Customer Business Manager

Customer Business Manager (Contract Manufacturing)

We are working with a fast-growing food manufacturing company that is looking for a Customer Business Manager in the Ithaca, NY area. In this highly collaborative role, you will help deliver exceptional experience to contract manufacturing customers while serving as a critical link between those customers and the manufacturing operation. This position offers the chance to help shape how the customer-management side of the business operates as they scale. If you are someone who genuinely enjoys working with customers and being the person who can be trusted to get things done, this is the role for you.

Job Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary business liaison between the company and their contract manufacturing customers.
• Own the day-to-day customer relationship, ensuring customer needs are understood, communicated internally, and followed through to resolution.
• Work closely with Plant Operations, Quality, Production, Scheduling, Supply Chain, and company leadership, to ensure customers receive timely answers, issues are addressed, and commitments are met.
• Move between the office and production floor to gather information, solve problems, and keep customers informed.
• Provide limited commercial sales support for the company’s branded product portfolio, including working with outside brokers and supporting existing customer relationships.
• Develop strong relationships with customers and gain a thorough understanding of their businesses, products, priorities, and expectations.
• Coordinate customer needs internally with Production, Quality, Scheduling, Supply Chain, and plant leadership.
• Proactively follow up on open items and ensure customer questions and concerns are addressed promptly.
• Facilitate resolution of issues involving production, quality, scheduling, inventory, product availability, and other manufacturing-related matters.
• Provide customers with timely, accurate updates regarding issues, changes, and upcoming requirements.
• Represent the voice of the customer internally and ensure customer priorities are understood throughout the organization.
• Help establish and improve processes for managing customer communication, requests, follow-up, and issue resolution as the business grows.
• Support the onboarding of new contract manufacturing customers and products.
• Identify potential customer concerns before they become larger issues and coordinate appropriate action.
• Partner closely with the Plant Manager and ownership on customer priorities and overall business needs.
• Take ownership of miscellaneous business and customer-related needs that arise within a growing, entrepreneurial manufacturing environment.

Required Skills/Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field is preferred.
• 3+ years of relevant customer-facing experience in manufacturing preferred.
• Experience supporting contract manufacturing, private-label, or custom-manufacturing customers is highly desirable.
• Previous sales or broker-management experience is helpful but not required.
• Experience in customer service, account management, program management, customer operations, project management, or a similar customer-facing role within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations and the ability to communicate effectively with production and technical teams.
• Demonstrated ability to manage customer issues from identification through resolution.
• Ability to manage multiple customers, projects, priorities, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Comfortable working independently and making decisions in a fast-moving environment.
• Hands-on approach and willingness to spend time on the manufacturing floor to understand and resolve issues.