Account Manager

Account Manager — Hydrolec | Reports to: VP of Customer Experience

Our customers don't think of us as a vendor. They think of us as part of their team. Some of them include us in their own customer support chain. This role exists to make that level of trust the standard — not the exception.

Hydrolec has been building precision-engineered hydraulic power units for OEM manufacturers since 1985. Our customers build equipment and depend on our power units as a critical sub-assembly. That means their customers are counting on us too. The relationships that sustain this business were built by people who showed up, understood the customer's world, and made themselves irreplaceable through trust — not contracts.

This is not an order-processing role or an inside sales role. You will be on the road, in your customers' facilities, learning their business, meeting their teams, and becoming the person they call first.

What You Will Own

• 25–35 accounts across strategic and growth customer base — deep, personal, consistent relationships
• On-site customer visits — regular, not just when there's a problem; showing up when it's calm is how trust gets built
• Customer advocacy inside Hydrolec — coordinating across Engineering, Production, and Operations to solve problems
• Commercial health of the portfolio — retention and growth, measured annually, not on individual transactions
• Referral awareness — not chasing introductions, but building relationships where they occasionally happen on their own
• Industry knowledge — understanding your customers' markets, pressures, and competitive dynamics

Competencies We Cannot Teach

• Genuine curiosity about other people's businesses — you want to understand how your customer makes money
• Relationship depth over breadth — 30 customers deeply beats 100 superficially
• Obsessive follow-through — when you say it, it happens; no reminders needed
• Calm confidence under pressure — upset customer = more focused, more empathetic, more solution-oriented
• Internal influence without authority — Engineering and Production prioritize for you because they trust your judgment
• Comfort on the road and on the floor — factories, production lines, shop lunches over conference rooms
• Honest when it's hard — truth to the customer and truth to Hydrolec, even when neither wants to hear it

What Success Looks Like After 12 Months

• Zero preventable customer losses — the non-negotiable floor
• Every account visited on-site at least once; strategic accounts quarterly or more
• Year-over-year portfolio revenue growth through deepening relationships, not pushing product
• Relationships deep enough that referrals become possible — rare in our industry, extraordinary when they happen
• Customers call you first for escalations, opportunities, and strategic questions — because you've earned it
• Internal teams trust you as a reliable, organized partner
• The CSM/AM partnership is seamless — one Hydrolec experience, not two overlapping roles

How This Role Partners with and Leads Our Customer Success Manager

CSM = day-to-day: order processing, portal monitoring, ship-date tracking, logistics, basic quoting.

Account Manager (you) = the relationship: deep customer knowledge, on-site visits, strategic conversations, escalation ownership, commercial health of the account.

You work in close partnership — they keep the engine running, you keep the relationship deepening.

Our Core Values

Family First — Genuine investment, honest communication, the courage to have hard conversations. You are the customer's advocate and Hydrolec's honest voice. Both. Always.

Sky's the Limit — Find creative paths forward, not reasons why something can't happen.

All Hands on Deck — When a customer has an issue, you own it through to resolution. Not when someone starts working on it — when the customer confirms it's resolved.

Compensation

$85K–$105K base 20–25% annual bonus: 50% retention (zero preventable losses), 50% portfolio growth (year-over-year, not quarterly).

Referrals recognized with a standalone bonus when they happen — rare in our industry, extraordinary when they do. No per-order commission — ever.

Threshold Qualifications

• 3–5 years in relationship-focused B2B account management, ideally in manufacturing or industrial products
• Track record retaining and growing 20 accounts through depth, not volume
• Comfortable with 25–40% travel including regular on-site customer visits
• Technical enough to hold a conversation with a customer's engineering team — curiosity matters more than credentials
• Exceptional communication from shop floor to C-suite
• Genuine comfort in industrial environments

What This Role Is Not

Not inside sales. Not a T&E expense account with a title. Not a quota-crushing leaderboard role. Not order processing. Hybrid when not traveling — on-site at HQ is the default because that's where Production, Engineering, and the CSM are. If your identity is tied to closing deals under quarterly pressure, this isn't the right fit. If your identity is tied to being the person customers trust most, keep reading.

Benefits

Health, dental & vision | 401(k) match | Maternity & paternity leave | Accident insurance & life insurance | Monthly employee lunch | On-site fitness room

How to Apply

Complete the Culture Index survey first, and the resume and cover letter is collected at the end of the process. Submit a one-page cover letter answering these two questions:

1. Tell us about an account you grew significantly — not by pushing product, but by deeply understanding the customer's business and seeing an opportunity they hadn't articulated yet. What did you see, what did you do, and what happened?

2. Describe a time a customer was genuinely upset with your company. How did you handle it, what did it cost you personally to get it right, and what was the outcome?

Having trouble with the link? Send to: recruiting@hydrolec.net

We read every letter. Generic responses will not advance. Tell us something real.