Product Application Manager

Title:Product Application Manager

Location: Remote - Illinois

Job Description:

Job Summary

The Product Application Manager provides specialized product and application expertise to optimize customer process performance by recommending solutions that balance cost and performance. This role serves as a key liaison between R&D, Sales, and customers, delivering technical support, training, product recommendations, and trial guidance to drive customer success and business objectives.

Job Description

• Provide advanced technical support to the sales and operations teams, including troubleshooting, process optimization, and new product implementation.
• Manage customer trials and application projects, ensuring timely delivery of technical reports, studies, and recommendations.
• Lead collaboration between customers, R&D, and Operations to develop and qualify new products, formulations, and process solutions that meet performance, cost, and sustainability objectives.
• Identify and define customer needs, selecting or proposing products aligned with portfolio strategy and business goals.
• Develop and deliver technical presentations, case studies, and application training for internal teams and customers.
• Drive measurable value creation by leading validated cost-in-use and process improvement initiatives for key accounts.
• Monitor and analyze competitive technologies, providing input into product strategy and innovation priorities.
• Maintain CRM accuracy for technical projects, opportunities, and feedback to support visibility and data-driven decision-making.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, including documentation standards, Code of Conduct, and safety practices.
• Actively manage an Individual Development Plan (IDP) and contribute to building internal technical capability through training and knowledge sharing.

Requirements

Education, Experience & Skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree required (MS/MBA preferred) in Chemistry, Engineering or any business area.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in a customer facing and technical capacity.
• Willingness and ability to travel approximately 50% of the time to customer sites.
• Willingness and ability to work from a home-based office.

About Us

At Quaker Houghton, we are experts in the development, production and application of industrial process fluids, lubricants and coatings for the manufacturing industry. We have been an integral part in the growth of the world’s largest industrial and manufacturing companies from aerospace and automotive to primary metal and energy. Today, we have a global presence, with our corporate headquarters located in Conshohocken, PA. Quaker Houghton is a global publicly traded company with a unique collaborative culture that supports career growth for its associates and offers competitive compensation and benefit programs.

What's in it for you

• Competitive pay programs with excellent career growth trajectory

• Paid time off for volunteerism

• Dress for your day; how you dress is determined by what your day may bring

• Opportunity to participate in comprehensive benefit options including: Medical, Dental, Vision, Parental Leave, Holiday Pay, Paid Time Off, Tuition Reimbursement, and Savings Plan

• Work for a global leader in the industrial process fluids industry

Quaker Houghton provides equal employment opportunity for all qualified candidates. Quaker Houghton does not discriminate against any candidate for employment based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, creed, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, marital or domestic partnership or civil union status, veteran’s status, physical/mental disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by U.S federal, state, and/or local employment law. Furthermore, Quaker Houghton is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified candidates with physical and/or mental disabilities.