Technical Support Manager Paper & Board

As a technical support manager, for your perimeter, your role is to:

• Support technically all commercial activities pre and post sales, in particular sell existing products and solutions from a technical standpoint, support to innovation activities, technical support to customers, complaints investigation, product benchmarking and technical lobbying towards market stakeholders (standardization, academics and owners)
• Act as an ambassador on technical side, representing the company externally as expert, namely participating in university networks, standardization committees, customer events

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Hygiene Safety Environment missions: Ensure compliance with safety rules, educate teams on preventive measures to achieve our safety objectives

Technical Sales

• Participate in client discussions for technical sales on identified opportunities by the Sales Manager
• Work closely with the sales manager to support the development process of the customer along the opportunity process until final application
• Lift customers' technical objections along the opportunity process
• Identify technical opportunities with existing products to optimize value proposition
• Business Development : identifies the right opportunities for organic growth through technical discussions and act as project manager for large technical development projects in collaboration with the R&D teams
• Support customers to find the optimal solution to resolve their problems using Imerys' product offers
• Upon request by marketing, perform benchmarking analysis of Imerys and competitors products, alternative technologies and new commercial products from customers to support structuring of product offering and positioning as well as pricing activities.

Customer innovation

• Identify unmet technical needs of customers and therefore potential new products/ solutions
• Translate performance requirements into product specification requirements
• Act as link between customers and S&T/Operations on new product development
• Support the transfer of lab developments into industrial applications at customers
• Lead trial management at the customer site and supervise trials at Imerys plant on new products
• Manage qualification process at customers for new products

Technical Strategy

• Develop short, medium & long term innovation strategies for the Paper & Board segment in collaboration with Marketing / Sales & R&D insuring that the customer voice and needs are center stage in a development process

Management of significant customer quality issues

• Respond to customers on significant quality issues (outside packaging, logistics or pure specifications problems) and analyse causes and possible solutions
• Liaise with operations/ quality managers on solution identification and implementation

Acting as expert internally and externally

• Manage technical training of sales/ marketing people on his/ her area of expertise
• Act as technical ambassador for his/ her area of expertise in external communication (customer technical training, participation in external knowledge sharing, fairs & conferences, standardization committee, etc.)
• Build a network among the customers' technical community

Sustainability: Internal & external ambassador for the team

Do you have experience in Google Workspace?, Do you have a Bachelor's degree?, * Bachelor's Degree in scientific discipline

• Minimum 5 years experienced (>10 years is a plus)

• Strong competencies and experience in Paper & Board industry (preferably at a customer)

• Ability to decode the customer needs and to design adapted solutions

• Customer oriented, enable to build up strong relationship internally & externally

• Able to work with a variety of stakeholders across a business (in particular marketing)

• Strategic mindset is required

• Good Communication skills with customers and with technical committees

• Strong organisational skills, a self-starter

• Flexibility, resilience, pro-activity, autonomous and motivation

• Interest in working in dynamic groups - team player

• Taste for challenges - entrepreneurial mentality

• Ability to use common IT tools (Excel, Word, Gsuite, Web tools)

• Salesforce would be an advantage

• Profficient English level (technical and commercial). Fluent German is a strong asset

• Regular and weekly trips (up to 50%)

• Driving licence required

Imerys is the world's leading supplier of mineral-based specialty solutions for the industry with €3.4 billion in revenue and 12,300 employees in 40 countries in 2025. The Group offers high value-added and functional solutions to a wide range of industries and fast-growing markets such as solutions for the energy transition and sustainable construction, as well as natural solutions for consumer goods. Imerys draws on its understanding of applications, technological knowledge, and expertise in material science to deliver solutions which contribute essential properties to customers' products and their performance. As part of its commitment to responsible development, Imerys promotes environmentally friendly products and processes in addition to supporting its customers in their decarbonization efforts.