Strategic Account Manager

From a small family business to a multi-billion-dollar global company, Sonoco has been changing the face of products and packaging since 1899 — all while keeping the heart of “People Build Businesses” alive.   Our talented people are at the core of our growth, constantly reinventing the Sonoco wheel with brilliant solutions every year. Today we are a world leader in global packaging solutions with diversified operations in over 34 countries. We're extremely proud of our portfolio of brands, our achievements in sustainability and industrialization and the groundbreaking work accomplished by our people.   The safety and health of employees takes precedence over any other duties of this position. This position is responsible for leading strategic account management activities for assigned Protective Packaging customers, with emphasis on appliance, HVAC, electronics, durable goods, and industrial manufacturing markets. The role owns customer strategy, relationship development, revenue growth, profitability, pricing coordination, service performance, product quality, new business development, and cross-functional execution. The successful candidate will work closely with sales, operations, engineering, quality, finance, customer service, and product development teams to expand Sonoco’s value proposition and strengthen Sonoco’s position as a strategic partner to assigned accounts.

The position is not only responsible for strategic account relationships but will also be responsible for direct account management and account representative responsibilities at select sites. Develop and manage strong relationships with key customer stakeholders across procurement, engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, and executive leadership. Owns assigned Protective Packaging strategic accounts, including account strategy, growth plans, profitability, customer satisfaction, and execution across all participating Sonoco locations. Prepare and maintain strategic account plans, including relationship mapping, opportunity pipeline, pricing strategy, revenue and margin objectives, competitive position, value-creation initiatives, and long-term growth plans. Lead cross-functional execution of account plans with plant, regional sales, operations, engineering, quality, customer service, finance, product development, and division leadership teams. Monitor protective packaging, appliance, HVAC, electronics, durable goods, material, logistics, sustainability, and manufacturing trends that impact assigned accounts and provide regular updates to management. Analyze customer potential, sales performance, forecast changes, and volume trends to support account planning and business decisions. Coordinate pricing, contract, bid proposal, specification, quality, service, and commercial commitments with appropriate internal stakeholders. Identify and lead customer value projects that improve total cost of ownership, including packaging performance, damage reduction, freight and logistics efficiency, labor productivity, material optimization, SKU rationalization, quality improvement, and manufacturing flow. Keeps line and staff personnel informed as to competitive activity at accounts assigned to include share, price, quality, product offerings, and all other areas of involvement   Work with design, engineering, operations, and product development resources to identify protective packaging solutions, new applications, material substitutions, productivity improvements, sustainability improvements, and expanded use of existing product platforms. Partner with plant and regional teams to resolve customer complaints, quality issues, service concerns, and open action items in a timely and professional manner. Communicates regularly with other Sonoco businesses and functional teams to coordinate activity on common accounts, identify cross-selling opportunities, share customer intelligence, and present one coordinated Sonoco approach