Job Description:

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) is a global Fortune 200 diversified manufacturing company that delivers specialized expertise, innovative thinking, and value-added products to meet critical customer needs in a variety of industries. ITW, with approximately 14.1 billion dollars in global revenues, operates 7 major segments with businesses in 57 countries that employ approximately 45,000 women and men. These talented individuals, many of whom have specialized engineering or scientific expertise, contribute to our global leadership in innovation. We are proud of our broad portfolio of more than 16,000 active patents.

Division Description

ITW Stamp Tech Fasteners Division serves the major OEMs and Tier suppliers in the North American automotive market. The division supplies stamped metal fasteners and engineered fastener assemblies that leverage our deep-draw stamping technologies. The annual revenue for the division is approximately $170M. Locations include Gallatin, TN, Lexington, KY & Naugatuck, CT.

The Division drives profitability by leveraging its innovative solutions and application engineering. In addition to ITW’s industry leading research and development capabilities, Stamp Tech Fasteners enhances our customers’ competitive advantage by:

• Maintaining advanced engineering and manufacturing facilities in N.A.
• Exchanging product, process, and benchmarking information with sister units worldwide
• Continually improving processes, material, and designs to ensure every product exceeds customer specifications while providing unparalleled value

Position Summary

The Account Manager reports to the JOEM/KOEM Sales Manager and is responsible for developing relationships and executing the sales and marketing strategies for Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, as well as Tiers.

The ideal candidate must demonstrate a hunter mentality, proactively identifying and pursuing new opportunities to expand ITW’s footprint across the targeted customers. The role requires a self-starter who thrives on building networks within complex organizations — understanding customer structures, identifying decision-makers and influencers, and positioning ITW solutions to address unmet needs.

New business development often begins with the customer’s engineering organization, where early engagement is critical. Therefore, the ideal candidate must be technically conversant and comfortable engaging with engineering teams, able to understand design challenges, application requirements, and potential improvement areas where ITW stamped metal fasteners solutions can add value.

This position requires strong collaboration with teams across sales, engineering, and manufacturing from concept development through launch. The successful candidate will combine technical curiosity, commercial drive, and relationship-building skills to identify, develop, and convert new business opportunities into long-term customer partnerships.

Primary Responsibilities

• Along with the Sales Manager and Market Manager, establishes the goals for customer penetration to ensure growth with core type products on selected, focused platform launches
• Leverage market knowledge to focus on growing products and introduce new ones applying an “outside - in” discipline
• Nurture customer relationships that provide insight and a landscape where ITW has a competitive advantage through our “cradle to grave” relationships
• Carry out comprehensive market research aligned with the strategic growth priorities, to understand the market niche and growth opportunities.
• Identify new sales opportunities with Hyundai and its Tiers
• Manage project coordination, strategic planning, relationship management, negotiation, leadership and innovative development of opportunities
• Manage and solve conflicts with clients
• Work directly with customer engineering and purchasing personnel to sell product including project development, part searches, interaction with ITW engineering, test data requests/submissions, final price negotiation, and review and sign off purchase orders
• Support customers through problem resolution, product understanding and follow up tasks
• Understand and report on competitors and market trends to strategically target new business
• Achieve sales targets supporting the division’s penetration/growth in the market
• Prepare and deliver presentations both internally and externally
• Conduct reviews on accounts on regular basis to evaluate our customers and whether the products and prices satisfy their needs, as well as the organization’s objectives
• Demonstrate personal effectiveness and leadership that creates a culture of high performance
• Meet deadlines both internally and externally
• Demonstrate personal effectiveness and leadership that creates a culture of high performance
• Other tasks and duties as assigned

Position Skills & Experience Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree
• B.A. /B.S. from four-Year College or University in Business, Engineering, or equivalent experience. An Engineering background is a plus.
• Automotive experience with 5 years or more in industry.
• Experience with JOEM customers, proven track record of product knowledge – fastener knowledge is a plus.
• Japanese language skills preferred.
• Proven track record of sales growth.
• Ability to develop sales forecast to a business plan, including business strategies based on OEM.
• Proven ability to deal with changes in a business environment.
• An inner drive to understand, communicate and exceed established agreed upon goals.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills with ability and willingness to communicate, and work with other regions.
• Proven ability to generate respect and trust from staff and external customers.
• Proven ability to focus and prioritize task and objectives.
• Willing to travel; primarily domestic and occasionally world-wide.

ITW is an equal opportunity employer. We value our colleagues’ unique perspectives, experiences and ideas and create workplaces where everyone can develop their careers and perform to their full potential.

As an equal employment opportunity employer, ITW is committed to equal employment opportunity and fair treatment for employees, beginning with the hiring process and continuing through all aspects of the employment relationship.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected Veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.