Sales Account Manager

Ketjen•Houston, TX

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Ketjen Corporation is seeking a Sales Account Manager based at its Clear Lake office in Houston, Texas. The role serves as the primary contact for technical, procurement, and key decision-makers in selected customer accounts. The Sales Account Manager sets sales strategy, gains internal support to execute it, and builds trusted professional relationships that bridge customer and Ketjen needs. The position requires technical acumen to develop and deliver insights that support and challenge customers’ operations and catalyst purchasing behavior in ways beneficial to both organizations. The role works with technical and commercial teams to resolve issues and meet customer requests in alignment with account strategy and Ketjen’s capabilities, identifies resource inefficiencies and barriers to business growth, and guides internal stakeholders toward continual account improvement. The Sales Account Manager owns Ketjen’s customer interface and manages commercial activities that serve customer needs and support product sales. Responsibilities include developing and executing account plans, maintaining customer relationships, negotiating commercial proposals and long-term supply agreements, forecasting customer usage, reporting market intelligence and industry trends, and achieving annual and quarterly volume and profit targets. The role also maintains accurate internal reports and CRM records and supports improvement of the market’s perception of Ketjen’s technical strength and value propositions. Travel of up to 40%, including international travel to Latin America, is required.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree; an engineering discipline is preferred.
At least 3 years of experience in the refining industry; hydroprocessing operations experience is preferred.
At least 5 years of experience in a sales-related role.
Strong communication skills to present and explain commercial offers, technical offers, and unit optimization reports to customers.
Negotiation skills and experience.
Ability to build connections and credibility and exert influence internally and externally.
Perseverance, persuasiveness, and confidence.
Professionalism, passion, and commitment.
Organizational skills.
Fluency in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Ability to travel up to 40%, including international travel to Latin America.

Nice To Haves

Engineering discipline degree, preferably Chemical Engineering.
Experience in hydroprocessing operations.
At least 10 years of experience as a sales professional.

Responsibilities

Serve as Ketjen’s primary interface with assigned customers and manage commercial activities that meet customer needs and support product sales.
Guide internal teams in responding to customer technical and commercial requests, and provide feedback on the cost and benefit of supporting key accounts.
Build and maintain relationships with customer leadership and decision-makers; represent Ketjen in meetings and engagements and involve Ketjen leadership when appropriate.
Prepare and execute account plans.
Prepare, present, negotiate, and discuss commercial proposals with customers.
Track and maintain accurate forecasts of customer usage rates.
Provide market intelligence and industry trends for strategic purposes.
Meet or exceed annual and quarterly individual and group volume and profit targets set by division management in the Annual Operating Plan.
Negotiate and secure long-term supply agreements in accordance with business requirements.
Provide factual and timely internal reporting using appropriate company tools.
Document and update customer interfaces and contact points in the CRM system.
Support improvements in industry perception of Ketjen’s technical strength and value propositions.
Identify resource inefficiencies and barriers to account growth, and guide internal stakeholders toward continual improvement.