Regional Key Account Manager,EV,Tokyo

Regional Key Account Manager,EV,Tokyo

Objectives of the Position

• Drive profitable and sustainable growth of the Lubricant Components business at assigned Global accounts (GAs) and regional key accounts (RKAs) in line with agreed sales targets and KPIs.
• Manage assigned key accounts in a global context, ensuring effective coordination across regions and countries. Understand the customer’s global organization, decision-making structures, strategic priorities and business footprint, and translate these into coordinated regional and cross-regional account strategies and actions.
• Develop and execute strategic Key Account Management plans, identifying growth opportunities, customer priorities, competitive dynamics, and actions to strengthen long-term customer partnerships in a global context.
• Build a strong understanding of customer needs, industry trends, market dynamics, and emerging business models, translating market insights into account strategies and new business opportunities.
• Manage the commercial performance of assigned accounts, including sales planning, budgeting, profitability, working capital, and risk management, with proactive recommendations and corrective actions.
• Lead commercial negotiations and influence stakeholders at different organizational levels, both internally and externally, to achieve mutually beneficial and sustainable business outcomes.
• Mobilize and guide cross-functional and cross-regional account teams, ensuring clear priorities, effective execution, and alignment around key account objectives.
• Ensure disciplined execution of relevant business processes, governance, and account management standards, while independently resolving issues within the position's area of expertise.

Main Tasks

1. Sales Planning & Performance Management

• Develop and execute annual and mid-term business plans for assigned regional key accounts, covering sales, profitability, volume, inventory/working capital and agreed KPIs.
• Provide reliable sales forecasts and monitor actual performance against budget and targets.
• Identify performance gaps, business risks and opportunities, and develop concrete countermeasures and growth actions.
• Manage pricing, commercial conditions and product/customer mix to support sustainable and profitable growth.
• Coordinate demand planning and business priorities with internal stakeholders across the region.

2. Strategic Key Account Management

• Develop, maintain and regularly update Key Account Plans for assigned strategic customers.
• Define account objectives, growth priorities, customer strategies, opportunity pipelines and action plans.
• Establish a coordinated global approach to customers operating across multiple regions and countries, ensuring alignment on commercial strategy, positioning and priorities.
• Coordinate local Account Managers and relevant functions to execute agreed account strategies and actions.
• Monitor implementation of the Key Account Plan and adapt priorities based on business performance and changing customer/market needs.

3. Customer Relationship & Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain strong, sustainable relationships with key decision makers, influencers and relevant functions within assigned accounts.
• Establish appropriate multi-level customer contacts across commercial, procurement, technical and management functions.
• Act as a key interface for strategic and complex commercial topics, coordinating internal resources when required.
• Lead commercial negotiations and manage customer issues independently within defined responsibilities.
• Strengthen BASF's position from a transactional supplier toward a strategic solution partner with key customers.

4. Business Development & Opportunity Management

• Identify and develop new business opportunities, applications and projects within existing and potential strategic accounts.
• Build and manage a healthy opportunity pipeline and drive projects from identification through customer qualification toward commercialization.
• Work closely with Technical Service, Marketing, Product Management and other relevant functions to develop customer-specific solutions.
• Leverage Lubricant Components portfolio knowledge, market expertise and customer relationships to create new projects and uncover unmet customer needs.
• Proactively identify opportunities for cross-selling and broader portfolio penetration within strategic accounts.

5. Market & Competitive Intelligence

• Continuously monitor lubricant market trends, customer developments, competitors, technologies and industry dynamics relevant to assigned accounts.
• Understand changes in customer strategies, sourcing models, formulation trends, regulatory requirements and regional market dynamics.
• Translate market and customer intelligence into account-level opportunities, risks and strategic actions.
• Share relevant market intelligence internally to support regional business and portfolio decisions.

6. Strategy Development & Regional Coordination

• Manage the broader global context of assigned key accounts, including customers with international operations that require cross-regional coordination.
• Proactively coordinate with global and regional counterparts to align customer strategy, commercial priorities, opportunities and actions across markets.
• Analyze customer, market and competitive developments to contribute to mid-term account and industry strategies.
• Facilitate internal alignment across Sales, Technical Service, Marketing, Product Management, Supply Chain and other relevant functions.

7. Cross-functional Team Leadership

• Lead and motivate cross-functional/cross-region/country account teams toward agreed customer and business objectives.
• Define clear priorities, responsibilities and follow-up actions for account team members.
• Provide guidance and commercial direction to colleagues involved in regional key account activities.
• Facilitate effective knowledge sharing and collaboration across countries and functions.
• Where applicable, support the development of sales and account-management capabilities of team members.

8. Commercial Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure key account activities comply with established commercial processes, contractual requirements and internal governance.
• Monitor working capital, payment conditions, inventory exposure and other commercial risks related to assigned accounts.
• Escalate significant business risks with clear assessment and recommended actions.
• Maintain appropriate documentation of account strategies, opportunities, customer agreements and key commercial decisions.

Minimum Education and Qualification Required for the Position

• Working Experience >5 years in sales, Chemical, lubricant or fuel industry experience preferable
• Skillset ; Chemistry, English reading, writing & verbal communication, basic Computer Excel, Word PPT etc.
• Business-level proficiency in both English and Japanese.