Job description

Strategic Account Manager – Specialty Chemicals Own the relationship. Navigate the science. Grow the business. At Polysciences, our specialty chemistries become part of technologies that matter—from medical devices and diagnostics to pharmaceutical and life science applications. As a Strategic Account Manager, you’ll work at the intersection of science, customers, and business. You’ll build relationships with customer scientists and business leaders, partner directly with our R&D and manufacturing teams to solve complex challenges, and uncover new opportunities within some of our most important accounts. Because we’re a smaller specialty chemical company, you won’t be several layers removed from the action. You’ll have direct access, meaningful ownership, and the ability to see your work translate into stronger customer partnerships and business growth. Compensation The base salary range for this position is $114,200–$140,000, based on experience and qualifications. This role is also eligible for a target sales incentive of 15% of base salary, tied to performance against established goals, with additional earning opportunity for above-goal results. What You Will Do • Own and grow a portfolio of strategic Specialty Products accounts, with responsibility for customer retention, revenue growth, profitability, and relationship health. • Develop a deep understanding of each customer’s business, applications, technical requirements, product pipeline, priorities, and risks. • Build relationships with customer stakeholders across scientific, engineering, quality, regulatory, procurement, operations, and leadership functions. • Apply chemistry expertise to participate meaningfully in technical discussions, clarify problems, challenge assumptions, and help customers and internal teams evaluate potential solutions. • Anticipate technical, quality, supply, manufacturing, and communication issues before they affect customer confidence. • Bring the right internal experts together, establish clear next steps, and drive accountability and follow-through. • Develop proactive, fact-based communication strategies, particularly when technical problems, delays, quality concerns, or supply issues arise. • Lead pricing discussions, quotations, price increases, forecasts, development fees, minimum-order requirements, supply commitments, and other commercial negotiations. • Identify opportunities to expand accounts into additional custom chemical products, applications, development programs, or manufacturing services. • Partner with Business Development on significant new opportunities within existing accounts. • Work with the assigned Project Manager, who will maintain detailed project plans and milestones, while you own the customer relationship, commercial alignment, communication, and escalation. • Maintain accurate account plans, opportunities, forecasts, customer activity, commitments, and risks in Salesforce. What Success Looks Like In your first year, you will be expected to: • Establish trusted relationships with scientific, commercial, quality, and executive stakeholders within your assigned accounts. • Create actionable account plans addressing growth opportunities, customer retention, profitability, relationship development, and risk. • Improve visibility into customer demand, development activity, account health, revenue opportunities, and emerging problems. • Lead difficult customer situations with scientific credibility, sound commercial judgment, and clear communication. • Meet assigned revenue-retention and growth goals. • Advance meaningful expansion opportunities within existing customer relationships. Required Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a closely related scientific discipline. • Customer-facing commercial experience involving technically complex specialty chemicals, custom chemical products, or product development. • Experience in strategic account management, key account management, technical sales, or a comparable customer-facing scientific role. • Ability to communicate credibly with scientists, engineers, quality and procurement professionals, and business leaders. • Experience navigating complex technical, quality, operational, supply, or commercial issues involving important customer relationships. • Commercial experience with pricing, negotiations, contracts, forecasting, revenue growth, or account profitability. • Ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive decisions and follow-through without direct authority. • Experience using Salesforce or another CRM. • Primarily onsite in Warrington, PA, with flexibility based on customer travel and business needs. • Ability to travel at least 30%, predominantly US based travel. Preferred Qualifications • Experience with monomers, polymers, microspheres, particles, biomaterials, functional polymers, or related specialty chemistries used in medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, or life science applications. • Experience with custom chemical development, scale-up, and technology transfer processes. • Experience in a small or mid-sized technical manufacturing company where employees must be resourceful, hands-on, and personally accountable for results. Polysciences, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Must have legal authorization to work in the US and will not require sponsorship.

Requirements

Must-haves

Strategic Account Manager – Specialty Chemicals
Own the relationship. Navigate the science. Grow the business.
At Polysciences, our specialty chemistries become part of technologies that matter—from medical devices and diagnostics to pharmaceutical and life science applications.
Own and grow a portfolio of strategic Specialty Products accounts, with responsibility for customer retention, revenue growth, profitability, and relationship health.
Develop a deep understanding of each customer’s business, applications, technical requirements, product pipeline, priorities, and risks.
Build relationships with customer stakeholders across scientific, engineering, quality, regulatory, procurement, operations, and leadership functions.
Apply chemistry expertise to participate meaningfully in technical discussions, clarify problems, challenge assumptions, and help customers and internal teams evaluate potential solutions.
Anticipate technical, quality, supply, manufacturing, and communication issues before they affect customer confidence.
Bring the right internal experts together, establish clear next steps, and drive accountability and follow-through.
Develop proactive, fact-based communication strategies, particularly when technical problems, delays, quality concerns, or supply issues arise.
Lead pricing discussions, quotations, price increases, forecasts, development fees, minimum-order requirements, supply commitments, and other commercial negotiations.
Identify opportunities to expand accounts into additional custom chemical products, applications, development programs, or manufacturing services.
Partner with Business Development on significant new opportunities within existing accounts.
Work with the assigned Project Manager, who will maintain detailed project plans and milestones, while you own the customer relationship, commercial alignment, communication, and escalation.
Maintain accurate account plans, opportunities, forecasts, customer activity, commitments, and risks in Salesforce.
What Success Looks Like
In your first year, you will be expected to:
Establish trusted relationships with scientific, commercial, quality, and executive stakeholders within your assigned accounts.
Create actionable account plans addressing growth opportunities, customer retention, profitability, relationship development, and risk.
Improve visibility into customer demand, development activity, account health, revenue opportunities, and emerging problems.
Lead difficult customer situations with scientific credibility, sound commercial judgment, and clear communication.

Nice-to-haves

Experience with custom chemical development, scale-up, and technology transfer processes.
Experience in a small or mid-sized technical manufacturing company where employees must be resourceful, hands-on, and personally accountable for results.
Polysciences, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.

Application prep

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