Channel Sales Manager

About the Company

Headquartered in Hillside, IL, Cognesense is a worldwide environmental technology company built through the combination of heritage brands, including L&J Technologies, Shand & Jurs, Varec, Sonitus Systems, Petrel, Ex-tech, Pyroban, and Pyropress, that together represent over a century of domain expertise. Under the positioning “Measure. Monitor. Protect.,” Cognesense delivers measurement and instrumentation, safety equipment, automation, and software (including its Clairvoyance and FuelsManager® platforms) to customers in over 100 countries across energy production and storage, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, water and wastewater, aviation fuel, aerospace and defense, food and beverage, and other regulated, high-stakes end markets.

About the Role

The Channel Manager (Distributor / EPC) is responsible for the routes to market that create coverage and influence beyond our own salespeople: distributors and reps, and the EPC and specification ecosystem. You move the region from distributor coverage to distributor productivity, and you get Cognesense specified before the award.

This is a Tier 3 role reporting to the Sales Director. You own channel development; the Sales Director owns the regional commercial outcome, and the Regional Sales / Business Manager owns each customer relationship. In larger regions, distributor and EPC can be two separate roles under this title.

Responsibilities

Distributor Portfolio

• Segment partners as strategic, growth, specialist, or exit and replace, and build an annual plan for each key partner.
• Recruit where there is white space, and replace partners who do not perform.
• Run quarterly partner reviews and measure partners on revenue, pipeline and product breadth.

EPC and Specification

• Work the target EPC list and map EPC to owner, project, engineering hub and approved vendor list route.
• Track pre-FEED, FEED, vendor-list and tender activity, and connect each project to the Regional Sales / Business Manager who owns the relationship.
• Coordinate multi-region projects once, with product leadership validating technical fit before submission.

Enablement and Pricing

• Onboard and train partners with Technical Sales Engineers and Product Specialists.
• Maintain channel pricing and programs with the Product Specialists and Product Directors.

One Customer Ownership Model

• Remove channel conflict with direct sales; every customer has one commercial owner.
• Keep partner and EPC opportunities current in CRM with owner, stage and next action.

How We Measure Success

In your first year, great performance looks like this:

• Channel bookings: Bookings through distributors and reps meet or exceed plan.
• Partner productivity: Key partners grow revenue and product breadth year over year.
• Coverage: Every territory and priority vertical has an active, trained partner or a plan to add one.
• Specification access: More EPC projects have Cognesense on the vendor list or specification before award.
• Partner quality: Under-performing partners are addressed within two quarters.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years managing distributor or rep networks, or EPC and specification sales, for industrial products.
• Track record of growing channel revenue and recruiting new partners.
• Experience setting partner goals, running business reviews and managing agreements.
• Strong commercial sense on channel pricing and discount structures.
• Willingness to travel across the region (up to about 50%).

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering or a technical field.
• Experience with EPCs, FEED and approved vendor list processes.
• Experience in instrumentation, safety equipment or environmental monitoring channels.
• Experience harmonizing partner networks after acquisitions.
• Comfort using AI tools to manage partner data and performance.

How You Work

• You take ownership: you follow every quote, order and question through to the finish instead of handing it off.
• You are curious and want to learn; you ask questions, take feedback and get better every quarter.
• You are a team player who helps colleagues, shares credit and makes the people around you faster.
• You are conscientious, accountable and involved, with a sense of urgency that customers can feel.
• You hold partners to the same standard as our own people: clear goals, real support, honest measurement, and prompt action.