What We Want:

The Account Specialist position is a collaborative and highly integral role that will be responsible for/support a variety of commercial deliverables, problem resolutions, and tasks for assigned accounts. A successful candidate will be self-driven, results-orientated, and an effective communicator with both internal team members and external customers. The Account Specialist role requires the ability to work with a sense of urgency to perform the assigned tasks within the dynamic automotive industry in collaboration with Account Managers to drive strategic initiatives and manage the account’s profitability & growth. As the Account Specialist, you will be required to work in cross-functional teams which include but are not limited to: Account Managers, customers, internal team members, accounting department, engineering, purchasing, quality, and manufacturing plant.  

What You'll Do:

• Works directly with Account Managers to manage assigned customer accounts
• Cultivate positive relationships with customers and internal team members
• Work with customer-specific portals and procedures
• Submit and track RFQs (Request for Quote) in their entirety from RFQ receipt through quote submission through the Challenge Mfg. quoting process
• Follow up with customers for any additional RFQ information
• Manage customer pricing matrices and sync updates externally and internally.
• Track commercial open issues, POs, obsolescence claims, and ad-hoc cost recovery using a customer-shared tracker
• Coordinate responses to customer-requested documents, such as customer surveys, conflict of minerals, capacity planning reports, country of origin, and other related customer forms
• Assist the Accounts Receivable department with investigating unpaid invoices
• Utilize the ERP system to monitor orders and identify areas of risk to escalate to the Account Manager
• Resolve and/or escalate customer issues promptly.
• Monitor market trends to adjust strategic sales initiatives
• Take part in meetings and attend to sales related tasks

What You Need to Have:

• Bachelor’s Degree; or related experience and training; or equivalent combination of education and experience (required). 
• Bachelor of Science in Engineering or Business Administration (preferred)
• 1 - 3 years of business/sales management experience (required)
• Automotive supplier experience (preferred)
• Experience with PLEX ERP system (preferred)
• Ability to navigate CAD to review products for RFQs and presentations
• Customer support experience
• Microsoft Office proficiency with an emphasis on Excel competency
• Strong communicator with a positive attitude
• Passion for customer and company success
• Thrives in a hands-on environment
• Self-motivated and solution focused
• Takes responsibility for actions, results, and mistakes
• Demonstrates honesty and integrity in all aspects of work
• Strong conflict resolution skills
• Has high standards of performance for self