Business Development Manager

Hirose Electric USA is hiring a Business Development Manager to expand new business and strengthen sales execution across assigned territories in Illinois (onsite). Reporting into the Regional Sales Manager, this role focuses on building pipeline, improving conversion, and executing strategic corporate directives while coordinating with internal global teams and key customer stakeholders.

The position covers New England, Metro NY, and Mid Atlantic, with responsibility for territory growth, distributor alignment, and timely, accurate reporting that supports forecasting and program tracking.

Responsibilities

• Own new business development activities within the assigned geographic territory.
• Maintain ongoing communications with the Regional Sales Managers.
• Build and leverage professional networks to identify new business opportunities.
• Drive performance against goals, including sales targets, customer growth, pipeline build-up, and customer visits within the territory.
• Increase conversion dollars and surpass year over year targets.
• Lead direct selling for key opportunities, addressing pricing, service, investment, risk, scheduling, and technical promotion issues to support design wins.
• Use market and competitor knowledge to craft selling propositions and differentiators.
• Collaborate with global engineering and sales teams to develop proposals and present products aligned to customer requirements.
• Research and present market data to help segment teams and identify new product development opportunities.
• Work with Hirose customer support roles (Field Application Engineer, Segment Managers, Inside Sales Managers, Customer Service Specialists, Technical Support Engineering, Quality Engineering) to optimize customer service.
• Create and deliver customized, targeted product presentations.
• Identify and build relationships with key customer decision makers.
• Conduct or assist with product exhibitions (technical shows) at OEMs.
• Prepare and submit sales activity reporting, including monthly activity reports, visit reports, SalesForce updates, and product forecasting.
• Attend sales meetings upon request and provide updates on market, accounts, and projects.
• Maintain Hirose distributor registration program and quote activities within the assigned region.
• Ensure design registrations are processed in a timely manner and resolve conflicts.
• Develop strong relationships with account managers at distributor branches.
• Drive local distribution success including growth in POS, new design registrations, customer penetration, and new account development.
• Maintain strong visibility at branch locations to support positioning of Hirose products as the connector of choice.
• Run frequent opportunity reviews with Distributor Account Managers to build accountability and stay directly engaged in high-revenue opportunities.
• Participate in buddy calls with channel sales teams to advance opportunities and identify focus areas.
• Ensure sales opportunities are loaded and maintained in SalesForce.com.
• Identify, evaluate, and coordinate development of potential product lines with key accounts and future customers.
• Implement New Product Introduction (NPI) plans agreed with Marketing, including target account identification, promotion schedule, samples, and pricing, and provide feedback to Hirose.
• Monitor the design process to meet customer commitment targets.
• Track customer industry trends to anticipate needs and position Hirose as a leader in the connector industry.
• Interface with industry groups and standards committees as necessary.
• Support timely payment by working with Accounts Receivable to ensure accounts are set up for timely payment.
• Build close relationships with Hirose Japan personnel and assist with periodic customer visits by Japanese engineers and other Hirose personnel.
• Support collaboration across the HRS support groups.
• Complete tasks per ISO9001-2008 requirements, when applicable.
• Prepare and submit additional reporting, including rolling 12-month domestic and international sales forecast, Manager’s report, Regional Program Updates (RPU), Distributor Quarterly Business Reports (QBR), Private Show updates, and CRM database development information, plus required presentations and reports.

Requirements

• BS/A degree in Business or Technical field required.
• Five or more years of sales experience.
• Five or more years of sales experience in the electronic component industry required; interconnect experience is a plus.
• Technical knowledge to understand customer requirements and propose the appropriate HRS product solution.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent project management and above-average organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple assignments, meet deadlines, and maintain quality standards.
• Strong communication skills (oral and written) to partner with external and internal customers across different cultures.
• Excellent presentation skills, including PowerPoint creation.
• Ability to resolve issues and escalate in a timely manner aligned to customer needs.
• Computer literate and proficient in MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Salesforce.com.
• Self-motivated with a positive attitude and strong energy.
• Willingness to travel up to 40% to distributor branches and multiple customer R&D locations.
• Existing distributor relationships are a plus.

Technology

• Salesforce.com
• MS Word
• MS Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• ISO9001-2008

Compensation

USD 105,000 - 115,000 per year

Physical Conditions

• Must be able to negotiate the assigned territory through driving or other available transportation, with ongoing travel that may include long-distance trips.