Variable Area (VA) Business Unit Manager

Company Description

Brooks Instrument (www.brooksinstrument.com), an industry leader in flow and pressure instrumentation for critical applications, is seeking candidates for the Variable Area (VA) Business Unit Manager position that will be based at the company headquarters in Hatfield, Pennsylvania (suburban Philadelphia). The company has manufacturing locations in Pennsylvania, Hungary, and Korea, and also maintains sales and service offices throughout the world. Our high-tech products are used in laboratory and process applications in end markets such as: oil & gas, petrochemical, medical devices, waste water, life sciences, and analytical instruments. 

Brooks is a division of ITW (Illinois Tool Works), a fortune 200 company. ITW is one of the world’s leading diversified manufacturers of specialized industrial equipment, consumables, and related service businesses. The company has operations in 56 countries and employs over 50,000 employees. These talented employees, many of whom have specialized engineering or scientific expertise, contribute to ITW’s global leadership in innovation. The company is proud of its broad portfolio of nearly 10,000 active patents, and is focused on fully leveraging its highly differentiated business model to deliver solid growth with consistent best-in-class margins and return on capital.

Job Description

Position Summary

Reporting to the Industrial Business Unit Manager.

This position will play an integral role in establishing the company’s strategic direction and will be instrumental in driving future expansion of the business. The successful candidate will be responsible for providing strategic leadership for the global activities of Brooks Instrument’s Variable Area (VA) business. They will ensure the VA business meets or exceeds annual revenue and profitability goals, as well as provide leadership aimed at preparing the business to achieve longer term growth objectives. The VA business unit is focused on designing, manufacturing, selling, and servicing metal and glass flow meters. There are dedicated marketing, customer service, and engineering resources assigned to this business along with a shared internal sales organization and sales distribution channel. The BU Manager must weigh the needs and opportunities within the various businesses when setting priorities and making decisions about resource allocation and investment. They must work collaboratively with the Brooks functional leaders and their respective teams to set manufacturing strategies and align resources to achieve shared objectives. They must also utilize the ITW management and continuous improvement toolbox and principles to introduce organizational initiatives aimed at promoting process simplification and targeted business focus.

Essential Functions / Key Focus Areas

• Plan, develop and implement innovative business plans, organization policies, and goals that drive short term profitability and long-term growth by providing value-added product differentiation and customer service.
• Generate and manage the budget and take responsibility for the full P & L performance.
• Develop and maintain a strong rapport with key customers and distributors to understand customer needs, ensure satisfaction with products and support, and provide feedback to the worldwide organization.
• Direct and coordinate the promotion of VA products to increase market share, and obtain competitive market position through thinking strategically, demonstrating entrepreneurialism, experimenting, and dealing effectively with a changing business climate.
• Keep abreast of trends in the various markets served and competitive activity to understand and enhance the business unit’s position in the market.
• Establish a results-oriented management style that measures and evaluates individual performance against clearly defined accountable competencies, responsibilities and objectives.
• Attract, develop, and retain talent within the business unit to ensure the competency level of all employees is sufficient to be fully effective in their roles.
• Coordinate with global colleagues to ensure cross functional and cross geographic cooperation.
• Determine the operational strategy to include identification of where and how products are produced, sold, shipped, and serviced. 
• Actively participate in creating a safe and positive work environment for all employees by ensuring employees are properly trained, safety requirements are effectively communicated, and safety hazards are identified and corrected.
• Support company continual improvement initiatives.

Business Pursuit

• Support front end business development activities including planning, customer visits, presentations and proposal development.