Product Manager, Plastic Additives; Florham Park, NJ

Product Manager, Plastic Additives; Florham Park, NJ-1301221

BASF is proud to be an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer.

Description
Through the acquisition of Ciba in 2009, BASF has become the global leader in Plastic Additives. Our Performance Chemicals division EV, serves the plastics industry via its integrated Plastic Additives platform (EVP) combining three strategic business unit: Antioxidants/Process Stabilizers/Customer specific blends (EVK), Light Stabilizers (EVF) and Pigments for Plastics (EVN). Without our products, plastics applications in Building and Construction, Automotive, Packaging, Agriculture, Carpeting and other industries would simply not be possible! From special effect pigments, to unique light stabilizers allowing plastics to resist Sun exposure, we have the world's largest range of additives.

The Product Manager will be supporting the Customer Specific Blend (CSB) business in North America. Primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

1. Implementation of regional specific strategies for the CSB business

2. Serve as main point of contact and liaison between marketing, technical service and R&D ensuring strategic projects are prioritized appropriately

3. Collaboration with Sales function to meet customer needs and resolve issues
- Pricing requests
- Development of new selling tools
- Product availability requests
- Freight rate requests
- Requests for Non-Plastic Additive products in BASF's portfolio

4. Coordination with several other functional groups supporting CSB Business
- Coordination with supply chain and customer service to track urgent product and sample orders
- Manage new master data (PBG/PRD/Article) creation process and oversee complexity reduction initiatives with gatekeeping group within supply chain

5. Drive initiatives focused on reducing variable cost through better sourcing of 3rd party components

6. Interact with customers; make joint sales calls with sales reps to identify new business opportunities

7. Coordinate and implement communication strategy for price increases to customers

8. CSB champion for non-conformance issues, work with sales team as well as regional quality manager to review results of the investigation that was performed to determine if it was sufficient as well as to determine if the business wants to issue communication to the customer

9. Participate in monthly Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) meetings

10. Attending major industry conferences to increase visibility of BASF in industry

11. Manage price approval and discrepancy requests in SAP

Qualifications - BASF recognizes institutions of Higher Education which are accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or equivalent
- BA/BS required; Engineering or Science Discipline preferred
- Master's in Business Administration (MBA) preferred
- 5 years of experience in chemical or related industry; Product Management, Marketing, Sales, Manufacturing/Operations background preferred
- Must be able to travel up to 25%
- Excellent communication skills - written and verbal - as well as interpersonal skills
- Creativity and entrepreneurship
- Financial and analytical skills
- High level of tolerance for ambiguity and change including a willingness to take calculated risks and implement novel approaches

Primary Location: United States-New Jersey-Florham Park
Function: MARK - Marketing
Job Type: Standard
Shift: Day Job
Organization: N-EVP-Performance Chemicals