Director of Account Management, European Auto

About Us

We are Sila, a next-generation battery materials company. Our mission is to power the world’s transition to clean energy. To create this future, our team is building a better lithium-ion battery from the inside out today. We engineer and manufacture ground-breaking battery materials that significantly increase the energy density of batteries, while reducing their size and weight. The result? Smaller more powerful batteries that can unlock innovation in consumer devices and accelerate the mass adoption of electric cars to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. We're tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time every day, and together we're redefining what's possible. Are you ready to be a part of a team committed to changing the world?

Who You Are

As the head of Account Management for European Auto customers, you report to the VP of Battery Engineering and Commercialization. You're an empathetic leader with the skills to quarterback a cross-functional team to successfully program manage multiple accounts and sell Sila’s material to European auto OEMs. Your work will include understanding customer requirements and helping drive technical direction to support these customers leading to signed sales contracts.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Identify and expand sales into new programs at existing accounts using the sales plans you’ve developed
• Manage a small 1-2 person team of Customer Program managers to develop project plans and timelines with concrete steps and goals to support your customer. Be the champion of that schedule to support the team’s ability to meet the obligations of that schedule. Build trust with the customer. Manage customer expectations when reality requires the schedule to change.
• Work in collaboration with product management to understand customer product roadmaps, product requirements and tradeoffs customers are willing to make.
• Build tight relations with customers, enabling Sila’s respective teams to know and communicate directly with the customers’ quality, production, supply chain, engineering, product, and finance teams. Understand the org chart, and function of each contact, especially the decision makers.
• Share information learned about competitors, industry trends, and other customers.
• Own the main communication channel with the customer. Organize face-to-face and virtual meetings with each customer and prepare attendees and presentations to ensure a productive exchange of ideas
• Make tactical customer program level decisions in discussion with other internal teams
• Coach Sila team members on how to interact with the customer. Set clear goals before meetings such that all Sila members are aligned on the meeting goals and know what to say/not to say.

Knowledge and Skills Requirement

• Good technical understanding of batteries and desire to learn more
• Successfully closed multiple B2B products contracts from customer intro to contract signing to fulfillment
• 10+ years as an account management leader, including external work with customers
• Strong network within at least one European vehicle OEM.
• Deep understanding of how the auto supply chain business operates
• Ability to stay firm, confident and unrattled in difficult negotiation sessions. Ability to guide conversations in a desired direction.
• Comfortable generating, interpreting, and presenting data and reports both internally and externally that are informative and build trust.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with a wide array of personalities and partners, driving alignment, prioritization, and progress in rapidly changing situations
• Commitment to build trust both internally and with customers, both technically and personally
• Fluency in German and English

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

• Extensive travel within Europe and periodically between Europe and Sila HQ #LI-FM1

Working at Sila

We believe that building a diverse team at Sila helps us amplify our individual talents. We are an equal opportunity employer and committed to creating an inclusive environment where good ideas are free to come from anyone. We are proud to celebrate diversity and all qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, national origin, or any other status protected by law.