Solutions Development Engineer

Kion North America - Summerville, SC

Full-time - Mid Level

Summerville, SC

10,001+ employees

Machinery Manufacturing

About the position

The Solution Development Engineer at KION North America plays a crucial role in the solution development team, focusing on creating reliable and cost-effective solutions for the automated guided forklift (AGF) sales team. This position involves managing the entire proposal life cycle, ensuring that solutions are data-driven and aligned with customer requirements, while coordinating with various internal teams to deliver high-quality proposals within set deadlines and budgets.

Responsibilities

• Manage the entire proposal life cycle of projects being quoted.
• Oversee solutions proposed to customers, including management of all pre-contract deliverables.
• Identify applicability of KION NA Standard Sub Systems in the pre-qualification sales cycle.
• Own proposal plan and communicate initial deliverable dates and changes.
• Act as the main contact for assigned Sales Engineers and Account Managers during the sales cycle.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of customer requirements to function as the voice of the customer internally.
• Coordinate initial qualification, triage of needs, and feasibility checks.
• Prepare and coordinate customer workshops in cooperation with Sales and other internal departments.
• Support the Account Manager in winning strategy and high-visibility meetings.
• Coordinate with Sales to define deliverables in the Solution Request and delivery dates.
• Ensure timely and clear handovers through quality gates such as concept, tech, and pricing reviews.
• Secure approval for deviations to processes and policies as needed.
• Coordinate with Project Management on clarifications and change orders during the project kickoff period.
• Attend project close-out and lessons learned meetings.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree required.
• 1 - 4 years of logistics and automation experience, with 1+ years of direct applicable project management experience.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a self-directed, proactive, results-oriented environment.
• Experience in driving initiatives and holding teams accountable for results.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, capable of engaging with senior leadership, customers, and internal stakeholders.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Proficient in Autodesk (AutoCAD).
• Willingness to travel 15 - 20%.