Sr Technical Specialist Manager

As the largest pureplay adhesives company in the world, H.B. Fuller's (NYSE: FUL) innovative, functional coatings, adhesives and sealants enhance the quality, safety and performance of products people use every day. Founded in 1887, with 2024 revenue of $3.6 billion, our mission to Connect What Matters is brought to life by more than 7,500 global team members who collaborate with customers across more than 30 market segments in over 140 countries to develop highly specified solutions that enable customers to bring world-changing innovations to their end markets. Learn more at

• Supervision: 9+ direct and/or indirect reports
• Scope & Ownership: Exhibits ownership across the Business Unit and/or organization and leads a team and strategy with a global focus. Develops advanced technological ideas and guides their development into a final product. Is the key advisor to leaders for their market globally, collaborates with commercial team to manage the global product range for their market, will be a member of the teams developing new global products or services in their market, will travel, where applicable, internationally to appropriate trade shows and key customers, will be known or advises on the key accounts globally in their market. Erroneous decisions or recommendations would typically result in failure to achieve critical business objectives and affect the image of the organization's technological capability.
• How work is conducted:
• Understands business needs and how choices today build for the future.
• Works under consultative direction toward predetermined long-range goals and objectives. Assignments are often self-initiated. Determines and pursues courses of action necessary to obtain desired results.
• Anticipates challenges across the organization well before they occur and takes preventive action.
• Applies advanced technical principles, theories and concepts. Contributes to the development of new principles and concepts. Widely recognized for achievements, technical expertise and meritorious standing within professional field. Identifies, analyzes and develops new business opportunities.
• Influence: Whole team/function and Business Unit/Market Segment

Delivering customer value (15%)

• Fosters and develops a sustainable knowledge of customer processes, products and applications beyond the use of H.B. Fuller products.
• Develop a team that demonstrates implicit understanding of customer culture and anticipate needs while recommending innovative product and process solutions to enhance/define/create value.
• Drives team to document Value Quantification at customers to enable success of commercial initiatives.
• Builds competitive advantage by building product/solution offerings that are differentiated.
• Facilitates the use of H.B. Fuller products on existing equipment by understanding of customers' application processes.
• Develops customer-facing programs or improve current programs that provide value-added benefits to customers.
• Research's customers' adhesive performance and application processes to determine product recommendations.
• Supports regional marketing and sales strategies.
• Provides technical direction to sales and manufacturing talent on customer applications and product enhancements to deliver innovative and profitable solutions to new (and existing) customers.
• Leads customer troubleshooting and improvement projects. Train other business personnel to conduct similar customer sessions once the programs have been established.
• Provides feedback on the performance of products with suggestions for potential improvements when needed.

Technical Team Leadership (50%)

• Recruits, hires, and assembles a high-performing team with the right mix of technical skills and personalities. Providing mentorship, coaching, and training to develop team members' skills and capabilities.
• Manages the Performance capability of the team including developing a learning culture, ensuring talent development, succession planning and career development.
• Develops an organization and role structure for the function that is aligned to the new, market and business strategy for market segment(s) being served. In particular, determine the need for specialization, generalization and geographical coverage.
• Baselines the current skill, competency, and behaviors of existing technical service team.
• Develops a resource plan to ensure the right technical service talent in the lab and in the field is available to deliver on customer intimacy.
• Builds a succession pipeline to ensure the sustainability of our technical knowledge.
• Manages resources such as budget, personnel, and equipment to optimize project outcomes and meet organizational objectives.

Business Support (25%)

• Identifies and defines long-term goals and objectives for technical projects, aligning them with the overall vision and mission of the business being supported.
• Supports in diversifying and growing the revenue stream.
• Allocates resources to meet the business needs and decides if and when new resources might be needed, reflecting the strategic business matrix and the alignment of resource with growth opportunities.
• Assists in the development of sales by providing technical support for new and existing customer applications, as well as targeted technical training.
• Provides alignment and technical input to stage-gate, innovation and customer retention issues.
• Prioritizes focus of work in key markets.
• Develops and executes a set of metrics aligned with the business goals and objectives.
• Develops a training and knowledge transfer system that ensures that product know-how is enhanced and grows over both short and long term.
• Builds and maintains relationships with key stakeholders, including executives, clients, and cross-functional teams, to ensure alignment and support for technical initiatives.

Internal Coordination (10%)

• Partners with the Business Development, Marketing and other functional resources (eg Supply Chain Mgt, Operations, HR, Finance, Customer Services) to drive account penetration, revenue growth and close deals.
• Ensures a communication process is in place to leverage learning's with peer groups in other regions.
• Partners with the business teams and Company's Finance and Legal departments to provide input on agreements, rebates and contracts.
• Assists in the market introduction of new products through the development of customer and sales training materials.
• Maintains relationships with key industry partners such as equipment and component suppliers.
• Maintains a broad based and in-depth knowledge of competitive products and the technology involved in the industry.

H.B. Fuller is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and proud to have created a collaborative culture where employees around the world are seen, heard, and respected. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, or marital status or status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected classification.
H.B. Fuller does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or staffing firms. To conduct business with H.B. Fuller, a written service agreement must be executed by Human Resources prior to submitting any information relating to a potential candidate. Without a signed service agreement, H.B. Fuller shall not be obligated for payment of any fee or compensation.