Sr. Manager - Specification Engineering

Westlake•Houston, TX

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Westlake Management Services Inc. in Houston, TX seeks Sr. Manager – Specification Engineering. This role involves coordinating Specification Engineers to ensure Pipe & Fittings products are approved for use across all sales territories, aligning with sales budgets and new product launch plans. The position requires establishing objectives and KPIs, representing Westlake on certifying bodies, implementing pre-sales activities, and managing budgets. The role also involves providing technical support, leading RFIs/RFPs, working with New Product Development, and implementing safety procedures. The Sr. Manager will also be responsible for creating launch enablement assets and ensuring performance metrics are communicated regularly.

Requirements

Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering.
60 months in sales technical support &/or engineering design, including complex math calculations for sewer & water main design & applying theorems to municipal infrastructure.
Professional Engineer License (U.S. or Canada).

Responsibilities

Coordinate Specification Engineers to ensure Pipe & Fittings products are approved for use across all sales territories in alignment with sales budgets & new product launch plans.
Establish quarterly objectives & KPIs tied to budgets, specification approvals, & launch adoption rates, & define operating cadences with documented actions.
Represent Westlake on certifying bodies & technical committees & maintain a standards watchlist including CSA, ASTM, AWWA, ASCE, & municipal specifications.
Implement pre-sales activities for new product concepts & rollouts, create launch playbooks with objection handling, technical one-pagers, installation guides, & failure-mode FAQs, & support sales strategy by developing regional specification plans aligned with territorial plans.
Prioritize target approvals by sales dollars & margin, & establish a centralized Specification & Approval Library with change control & audit trails.
Build & maintain an approvals funnel with cycle-time targets & SLA definitions, territory coverage, launch adoption rate, training completion, & Voice of Customer insights delivered to new product development.
Implement bi-national specification harmonization guidance mapping ASTM versus CSA requirements & standards by product line.
Manage expense, travel, & promotional budgets for specification engineering, & travel with Specification Engineers to conduct calls on municipalities, contractors, & consultants to develop relationships & promote product adoption.
Require documented pre-trip risk assessments for site visits, track compliance & corrective actions, & formalize cross- border travel procedures & contingency plans.
Provide technical support to consulting engineers & municipalities to ensure designs incorporate proper criteria for WPF products, maintain & publish approved CAD/BIM families & details aligned to specification requirements, & track downloads & usage.
Lead technical portions of RFIs & RFPs with templated responses & rapid turnaround, mandate CRM documentation standards for all specification & approval interactions with periodic data-quality checks, & guide Specification Engineers with new product launches.
Work with the New Product Development team to design products that meet industry needs, define pilot validation plans including test criteria & acceptance thresholds, designate pilot sites, & document results.
Implement a structured Voice of Customer program with consultants, municipalities, & contractors, deliver prioritized insights to NPD & marketing, & communicate outcomes to the field.
Create launch enablement assets & require field certification for Specification Engineers, sales representatives, & CSRs, & work with Sales & CSR management to develop technical training tools & programs.
Establish QA procedures for calculators & design tools incl. validation of inputs, assumptions, & safety factors, legal disclaimers, versioning, & changelogs, & set a periodic review schedule to ensure compliance.
Take the lead in proactive safety activities for Specification Eng team site visits & vehicular safety, conduct quarterly safety trend reviews, define leading indicators such as near-misses & vehicle telematics metrics, & implement improvement plans.
Ensure performance metrics are communicated regularly, track progress, apply mentoring & leadership development, conduct training/developmental projects.
Publish a quarterly KPI dashboard covering specification wins, cycle time, coverage, launch adoption, training completion, Voice of Customer throughput, & safety indicators.
Perform other duties as assigned by Senior Management.