Associate Materials Solutions Lead

The Role

The Associate Materials Solutions Lead works alongside the Materials Solutions Lead to win and deliver complex, high-value materials opportunities, on a clear development path toward the full Lead role. Combining materials expertise with commercial drive, the Associate Lead owns opportunities of moderate complexity end to end — understanding a customer's technical requirements, shaping the right materials solution, working with technical and sourcing specialists, and driving the commercial deal to close. It suits a technically-qualified professional who wants to become the bridge between deep materials science and commercial delivery, and to grow into owning Goodfellow's most complex and valuable materials projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Own opportunities end to end — take materials opportunities of moderate complexity from qualification through to commercial close.
• Translate technical need into solution — understand and interpret customers' technical requirements and turn them into deliverable materials solutions.
• Work with the specialists — bring together technical, sourcing and quality colleagues to build and deliver each solution.
• Drive the commercial deal — lead proposal, pricing, negotiation and close, with support from the Lead on the most complex calls.
• Develop and learn — work with the team on the largest and most complex opportunities to build toward independent ownership of them.
• Contribute to major opportunities — support Goodfellow's largest and most strategic materials projects.
• Partner with account managers — who own the ongoing customer relationship, providing technical and commercial expertise on their opportunities.

Key Requirements

Essential

• A STEM degree in materials science, engineering, chemistry or a closely related discipline.
• Some experience in technical or solution sales, applications engineering or a commercial role within advanced materials, engineering or a comparable technical B2B environment, with the ambition and trajectory to grow into a full Lead role.
• Sound commercial judgement across pricing, margin and negotiation, and a genuine interest in the commercial-technical side of a materials business.
• The ability to coordinate technical specialists to deliver customer solutions.
• Exposure to technically-led sales cycles and the pace and persistence they require.

Desirable

• Breadth across several materials families (metals, alloys, ceramics, glasses, polymers, composites).
• Exposure to microfabrication and/or materials testing and analysis.
• Experience using Salesforce or a comparable CRM.
• Experience of procurement or supplier sourcing.
• Exposure to new capabilities, tools or ways of working being introduced into a team.