Industrial Automation is a market challenger focused on growing its Drives business and winning customers from established market leaders. This management role leads the new team of approximately 10-12 Drives Business Development Managers (BDMs) across the OEM, End-User, Process and Channel sales pipes. The BDMs retain solid-line reporting to their respective sales pipe regional leaders and dotted-line reporting to this role. You will provide cross-pipe direction, education, guidance and support while driving adherence to agreed deliverables and accountability for business growth. This is a team leadership role-not a program coordination position or an individual-contributor sales role. Success requires leading through influence and partnering closely with regional sales leaders to turn prospecting, demand creation and qualified opportunities into new customers and orders for Drives-focused automation hardware, software and services.
What you'll do- Build and lead the U.S. Drives BDM team: Lead approximately 10-12 dotted-line BDMs across the OEM, End-User, Process and Channel sales pipes. Lead hiring in partnership with regional sales leaders, establish onboarding and education, and provide ongoing guidance and support.
- Drive team growth and competitive conversion: Translate Drives growth priorities into BDM territory plans, target-account priorities and agreed deliverables with regional sales leaders. Guide the team in identifying customers using competitor equipment and building plans to win their business.
- Equip BDMs to create and convert demand: Establish consistent approaches and provide practical guidance so BDMs can:
- Build their own pipeline: Generate leads through calls, emails, LinkedIn, trade shows and local events. Turn qualified leads from inside sales into meetings and opportunities.
- Reach decision makers: Build relationships with plant managers, engineering, operations, IT and executives to influence technical direction and buying decisions.
- Hand off well: Once a deal is won, transition the account to account managers and delivery teams so it keeps growing.
- Enable business-value selling: Educate and support BDMs in discovery, workshops and demos that connect Drives solutions to customer goals, including uptime, productivity, cybersecurity and modernizing aging systems.
- Support strategic pursuits and connect the team with partners and resources: Support BDMs in strategic customer engagements and major competitive pursuits, helping remove commercial, technical and organizational barriers to winning. Help BDMs work with system integrators, consulting engineers, OEMs and distributors to expand customer access and advance opportunities.
- Drive accountability and execution discipline: Establish regular business reviews and track agreed deliverables, bFO pipeline growth and conversion, net-new customer engagement, orders and forecast accuracy. Make commitments and deadlines explicit, follow through on gaps, and align recovery actions or escalations with the appropriate regional sales leader.
- Represent the team across the business: Consolidate customer needs, competitor insights and market trends from BDMs for offer management, marketing and sales leadership. Provide objective, cross-pipe guidance and coordinate support to keep the team focused on Drives growth.
- Lead Through Influence: Build alignment and accountability across a team in different locations, leading through influence in a dotted-line structure
What success looks like - A national team of approximately 10-12 Drives BDMs executing aligned growth plans and achieving or exceeding agreed annual Drives growth targets.
- Growth in qualified team pipeline, net-new customer engagement and opportunity conversion against agreed targets.
- New customers won and orders from new accounts against team and territory targets.
- Competitive conversions that replace incumbent Drives solutions with Schneider Electric.
- Accurate bFO pipeline and forecasts, on-time deliverables, and clear follow-through on agreed actions with BDMs and regional sales leaders.
Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experience
- Demonstrated experience leading, coaching, and developing sales or business development teams via a matrix organization, educating and guiding BDMs in prospecting, competitive conversion, and long, complex sales cycles while building effective partnerships with regional sales leaders
- 10+ years of B2B sales and business development experience in industrial automation, controls, or industrial software, with proven success building pipeline, winning new logos, and expanding revenue
- Working knowledge of automation systems such as Drives, PLCs, DCS, SCADA, HMI, and industrial networks
- Strong presentation and storytelling skills with both technical and executive audiences
- Self-driven and commercially focused, with the ability to bring structure, prioritize across sales pipes, and follow through on commitments without relying on direct reporting authority
- Willing to travel as needed up to 50%
Preferred - Existing network with system integrators, OEMs, or End Users in target industries
- Experience selling against US market share leaders in Drives, PLCs, DCS, SCADA, HMI, and industrial networks
Reporting and leadership scope - This role reports to the Industrial Drives & Controls Portfolio Offer Manager. It provides functional management and growth leadership for approximately 10-12 Drives BDMs through dotted-line reporting, with no solid-line direct reports. BDMs retain solid-line reporting to their respective sales pipe regional leaders. This role leads team enablement, execution reviews, and follow-through on agreed growth deliverables in close partnership with those leaders.
