Sales Team Lead – Distribution Management, Lubricant Components
BASF
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Remote
Location: Remote • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteSalary
💰 $144,800 - $181,000 per year
Job Level
Senior
About the role
- Leading and developing the commercial sales team for Lubricant Components in the Americas, setting expectations, guiding performance, and supporting talent development.
- Owning sales targets, forecast integrity, and P&L contribution for the Americas region, ensuring execution of sales plans, customer-engagement strategies, and disciplined commercial processes.
- Driving both hunting (new business development) and farming (existing account growth) activities across the Americas, personally leading strategic pursuits and supporting complex negotiations and technical-commercial proposals.
- Evaluating go-to-market approaches for EMEA and the Americas—balancing direct sales, distributor partnerships, and hybrid models—and recommending optimized strategies to improve coverage, margin, and customer service.
- Steering the distributor landscape by defining selection criteria, setting performance targets and KPIs, negotiating commercial frameworks, and implementing incentive and development programs that align distributor behavior with BASF goals.
- Building and maintaining strong relationships with key customers, regional stakeholders, cross-functional partners (marketing, product management, technical service, supply chain), and senior leadership, while representing BASF at industry events and trade shows and traveling internationally (>50%) to meet with distributors, customers, and regional teams.
- Using market intelligence to identify growth opportunities, competitor moves, and shifts in customer needs, translating insights into actionable plans involving segmentation, prioritization, pricing, and promotional strategies.
- Leading commercial governance activities—pipeline reviews, monthly/quarterly business reviews, annual planning, and sales-performance metrics—ensuring compliance with BASF commercial policies, contractual standards, ethical practices, and regulatory requirements.
Requirements
- Hold a Bachelor’s degree in Business, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field; an MBA or advanced degree is a plus.
- Bring experience in chemicals, lubricant additives, performance materials, or adjacent industrial ingredients.
- Demonstrate proven people-leadership experience managing and developing multi-regional or commercial teams.
- Have demonstrated success in sales, key-account management, distributor management, or channel management, with strong negotiation, influencing, and relationship-building skills.
- Have experience developing and executing go-to-market strategies and distributor programs.
- Bring strong commercial acumen, including experience with forecasting, target setting, P&L awareness, and use of CRM/analytics tools.
- Communicate effectively, with proficiency in other languages such as Spanish or Portuguese considered an advantage.
- Are willing to travel internationally.
Benefits
- Flexible work arrangements whenever possible
- Highly competitive retirement savings plan with company match and investment options
- Well-being programs that include comprehensive mental health support for you and your household family members
- Family forming benefits (fertility, adoption and surrogacy reimbursement, maternity/parental leave, and more)
- Back-up child and elder care with discount programs for families of all ages and stages
- Mentoring and career development opportunities that allow you to share, learn, and thrive
- Matching gifts program that allows you to deepen the impact of your contributions to qualified charities.
- Employee crisis support for when the unexpected happens
- Access to our BASF wine cellar, employee discounts, and much more!
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
sales managementkey account managementdistributor managementgo-to-market strategiesP&L managementforecastingnegotiationrelationship buildingmarket intelligencecommercial governance
Soft skills
people leadershipcommunicationinfluencingteam developmentcustomer engagementstrategic thinkingperformance managementcross-functional collaborationproblem solvingcultural awareness
Certifications
Bachelor’s degreeMBA or advanced degree