Technical Manager Jobs in Hoffman Estates, IL

Description/Job Summary:

A Principal Technical Service Account Manager will provide technical support to new or existing customers to grow sales of Tate & Lyle ingredients. They will promote Tate & Lyle’s technical leadership position by ideating, formulating, manufacturing, and presenting new product ideas and technologies to existing and potential customers. This position will lead customer technical projects and provide technical expertise and support to develop high-quality, cost-effective solutions. This role requires a technical professional with 10+ years of experience in the food industry with deep technical knowledge of food industry, food systems, ingredient functionality, and processing across a broad range of food applications. Experience and knowledge of Soup, Sauce, Dressing and Meal products (formulating and processing) is required. The candidate must have strong communication and interpersonal skills and be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with high-profile customers across a broad range of applications. The ability and willingness to be a self-starter and mentor others is expected. Contribution is measured through quality growth in the technical project pipeline, conversion of technical opportunities to sales and overall account growth. Willingness to travel up to 50%.

Responsibilities:

• Lead client users in formulating, troubleshooting and manufacturing a broad range of foods and beverages utilizing Tate & Lyle solutions
• Serve as technical advisor and subject matter expert on starches, hydrocolloids, sweeteners and fibers
• Utilize lab, pilot plant and commercial scale equipment to generate data and develop effective food ingredient solutions
• Execute scientific projects and contribute to internal and external technical networks
• Develop close working relationships with the technical community of new customers or existing customers. Identify, penetrate, and build relationships with key decision makers leading to new opportunities and projects.
• Work cross functionally within Tate & Lyle to ensure customer performance goals are met.
• Lead customer projects and provide technical expertise and support to develop high quality, cost-effective solutions.
• Partner with sales teams to build strong account plans and project pipeline by identifying and shaping new opportunities.
• Capture new technical leads/opportunities to build a strong project pipeline in CRM system. Independently review projects, growth, and ability to move projects through development stages.
• Responsible for understanding customer needs and using these insights to support solution design, pipeline development and technical strategies.
• Understand customer culture, capabilities, structures and processes utilizing these insights to support the development of fit for purpose solutions.
• Follow and share market intelligence and industry trends to contribute to solution development.
• Promote Tate & Lyle’s technical leadership position by presenting new product ideas and technologies to existing and potential customers.
• Support customers in using ingredients by leveraging understanding of Tate & Lyle’s ingredients portfolio and their applications.
• Create recognition for Tate & Lyle‘s ingredients/technologies by developing and fostering relationships within the industry.
• Build a strong and diverse internal network to be able to draw upon the right sources of expertise as required.

Competencies:

• Customer/Market Driven
• Understands and anticipates customer/market aims, needs, processes and success measures, to better develop and position solutions that have real impact.
• Actively seeks feedback and uses market insights to deliver customer value at every stage of the research, development and delivery process.

• Leads complex technical discussions with customers, mentors others on customer’s needs, develops strategies and influences stakeholders.

• Commercial Savvy

• Combines insights, technical expertise, the external environment and our customers’ business with a deep understanding of Tate & Lyle to drive commercially astute business decisions consistent with our strategic objectives.

• Drives new business technical assessment, combines understanding of T&L and customer value chain to grow the business, demonstrates strong commercial acumen, creates plans and strategies to mitigate risk.

• Technical Solution Development

• Plays a critical role in developing innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest and most complex food and beverage problems.

• Thinks creatively, analytically and holistically, employing innate curiosity to explore problems and generate impactful solutions.

• Research and Process Effectiveness

• Carries out rigorous and high-quality research that elevates Tate & Lyle’s brand as a world-class solutions provider.

• Collaboration and Influence

• Develops internal and external networks, engages a wide range of stakeholders, effectively influences with compelling rationale and recommendations, enables the sharing of insights with cross-functional stakeholders, identifies and navigates organizational dynamics.
• Operates across the matrix and integrates work throughout functional and geographical boundaries, to increase shared learning, speed to market and financial impact.

• Acts as an advisor, both internally to drive the direction of Tate & Lyle and externally to inform thinking and action when solving complex problems.

• Results Focused

• Pro-actively takes ownership and shows initiative in leading and contributing to high-quality and timely work.
• Proven track record of delivering both technical and commercial success.

Qualifications

• Education: MS or BS in Food Science or other related field
• 10+ years of experience in the food industry. Food formulation experience and understanding of food systems and ingredient functionality required.
• Extensive industry experience including experience demonstrating leadership within the technical community
• Willingness to travel up to 50% (car and/or air)

Compensation

• The salary range for this position is: $110,000 - $150,000.

In addition to competitive pay, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that includes but is not limited to:

• Medical, Dental, Vision coverages
• Paid time off package, including vacation, sick time, and 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• 401K with company match
• Company paid life insurance
• Additional benefits at no cost to employee such as: Lifestyle Spending Account, Identity Theft protection, Employee Assistance Program, telemedicine and more!

In addition to your Total Rewards, culture and ED&I are very important to Tate & Lyle. We offer multiple Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that support various communities.

California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA")

The Company is committed to complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and all data privacy and laws in the jurisdictions in which it recruits and hires employees. We collect the following categories of personal information for the purpose of hiring the best qualified applicants and to comply with applicable employment laws: Name and contact information; Job preference and work availability; Social Security Number and/or other identification information; Education and qualifications; Employment history and experience; Military service; Reference and background check information, including relevant criminal history and credit history; Social media information; Pre-employment test results; Post-offer medical examination information and results, including drug test results; Voluntary self-disclosure information regarding minority, veteran, and disability status; and Information provided by you during the hiring process.

Tate & Lyle is an equal opportunity employer, committed to the strength of an inclusive workforce.