a qualified opportunity pipeline using market mapping, relationship development, proactive outreach, industry events, and referrals.
Establish account-entry and expansion strategies, including stakeholder mapping, customer needs assessment, opportunity screening criteria, and pursuit sequencing.
Own pipeline visibility, opportunity governance, and forecast discipline for active pursuits, providing leadership with insight into conversion outlook, timing, and commercial risk.
Lead complex OEM opportunities from initial engagement through discovery, business case development, solution definition, proposal coordination, commercial alignment, negotiation support, and transition to launch.
Assess customer requirements, competitive alternatives, volume potential, margin profile, supply implications, technical feasibility, and execution risks to determine opportunity attractiveness and viability.
Partner with internal stakeholders to define commercially sound and operationally executable OEM solutions aligned with customer requirements and enterprise capabilities.
Influence pricing assumptions, scope alignment, launch expectations, and agreement structure by coordinating commercial, operational, and technical inputs.
Resolve barriers to conversion by clarifying tradeoffs, surfacing decision points, and aligning stakeholders on a recommended path forward.
Track win/loss themes, opportunity conversion patterns, and recurring commercial obstacles to improve pursuit quality and close effectiveness.
Monitor market activity, sourcing trends, customer demand signals, channel shifts, and competitor positions to identify OEM growth opportunities and emerging risks.
Synthesize customer and market feedback into business cases, segment recommendations, and opportunity-prioritization guidance.
Recommend pursuit focus areas, target segments, customer strategies, and capability needs in support of OEM growth objectives.
Identify market pain points, unmet needs, and recurring deal barriers to inform process improvements, offer refinement, and longer-term OEM channel development.
Serve as the commercial lead across cross-functional teams, connecting customer requirements with product, engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, service, and global manufacturing capabilities.
Partner with Haier teams in China and U.S.-based stakeholders to align technical requirements, timing, manufacturing considerations, and launch-readiness expectations.
Communicate customer requirements, decision timelines, pricing needs, competitive threats, and program risks to stakeholders to support timely decisions and execution alignment.
Lead structured handoff and launch-readiness coordination for awarded business.
Help develop scalable OEM tools, commercial processes, qualification frameworks, and operating practices.
Support trade shows, customer meetings, and internal business reviews; contribute to reporting, opportunity tracking, and commercial documentation; and provide informal guidance and commercial context to cross-functional partners.
Perform other related duties as assigned.