Sales Specialist (Chemicals) – Northern UK Territory

The Opportunity: Under general supervision, responsible for maintaining relationships with accounts by visiting customer sites within assigned territory. Sell products and services to customers and act as point of contact post-sale, focusing on ongoing customer satisfaction, retention, and growing business. In addition to face-to-face meetings, engage with customers over the phone and Internet (e.g., chat, email, video conferencing, etc.) to close sales and support clients. Respond to client inquiries and offer guidance on appropriate products and services. Execute sales strategy, generate sales reports, and identify opportunities to increase sales volume while ensuring service levels are met.

Location: North of England, Scotland & Northern Ireland Field-Based Role | 75% Customer Facing

Are you passionate about building relationships, creating value for customers, and driving commercial success? Do you thrive in a field-based sales environment where no two days are the same? Avantor is looking for a Sales Specialist (Chemicals) to join our Region North sales team. This is an exciting opportunity to work with a diverse customer base across the pharmaceutical, biotech, food & beverage, academic, and industrial sectors while representing a leading portfolio of laboratory chemicals and reagents.

What You'll Be Doing

• Managing and growing a territory across Northern England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
• Building trusted relationships with key decision-makers and laboratory stakeholders.
• Driving sales growth and achieving revenue and margin targets.
• Identifying new business opportunities and expanding existing customer relationships.
• Promoting Avantor's broad chemical portfolio, including reagents and laboratory chemicals.
• Collaborating closely with Account Managers, Product Specialists, Technical Teams, and Supplier Partners to deliver customer-focused solutions.
• Maintaining accurate customer information, sales activity, and pipeline management through CRM tools.
• Developing strategic account plans and forecasting territory performance.
• Conducting regular customer visits, presentations, and product discussions.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for an ambitious and customer-focused sales professional who enjoys developing long-term partnerships and delivering commercial results.

• Bachelor's degree in a scientific discipline or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in a B2B sales environment.
• Proven track record of achieving sales targets and driving business growth.
• Experience managing complex sales cycles involving multiple stakeholders.
• Strong consultative selling and relationship-building skills.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage a large geographical territory.
• Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel extensively.

Preferred Experience

• Scientific background or experience working within laboratory, pharmaceutical, biotech, research, or industrial environments.
• Knowledge of laboratory chemicals, reagents, and related solutions.
• Experience within a distribution, life sciences, or laboratory supplies environment.
• Familiarity with CRM systems and sales planning tools.

What Success Looks Like

• Develop trusted customer relationships.
• Consistently achieve sales and gross margin targets.
• Generate and convert new business opportunities.
• Deliver value through consultative, solution-based selling.
• Become a trusted partner for customers and internal stakeholders alike.

Why Join Avantor?

At Avantor, you'll be part of a global organization supporting some of the world's most innovative pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, and research organizations. You'll have the opportunity to work collaboratively with industry experts, develop your career, and make a real impact on scientific advancement.

Disclaimer

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this position.

Avantor is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We are committed to helping you on this journey through our diverse, equitable and inclusive culture which includes learning experiences to support your career growth and success. At Avantor, dare to go further and see how the impact of your contributions set science in motion to create a better world.

Avantor®, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. Our portfolio is used in virtually every stage of the most important research, development and production activities in the industries we serve. One of our greatest strengths comes from having a global infrastructure that is strategically located to support the needs of our customers. Our global footprint enables us to serve more than 225,000 customer locations and gives us extensive access to research laboratories and scientists in more than 180 countries. We set science in motion to create a better world.

EEO Statement

We are an Equal Employment/Affirmative Action employer and VEVRAA Federal Contractor. We do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state/province, or local law. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at recruiting@avantorsciences.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Requests for accommodation will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.