Sales Executive

Senior Business Development Manager

We're hiring a Senior Business Development Manager to drive new account growth for a specialty chemicals company that's just coming off a successful commercialization push and now needs to scale its sales bandwidth to keep pace with demand. You'll own a Texas-based Southern territory selling patented, sustainability-focused additive chemistry directly to engineers and technical buyers at companies that manufacture industrial lubricants, greases, hydraulic fluids, and metalworking fluids. This is a hunter role — you're identifying and winning new business, not managing an existing distributor book — and you'll work directly alongside a hands-on Chief Commercial Officer who still actively sells himself rather than just managing from a distance.

Travel is a real and regular part of this job — think somewhere in the range of 10 to 20 days a month, though there's no fixed quota. It flexes with what your territory and your accounts need in a given stretch: some months call for more time in the field, some less. We're not counting days in and days out. What matters is the business you're building and the relationships you're maintaining — how you get there is up to you.

We're a specialty chemicals company backed by a well-capitalized private industrial holding group, developing a patented class of biobased, sustainable additive chemistry that outperforms conventional petroleum-based alternatives in real-world industrial applications. Our products serve the industrial lubricant, metalworking fluid, agriculture, personal care, and specialty coatings markets, with customers ranging from global oil & gas majors to smaller regional manufacturers. We're privately held, technically differentiated, and growing — expanding our commercial team to match the momentum we've built since bringing our chemistry to market.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify, qualify, and win new business across a Texas-centric Southern territory, selling specialty additive chemistry directly to manufacturers rather than through a distribution model
• Build and maintain relationships with key technical decision-makers at target accounts, translating complex chemistry into clear commercial value
• Lead contract negotiations and prepare tailored proposals for enterprise and strategic customers
• Manage your own pipeline, forecasting, and reporting against commercial targets with a high degree of autonomy
• Travel regularly and substantially for in-person customer visits — this is a relationship-first, face-to-face selling environment, not a remote/virtual sales role
• Collaborate cross-functionally with technical and marketing teams to refine positioning and solve customer-specific technical challenges

Qualifications

• 10+ years of B2B technical sales or business development experience selling specialty additives, performance chemicals, or industrial lubricant-adjacent chemistries directly to manufacturers — not a bulk-oil or distributor account management background
• Specific experience selling into lubricants, greases, hydraulic fluids, metalworking fluids, or additive packages (adjacent chemistries considered)
• Based in or within reasonable driving distance of Texas (Louisiana/Oklahoma acceptable)
• Genuinely comfortable with heavy, variable travel — roughly 10 to 20 days a month depending on what your accounts need, not a fixed schedule
• Bachelor's degree in a science field (Chemistry, Biology, or related); advanced degree a plus
• An outgoing, assertive, relationship-first sales style — you build trust quickly with technical buyers and thrive without close oversight
• Nice to have: existing relationships with additive buyers at major lubricant or metalworking fluid manufacturers, experience at or against major specialty chemical additive makers, and/or experience selling to large national or global strategic accounts

What We Offer

• $130,000–$150,000 base salary (base-heavy structure by design — less commission-dependent than the industry standard)
• $20,000–$60,000 commission potential
• Full benefits: health, dental, 401(k) with company match
• Company card for travel expenses; mileage reimbursed at the government rate
• Full autonomy to run your territory as you see fit, working directly alongside a CCO who sells alongside the team rather than managing from above
• The chance to sell a technically differentiated, patented product line into blue-chip industrial accounts rather than compete purely on price