Director of Customer Pricing & Revenue Management

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

The Director of Customer Pricing & Revenue Management is accountable for building and running the company’s pricing engine—translating strategy into measurable price execution that drives gross margin dollars, improves price realization, and supports profitable growth. This leader owns pricing analytics and governance, designs and maintains pricing structures, and ensures disciplined execution across quote-to-cash. The role also leads price increase oversight—capturing supplier cost changes and internal cost-to-serve realities and converting them into timely, well-communicated customer price actions with minimal leakage.

Core Outcomes / What Success Looks Like

• Improved price realization and sustained growth in gross margin dollars.
• Reduced discounting and exception leakage through clear guardrails and compliance.
• Disciplined, trackable price increase execution with minimal lag and high capture rate.
• Faster, more consistent quote turnaround with improved win-rate on margin-weighted deals.
• Accurate pricing data and contract compliance across ERP/CRM/quote workflows.

Key Responsibilities

Pricing Analysis & Insights (Margin + Growth)

• Build pricing analytics that explain performance by customer, segment, region, category, vendor/brand, and channel.
• Diagnose margin leakage (discounting, freight/surcharge handling, cost-to-serve, contract compliance, quote practices).
• Develop actionable guidance (target price bands, discount guidance, floor/target/ceiling logic, segmentation strategies).
• Partner with Finance on price-volume-mix analysis, forecasting, and measurement of pricing actions.

Pricing Management (Strategy, Structure, Governance)

• Own pricing architecture: list prices, multipliers, customer-specific pricing, contract pricing, rebates/pass-throughs, and surcharge frameworks.
• Establish pricing governance and policy: discount authority, exception rules, approval workflows, audit controls.
• Create and maintain pricing playbooks and pricing cubes for sellers, customer service, and inside sales to reduce variability.
• Lead a weekly/biweekly pricing operating rhythm (“pricing council”) to review actions, exceptions, and opportunities.

Pricing Execution (Quote-to-Cash Enablement)

• Ensure ERP/CRM pricing tools are accurate and usable (price tables, contract records, customer price files, approvals, data hygiene).
• Analyze pricing implications related to win rates and quote conversion performance
• Improve quote turnaround time with standardized tools (templates, calculators, guidance, guardrails) while protecting margin.
• Train and coach commercial teams on execution behaviors and customer pricing conversations.

Price Increase Oversight (Supplier + Internal)

• Work in conjunction with product management team to identify profit increasing goals and metrics to track performance throughout the year
• Translate cost actions into customer price actions with minimal lag; coordinate proactive notifications for strategic accounts
• Maintain a price increase tracker: effective dates, impacted items/customers, communication status, realized vs. expected margin, and exception rationale.
• Partner with Finance and Sales leadership to design and execute periodic “general” price moves to address internal cost pressures (where appropriate).
• Coordinate internal communications, customer notices (as required), and field guidance on objection handling.

Continuous Improvement & Pricing Maturity

• Build scalable pricing workflows for a multi-branch distribution footprint—consistent rules with smart segmentation.
• Drive automation where appropriate while preserving controls (price files, system-driven updates, exception routing).
• Establish a learning loop: test pricing hypotheses, measure outcomes, and refine guidance.

• 8–12+ years in pricing, revenue management, sales operations, category management, or commercial finance—preferably in industrial distribution / MRO / manufacturing supply.
• Demonstrated success designing pricing structures and driving frontline adoption (not analysis-only).
• Strong analytical skills: margin math, segmentation, cost-to-serve concepts, and financial storytelling.
• Deep comfort with ERP/CRM/BI environments and pricing data structures (price tables, customer price files, contracts, special price assurances).
• Proven cross-functional leadership with Sales, Finance, Operations, and Supply Chain; ability to set policy and drive compliance.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence behavior change across a distributed sales organization.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building a deal desk or pricing center of excellence (COE).
• Change management experience in a multi-location distribution environment.
• Familiarity with rebate/pass-through economics and surcharge mechanics.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Analytics, Supply Chain, or related field preferred (or equivalent experience).

Working Conditions / Physical Requirements

• Preferred location: Headquarters (Byron Center, MI) or other SurfacePrep sales/operations hub (Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Atlanta, Windsor-CT)
• Periodic travel to branches, customers, and leadership meetings (estimated 10–25%).
• Ability to work cross-functionally across time zones and operate effectively in a fast-paced, distributed environment.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Gross margin dollars and price realization (invoice vs. target).
• Price increase capture rate (planned vs. realized) and lag time from cost change to customer price action.
• Discount/exception rate and compliance to guardrails.
• Quote turnaround time and deal desk cycle time.
• Win rate on quoted opportunities (including margin-weighted win rate).
• Long-tail margin improvement and reduction in unprofitable accounts/items.
• Pricing data quality: contract compliance, audit outcomes, and master-data accuracy.

First 90 Days

Days 1–30: Assess current pricing practices, tools, approvals, price increase workflow, and leakage points; establish baseline dashboards for realization, exceptions, and price increase capture.

Days 31–60: Launch pricing governance (approval matrix, exception codes, weekly pricing huddle) and pilot deal desk workflow for high-value quotes.

Days 61–90: Implement price increase tracker and operating rhythm; publish first monthly pricing pack; roll out seller enablement (playbooks, talk tracks, guardrails).

About SurfacePrep

Founded in 1956, SurfacePrep is North America’s leading provider of surface enhancement solutions, with over 60 facilities across the United States, Canada, and Europe . With decades of experience, we deliver reliable equipment, consumables, and technical expertise that help manufacturers enhance performance, efficiency, and finishing quality across their operations.

At SurfacePrep, we understand the importance of dependable and effective surface enhancement solutions. Our team partners with trusted manufacturers to provide comprehensive process improvements, hands-on technical support, and high-quality products across a wide range of applications — including coated and bonded abrasives, abrasive air and wheel blasting, mass finishing, paint and powder coating, additive manufacturing post-processing, and turnkey production services that help customers eliminate risk, protect uptime, and maintain consistent quality.

Our national footprint combines local expertise with a robust network of resources, ensuring consistency, responsiveness, and innovation for customers across aerospace, automotive, medical, defense, general manufacturing, and more .

By partnering with SurfacePrep, customers gain more than products — they gain a collaborative team committed to delivering results beyond the surface.

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