Commercial Director, Specialty Chemicals

About Niacet (A Kerry Company)

Niacet Corporation, a subsidiary of Kerry since 2021, is the largest North American producer of calcium and sodium salts of acetic and propionic acid for industrial, pharmaceutical, and food applications. With over 100 years of experience, Niacet supplies a variety of specialty chemicals, including anhydrous hydrogen chloride, monochloroacetic acid, anionic surfactants, and sodium phenoxy acetate. The company also produces food preservation products and operates facilities in Niagara Falls, USA, and Tiel, Netherlands, and Cartagena, Colombia. By integrating Niacet’s offerings, Kerry enhances its Food Protection & Preservation, emulsifiers, animal feed, and pharma product lines, leveraging a global network of expertise and innovation to support efficient and confident product formulation. 

About the role

The Commercial Director, Specialty Chemical holds full accountability for all sales efforts for specialty chemicals inclusive of high-performance gases, surfactants, and other specialty products. The role will drive the development and execution of the commercial go-to-market strategy, will be accountable for delivering sustainable top line growth to the business with new and existing customers, and work with the RD&A, Marketing and Manufacturing teams.

Key responsibilities

Strategy:

 

• Responsible for the architecture and development of the Specialty Chemical Commercial Strategy, growth plan and project prioritization inclusive of building key industry and customer relationships, market mapping and management of commercial pipeline.
• Development of product marketing, pricing, and distribution strategies to maximize revenue and EBITDA growth.
• Develop and maintain key executive relationships across the customer and distributors to build competitive intelligence.
• Explore and identify new end-use applications to upsell product portfolio.

 

Commercial:

 

• Develop & support a clear Value Proposition & “How to Win” playbook, inclusive of additional industrial routes to market.
• Deliver on defined sales target inclusive of revenue growth and margin.
• Deliver on a pipeline of sustainable growth for Kerry through a deep understanding of customers and their business practices, with emphasis on senior-level customer relationships.
• Ensure that appropriate resources and actions are recommended to address customer-based issues including competitive threats, product and service complaints, and information discrepancies.
• Establish Kerry as a long-term partner at accounts by developing, maintaining and expanding strong customer working relationships at multiple levels and functions.

 

Innovation & Collaboration:

 

• Lead the progression of key customer projects by ensuring communication flow between customer and relevant cross-functional teams; including a strong relationship with relevant Operations, Procurement and Supply Chain.
• Continually gather pertinent information and partner with cross functional teams to allow Kerry teams to successfully make sound business decisions on the viability of commercial projects.

 

Financial:

 

• Strategic ownership for “commercial pricing” in partnership with Finance and Business Management.
• Own the revenue and margin growth for the Specialty Chemicals P&L
• Own sales & demand planning in partnership with the manufacturing and supply chain
• Maintain accountability for consistent and uniform margin management
• Participate in development of annual sales budget targets.
• Meet budget objectives and take appropriate action to achieve and/or exceed sales budget targets.

Qualifications and skills

• Education: College degree. Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in science or business administration.
• Experience Needed: Sales Management 10-15 years prior experience.
• Required Knowledge: Understanding of specialty gasses, chemical industry and computer chip industry dynamics. Understanding of chemistry. Understanding of and strong contacts within the computer chip distribution industry.
• Problem solving: Effectively handle inquiries from sales team and customer service.
• Innovative resolution of problems with high degree of customer satisfaction. Attentive listening, understanding others points, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Communication: Communicating effectively as appropriate for the needs of the audience. Talking to others to convey information effectively. Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Judgment and Decis