Job Summary
The Sales Operations Specialist supports the commercial team through demand planning, sales forecasting, and CRM data management, and coordinates between Sales, the Project Management Office (PMO), and Estimating on new product development (NPD) programs. This role turns pipeline and production data into forecasts leadership can act on, keeps proposal and non-recurring engineering billing activity on schedule, and ensures pricing requests do not delay new programs. The position works closely with Strategic Account Managers and Key Account Managers on pipeline and forecast input, Customer Service on order and shipment data, and with Scheduling and Operations on demand-to-capacity alignment.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Build and maintain the rolling demand forecast by customer, program, and part number, reconciling sales input against production schedules and historical run rates
- Consolidate SAM and KAM pipeline inputs into unit and revenue forecasts; maintain rolling 12-month revenue and unit projections by account and product line for leadership review
- Track forecast accuracy (actual vs. plan) over time to improve future forecast cycles
- Identify demand trends, seasonality, and risks (e.g., customer concentration, program ramp-downs) and communicate them proactively to Sales leadership
- Partner with Scheduling and Operations to flag demand changes early enough to adjust capacity and material plans, including conflicts between prototype/NPD demand and production capacity
- Administer the CRM day-to-day, including data hygiene, pipeline stage accuracy, opportunity ownership, and adoption by SAMs, KAMs, and Customer Service; audit on a regular cadence to close gaps between recorded pipeline and actual customer activity
- Define and enforce CRM data standards (naming conventions, required fields, stage-gate criteria) in partnership with Sales leadership
- Build and maintain dashboards and reports on pipeline, win/loss, quote-to-close conversion, and account coverage (A/B/C tiering) for commercial and sales leadership
- Train new team members on CRM use and serve as the first point of contact for CRM questions and troubleshooting
- Partner with the PMO on NPD programs, providing sales-side data and coordination so prototype and early-stage programs move through the gate process without delay
- Assemble and format customer-facing proposals and quotes, combining commercial terms, technical scope, and pricing from Sales, Estimating, and Engineering into a single, on-time package
- Serve as the Sales liaison to Estimating; maintain a shared tracker of open pricing requests and due dates for new and existing programs
- Track and reconcile NRE billable hours against program budgets, flagging overruns or unbilled time to the PMO and Finance
- Maintain program-level visibility (status, owner, next milestone) across active NPD opportunities so Sales, PMO, and Estimating work from the same information
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field or equivalent experience
- Degree requirement may be waived with equivalent professional experience
Experience and Knowledge
- 3+ years in sales operations, demand planning, program coordination, or a similar commercial/operations role, ideally in a manufacturing or contract manufacturing environment
- Hands-on CRM administration experience (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar); experience configuring reports and dashboards strongly preferred
- Exposure to proposal development, quoting, or program/project coordination in a B2B manufacturing or medical device contract manufacturing setting preferred
- Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, forecasting models); experience with ERP/MRP systems preferred
- Experience tracking billable hours, NRE, or project budgets preferred
- Strong analytical and data-reconciliation skills, with the ability to turn scattered inputs into accurate, trustworthy forecasts and reports
- Ability to work cross-functionally across Sales, PMO, Estimating, Engineering, and Operations without formal authority
Physical and Mental Demands
- Frequent sitting and computer use, with occasional standing and walking in office and production areas
- High attention to detail and follow-through, with strong organizational skills
- Effective written and verbal communication skills, including preparing customer-ready proposals under time pressure
Work Environment
- Office environment with occasional visits to the production floor
- In the production facility, noise level is moderate to loud, and not all areas are climate controlled
