Senior Key Account Manager (m/f/d)

Senior Key Account Manager (m/f/d)

At Clarios, we are producing the world’s best batteries, essential for the evolving future of transportation. Our advanced, low-voltage batteries and smart solutions power nearly every type of vehicle and are found in 1 of 3 cars on the road today. Ready to apply your finance expertise to drive the future of Controlling initiatives at Clarios? Then take on the challenge and become a valued member of our team!

Power your future with Clarios and explore the possibilities with us.

Your role

• As Senior Key Account Manager, you will be responsible for leading, developing, and growing one of our most strategic Aftermarket customers within Clarios EMEA IAM.

• You will own the commercial relationship, drive profitable growth, and ensure the successful execution of customer-specific strategies across the EMEA region.

• In this role, you will act as the key interface between the customer and internal stakeholders.

• You will develop and implement strategies that strengthen our competitive position, improve profitability, increase share of wallet, and shift the product mix toward higher-margin product lines.

• You will also lead and coach an interdisciplinary team driving customer satisfaction, ensuring strong customer intimacy, disciplined execution and service level, and long-term mutual success.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Aftermarket key account, ensuring profitable sales growth, customer satisfaction, and long-term strategic partnership.

• Manage and coach the team responsible for premium-brand customers, fostering accountability, commercial excellence, and strong cross-functional collaboration.

• Develop and implement customer-specific business plans, including long-term objectives, sales targets, pricing strategies, margin improvement initiatives, and customer satisfaction goals.

• Represent the Aftermarket key account within Clarios EMEA IAM Management, providing clear insights, strategic recommendations, and transparent performance updates.

• Monitor market trends and customer-organization developments that may affect future business opportunities, risks, decision-making, or partnership dynamics.

• Own the financial performance of the customer account across EMEA, including sales, EBIT, margin, accruals, pricing mechanisms and targeted profitability.

• Drive high-level customer negotiations within defined delegation-of-authority limits, ensuring commercially sound outcomes and alignment with internal governance.

• Translate the overall business strategy into a customer-specific account strategy, ensuring consistency with regional and EMEA Aftermarket objectives.

• Prepare annual budgets, operating plans, and business forecasts, ensuring accuracy, transparency, and alignment with demand planning and financial targets.

• Coordinate closely with Logistics, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Product Management, Finance, and Marketing to secure operational excellence and customer satisfaction along the Order-to-Delivery process.

• Ensure timely and transparent reporting on account performance, risks, opportunities, customer developments, and action plans.

• Translate customer requirements into clear specifications and internal priorities, ensuring operational awareness and disciplined execution across relevant functions.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• University degree in Business Administration, Economics, Marketing, Engineering, or a related field; a master’s degree is preferred.

• Extensive experience in key account management, sales leadership, commercial management, or marketing, ideally within the Automotive Aftermarket - IAM.

• Strong understanding of IAM business models, channel management, customer strategy, pricing, and profitability management.

• Proven ability to manage complex strategic customers with multiple stakeholders, including frequent senior and executive-level contacts.

• Strong financial and commercial acumen, with the ability to manage sales, margins, EBIT, pricing structures, accruals, forecasts, and business plans.

• Excellent negotiation, presentation, and communication skills, including the ability to engage confidently at board and C-level management.

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to coach, develop, and empower teams while driving accountability and performance.

• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to influence cross-functional and cross-regional teams without relying solely on formal authority.

• High analytical capability and data-driven decision-making mindset, combined with sound business judgment.

• Experience in change management, continuous improvement, and process optimization.

• Fluency in German and English is required.

• Willingness to travel up to approximately 10%.

Your benefits: What we offer you

As a technology leader with strong brands (i.e. VARTA® and OPTIMA®), Clarios notably lives on the creativity, capability and satisfaction of its employees. Therefore, we offer people with drive and power many good reasons to join us:

• Exciting professional tasks and challenges in a diverse international future-oriented environment with strong commitment to integrity, values, social engagement, and sustainability.

• Arrange your working hours and breaks flexibly via our flexible working hours model and combine your professional and private life even better according to our above average number of vacation days, mobile work policy and company kindergarten.

• A competitive remuneration package, including additional payments as well as company pension scheme.

• Your well-being is very important to us: Take advantage of our preventive health care offers such as fitness center, physiotherapist, modern office environment, healthy canteen, team and company events or hobby clubs.

• Stay fit whilst at the same time positively contributing to our environment: Lease your company bike.

• Our well-advanced onboarding process and buddy program supports you to quickly grow into the position and team. By using the offering in our Learning Academy, LinkedIn Learning and EMEA Mentoring Program you will be able to further grow professionally and personally.

Do you want to learn more about the position and our EMEA region? Check out our regional page and get in touch with our recruiting team.
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About Clarios

Clarios is the global leader in advanced, low-voltage battery technologies for mobility. Our batteries and smart solutions power nearly every type of vehicle and are found in 1 of 3 cars on the road today. With around 18,000 employees in over 100 countries, we bring deep expertise to our Aftermarket and OEM partners, and reliability, safety and comfort to everyday lives. We answer to the planet with a rigorous sustainability focus - advancing best-in-class sustainability practices and advocating for them across our industry. We work to ensure 100% of our products sold are recyclable, and we recycle 8,000 batteries an hour in our network. You can find more information here (PDF).

To All Recruitment Agencies: Clarios does not accept unsolicited agency resumes/CVs. Please do not forward resumes/CVs to our careers email addresses, Clarios employees or any other company location. Clarios is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/CVs.