Sales Representative, Sales Support & Admin

Yazaki is a global leader in the research, development, and delivery of vehicle power and data solutions.

Yazaki works with virtually every major auto manufacturer globally, and we've strived to maintain strategic and stable growth throughout our 84-year history. Today, we're looking for energetic people with the potential to perform and the ability to strengthen - and thrive in - the positive work environment we pride ourselves on.

Location: Columbus, OH, USA  

Yazaki is looking for a Sales Representative to join our Honda team in Columbus, OH.  The ideal candidate will enjoy working in a collaborative and action-driven environment making lasting impacts on the organization. 

The ideal candidate will represent Yazaki North & Central America with OEM, Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 suppliers as assigned. The candidate will also work with commercial organizations to establish price strategies and technical organizations for competitive product levels. In addition, the candidate will serve as the assigned vehicle’s subject matter expert with comprehensive knowledge of all aspects affecting profitability; communicate this with management and support commercial negotiations with the customer. Further, the candidate will support management in coordination and business planning meetings. Finally, the ideal candidate will work with Yazaki manufacturing and appropriate internal teams to develop material costs and profit improvement plans. Embody Yazaki’s image to build trusting, positive customer relationships. Communicate extemporaneously if required and exhibit good judgment in difficult customer negotiations.

What you will be doing:

• Customer Inquiries

• • Respond to customer or potential customer requests for information and/or problem solving
  • Coordinate and communicate customer inquiries internally
• Customer Relationship Management
• • Administer customer complaints including responding to complaints and the associated reporting
  • Maintain professional relationships with customer contacts
  • Identify customer needs and act as the customer voice at internal meetings
  • Promote Yazaki business objectives clearly with the customer

• Quotation Requests

• • Provide support necessary to Account Managers / Platform Management in the development and response to customer inquiries for product price quotations including but not limited to Sourcing, Engineering Changes, Cost Planning and Service
  • Use internal databases to develop and track quotation data

• Pricing Strategy

• • Support the sales price development process
  • Elaborate or revise a pricing strategy on specific products
  • Maintain and track sales prices and profit improvement

• Support customer contract negotiations
• Respond to pricing issue inquiries from company and customer personnel
• Negotiate Deliverables
• Purchasing Analysis

• • Conduct Purchase Price analysis  at each term and design change
  • Organize Yazaki Engineering and Manufacturing to support Purchase Price analysis
  • Analyze manufacturing Bills of Material

• Profitability Analysis, Improvement and Execution

• • Prepare expense evaluations and comparisons of profitability by product or product line
  • Recommend costing and overall profit improvement ideas
  • Recommend profit improvement implementation plans

• Manage Supplier relationships

• • Work with primary OEM customer to understand roles and responsibilities of tiered supplier structure
  • Manage customer interaction with Tier customers and OEM suppliers
  • Develop profit improvement plan for major Tier customers and OEM supplier base

• Tooling

• • Manage the tooling costs associated with quote to customer for new business (production and prototype) 
  • Recover tooling cost for engineering changes

• Presentation Preparation

• • Collect and supply sales and purchase history
  • Coordinate collection of presentation data with support teams

• Deliver speeches and/or presentations to internal and external groups 
• Provide supporting information for short and long-term forecasts
• Act as a liaison between Sales and other non-Sales functions
• Make business decisions that may affect day-to-day and financial operations of the division
• Verify, plan, direct, and control the work of outside contractors or indirect reports i.e. associates who report elsewhere, but provide support to the objectives of your department 
• Attend organizational meetings (e.g. Staff, Departmental)
• Contribute to processes standardization and promote awareness and understanding of ISO 16949 compliance
• Attend workshops, seminars or conferences to enhance job-related skills
• Complete and process applications or forms excluding documents required by law
• Prepare for and participate in trade shows or technical meetings as requested to build business relationships
• Participate in special assignments as requested  (e.g. study and improve financial/ operational efficiency)
• Support long-range and short-term group forecasts, goals, objectives, and priorities
• Support other projects, tasks, and/or duties as assigned

What you will bring to the table:

• Bachelor’s in Sales, Business or related field or equivalent experience
• 5 years of experience in a customer-related capacity
• 1-3 years of experience in Automotive, Manufacturing or International Business preferred
• Japanese and/or Spanish language skills preferred
• Ability to travel both domestically and internationally up to 20%
• Ability to be on call as required

What we can provide you:

• A collaborative learning environment that will help you reach your maximum potential
• A diverse team of experts
• Supportive leadership and team members to help you do your best work
• Opportunities to build your professional network
• An engaging and supportive work culture
• Competitive compensation and benefits package including incentive compensation, 401K match, tuition assistance and a generous holiday schedule
• Hybrid work schedule

Yazaki North America is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, handicap, veteran status, or other legally protected status or characteristic. Equal opportunity extends to all aspects of the employment relationship. Yazaki North America complies with federal and state equal employment opportunity laws and strives to keep the workplace free from all forms of harassment.