The Role
The Materials Solutions Lead is central to the future growth of Goodfellow's specialist materials business. Combining genuine materials expertise with commercial drive, the Lead owns complex, high-value materials opportunities from first enquiry through to close, understanding a customer's technical requirements, shaping the right materials solution, coordinating technical and sourcing specialists, and driving the commercial deal to a successful conclusion. It is a role for someone who can act as the bridge between deep materials science and commercial delivery, and who wants to build the high-value, engineered side of a growing materials company.
Key Responsibilities
- Own complex opportunities end to end — take the most complex, high-value materials opportunities from qualification through to commercial close.
- Translate technical need into solution — understand and interpret customers' technical requirements and turn them into deliverable materials solutions.
- Coordinate the specialists — direct and bring together technical, sourcing and quality colleagues to build and deliver each solution.
- Drive the commercial deal — lead proposal, pricing, negotiation and close, keeping momentum through longer, technically-led sales cycles.
- Partner with account managers — who own the ongoing customer relationship, providing the technical and commercial expertise on their complex opportunities.
- Shape major opportunities — contribute to Goodfellow's largest and most strategic materials projects.
- Develop the team — support the growth and development of colleagues across Materials Solutions, including the Associate Lead and specialist roles.
Key Requirements
Essential
- A STEM degree in materials science, engineering, chemistry or a closely related discipline.
- Substantial experience in technical or solution sales, applications engineering or a commercial role within advanced materials, engineering or a comparable technical B2B environment.
- A track record of managing complex, technically-led sales cycles and closing high-value deals.
- Strong commercial judgement across pricing, margin and negotiation.
- The ability to lead and coordinate technical specialists to deliver customer solutions.
Desirable
- Breadth across several materials families (metals, alloys, ceramics, glasses, polymers, composites).
- Exposure to microfabrication and/or materials testing and analysis.
- Experience of integrating new capabilities or teams.
- Experience using Salesforce or a comparable CRM.
- Experience of procurement or supplier sourcing.
About the Goodfellow Group
Founded in London in 1946, Goodfellow is a global leader in advanced materials, offering over 170,000 products to support innovation in sectors like aerospace, medical research, and green energy. With offices across Europe, the USA, and China, and backed by Battery Ventures, we’re driving growth through strategic acquisitions and global expansion. Recent acquisitions include Potomac Photonics (USA), Suisse Technology Partners (Switzerland), and The Bureau of Analysed Samples (UK). At Goodfellow, we’re united by technical excellence, collaboration, and sustainable innovation. Whatever your passion—science, engineering, technology, or business—you’ll find your future here.
About Materials Solutions
The Materials Solutions team partners with customers to specify, source and deliver this specialist materials business.
Our Values
All Employees are required to live by the Company Values
Continuous Improvement:
- Acknowledge the shortcoming and limitations within yourself and your team and take action to mitigate these.
- Seek ways to improve and enhance Goodfellow working practices.
- Be receptive to new ideas and practices to improve the results within your team.
- Implement solutions and changes positively and encourage the same within your team.
- Encourage your team to provide solutions not problems.
- Be receptive to feedback for your own and team’s performance.
- Go above and beyond.
- Actively seek feedback from your teams’ customers to ensure their needs and expectations are met.
Responsibility:
- Knowledge of managing the commercial impact of a team.
- Ability to meet both personal and departmental KPIs.
One Team:
- Regularly communicate the progress of the department/teams’ efforts based against the operational plan and business objectives.
- Build a positive and healthy working relationship with all colleagues in your team and company.
- Communicate with all colleagues in a professional, calm and assertive manner.
- Be flexible to the needs and requirements of other teams.
Customer Centric:
- A mindset that puts the customer at the centre of everything we do.
- Flexibility and a positive attitude towards opportunity.
- Exhibit a positive approach and treat all colleagues, clients etc with dignity and respect.