Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager

Location: Remote

Territory: North America

Department: Sales & Marketing

Reports to: Vice President Sales & Marketing

FLSA Classification: Exempt

About Star Plastics

Star Plastics develops and manufactures custom engineered thermoplastic and elastomeric compounds for demanding applications. We work with processors, molders, OEMs, distributors, and brand owners to solve material-performance, processing, supply-chain, sustainability, and commercialization challenges. Our customers depend on us for technical capability, quality, reliable execution, and responsive partnership. We grow by listening carefully, pursuing the right opportunities, and creating long-term value for customers and for Star Plastics.

The Opportunity

The Business Development Manager is a senior, strategic growth role focused on acquiring new customers and creating qualified revenue opportunities across North America. This position is designed for an accomplished sales or business-development professional who enjoys the front end of selling: opening doors, leveraging relationships, identifying strategic opportunities, understanding customer needs, shaping a value proposition, and advancing a new account toward commercialization. It is not primarily an account-maintenance or transactional selling role.

The Business Development Manager will identify and validate target accounts, develop executive and technical relationships, lead early commercial engagement, and coordinate internal resources to convert qualified prospects into customers. Once an account is commercially established and positioned for ongoing growth, the Business Development Manager will transition the relationship to the appropriate field sales representative through a disciplined, collaborative handoff.

Primary Responsibilities

• Build and execute a North American business-development plan focused on new customer acquisition and profitable revenue generation.
• Identify target accounts, market segments, applications, and strategic opportunities that align with Star Plastics' technical capabilities, manufacturing strengths, and growth priorities.
• Use established industry relationships, market knowledge, networking, referrals, and disciplined prospecting to create access to high-value opportunities.
• Develop trusted relationships with key commercial, technical, procurement, operations, and executive stakeholders at prospective customers.
• Conduct thorough discovery to understand the customer's application, material requirements, processing conditions, commercial needs, supply-chain concerns, and decision process.
• Qualify opportunities rigorously, ensuring that prospects represent a sound technical, commercial, and strategic fit for Star Plastics.
• Lead the early sales cycle from initial contact through opportunity validation, technical engagement, sampling, trial support, quotation, and first commercial business.
• Position Star Plastics based on customer value: material performance, technical support, processing improvement, supply reliability, sustainability, quality, and total cost—not simply price.
• Work closely with technical, operations, quality, customer service, product management, and sales leadership to develop an effective account-entry strategy.
• Translate voice-of-customer insights into clear internal actions, product-development opportunities, and market intelligence.
• Maintain accurate opportunity records, account plans, activity notes, forecasts, and next steps in the company CRM system.
• Provide regular visibility to leadership on pipeline health, market conditions, competitive intelligence, risks, milestones, and projected revenue.
• Establish clear transition criteria and execute a complete handoff of newly acquired accounts to field sales representatives after commercial validation and initial revenue generation.
• Remain engaged during transition as needed to preserve executive relationships, support continuity, and help ensure the account's long-term success.

What Success Looks Like

• You consistently create access to well-qualified new prospects and build a strategic pipeline with credible paths to revenue.
• You convert relationships and market insight into new customer wins, specifications, trials, and commercially viable programs.
• You focus time and resources on opportunities that fit Star Plastics' capabilities and can produce sustainable, profitable growth.
• Prospective customers view you as knowledgeable, prepared, candid, and capable of connecting technical requirements to business outcomes.
• Internal teams receive clear, actionable customer information and are engaged early enough to support opportunities effectively.
• Field sales representatives receive fully documented, commercially established accounts with defined contacts, history, commitments, next steps, and growth potential.
• You measure success not only by leads created, but by new revenue generated and successful transitions that enable the field team to expand the relationship.

Qualifications

• Significant successful experience in business development, strategic account acquisition, technical sales, commercial leadership, or a comparable senior growth role.
• Established relationships and demonstrated ability to gain access to decision-makers within the plastics, polymer, molding, OEM, distribution, or related industrial markets.
• Proven record of originating and converting new business opportunities that produced meaningful revenue growth.
• Experience with engineering thermoplastics, custom compounding, polymer materials, resin distribution, plastics processing, or related industrial products is strongly preferred.
• Ability to engage credibly with both executive-level commercial leaders and technical stakeholders.
• Strong consultative selling, strategic account planning, opportunity qualification, negotiation, presentation, and communication skills.
• Sound business judgment and the ability to distinguish between activity and truly qualified opportunity.
• Comfortable working independently in a remote environment while collaborating closely with cross-functional internal teams.
• Willingness to travel throughout North America for customer meetings, industry events, and periodic visits to Star Plastics facilities.

Star Plastics is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.