Technical Manager

Overview: Position summary The Technical Manager is the technical owner and commercial executor of one product category. The position carries the category’s technical authority — product configuration, application suitability, troubleshooting and continuous product improvement — and executes commercially on it: qualifying opportunities before they are quoted, completing the critical and high-value quotations, and project-managing the important capital jobs through to customer acceptance with the support of the application group project managers. The work spans the category’s full value stream: the installed base and competition, field sales support and application definition, quoting to a margin target, project delivery, and the consumables and aftermarket business that follows. The Technical Manager is the subject-matter expert supporting all digital transformation efforts for the category, including its CPQ modules, and drives it toward field quoting by sales. The position calls for a strong presenter who maintains good communication and working relationships with Engineering, Manufacturing, R&D, Supply Chain, Quality, and Sales and Service. Responsibilities: DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1. MARKET & CATEGORY KNOWLEDGE 1a Maintain in-depth knowledge of the installed base and of competitive products and work with Sales leadership to develop the strategies to compete. 1e Broaden product knowledge beyond the assigned category. Depth of a category owner is not expected outside the assigned category, but working knowledge is — enough to recognise an opportunity, answer a first-level question and support Sales across the department's range rather than only the defined category. 2. SALES & CUSTOMER SUPPORT 2a Provide applications, technical and training support to customers, Sales, Service, Manufacturing, Quality, Customer Service and licensees — both the specialist depth and the day-to-day questions. 2b Travel as the category requires to support customers, sales, trials and installations; the expectation is 25–50% of working time. Plan and optimize the schedule to maximize in-person time with the sales team and customers, so the cost of travel returns the most benefit. 2d Work with Sales on customer presentations — new products, major orders, and technical presentations with proposal review — supporting, contributing to or leading the presentation as the opportunity requires. 2f Create case studies and document ROI. 2g Work with Sales on total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis for customers — contribute the product, application, consumable and service cost inputs, test the assumptions behind the model, and record the completed analysis in Salesforce against the opportunity so it is retrievable and can be reused. 3. OPPORTUNITY & SCOPING 3a Train and develop the sales team to identify opportunities at customer locations, and work with them to finalize the resulting scope. 3c Support sales in gathering technical specifications from the customer, and offer input to the Applications scope. (support) 3d Work with sales to define product configuration and ensure it is suitable for the application. 3e Qualify the opportunity before it is quoted; confirm the capital equipment requested actually matches the application. 4. QUOTING & PRICING 4a Complete critical and high-value quotations personally; route routine and overflow volume to the vertical's quoting and project management resource with a complete scope package/meeting as appropriate. 4e Complete quotations on time; keep costing records and backup documentation accurate and properly stored so the basis of a price can be reconstructed. 4f Quote to keep the sum of the category's margins at or above target. Apply value-based pricing to push margin wherever the value supports it — the headroom earned there offsets the margin conceded on work that has to be priced down under competitive pressure. Probe sales on discount reque…

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