Automotive Market Development Engineer

Job description

**Acceptable locations for this remote role are Michigan (ideally eastern Michigan), or northern Ohio.** **Summary** This position is responsible for identifying product requirements and driving technology development projects related to business growth of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) compounds. Requirements include strong plastics and/or rubber materials and technology skills and, excellent skills in customer relationships, business development, project management, teamwork, organization, and communication. This person is the materials subject matter expert for the customer-facing team. **Duties and Responsibilities** - Responsible for managing development activities associated with TPE materials. - Pursues new business opportunities through diligent customer and market development efforts: - Identifies strategic markets and customers; - Determines material requirements and specifications for targeted applications; - Collaborates with Audia Elastomers product development engineers to develop material solutions to meet customer needs; - Interprets sample results and provides data sheets and other material physical property information to customers; - Coordinates and attends customer molding trials as necessary, providing feedback to product development regarding direction of future work; - Presents a formalized data package of developed material(s) for customer approval(s). - Interfaces with converters, Tiers, and OEMs to achieve and document Audia Elastomers product approvals. - May support non-automotive applications in the given geography where expertise allows, and/or where a converter serves multiple market segments. - Effectively promotes Audia Elastomers products and organizational capabilities. - Submits call reports and monthly activity summaries concerning customer-related activities as requested by manager. - Provides timely response to customer inquiries and complaints to ensure customer satisfaction. - Performs other duties and assignments as directed by manager. - Performs all duties safely and in compliance with documentation outlined in the Safety, Health & Environmental and defined quality management systems. **Recommended Qualifications** - Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in engineering, science, or equivalent, and/or 5-7 years of experience with elastomeric (preferred) or plastic (acceptable) materials in the automotive industry - Demonstrated ability to leverage technical strength to develop new business. - Ability to build and maintain strong, long-term customer relationships. - Ability to work seamlessly with commercial and product development teams to develop appropriate strategies to address customer and/or market need(s). - Excellent communication skills, self-starter, sense of urgency, personable, and well organized. - Skilled in the use of basic computer software, including word-processing and spreadsheets. - Self-sufficient in terms of time management and support. **Working Conditions** - Environment – Commercial and/or home office as appropriate. - Travel – Frequent travel, generally over 50% and can include international travel. **Responsibility for Safety, Health & Environmental** - Individual is expected to perform job duties safely and in compliance with documentation outlined in the Safety, Health & Environmental system. **Responsibility for Quality** Individual is expected to perform job duties in compliance with defined management system requirements