Sales Associate; Baltimore

The Opportunity

At Avantor, people are the most important part of our success because they drive our global performance. That’s why our Operations, Lab Services, Sales, and many other Avantor teams rely on our talent acquisition initiatives to attract, engage and hire the right talent. Avantor’s Sales vertical is a crucial part of this mix, enabling all our internal teams worldwide to grow beyond their limits.

Avantor is seeking an early‑career Sales Associate to support our strategic partnerships within Academia.

This role is designed for a commercially curious, relationship‑driven professional who wants to build a strong foundation in consultative selling, customer engagement, and account strategy within a complex academic research environment. This role works in close partnership with the Field Sales Representative and cross‑functional teams to drive growth, execute account strategies, and deliver an exceptional customer experience across a complex academic research environment.

Success in this role is rooted in spending meaningful time onsite and face to face with customers, combined with strong analytical skills, creativity, and disciplined execution. This person MUST reside in close proximity to Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland, Baltimore.

• Education:
  
  College degree or equivalent/applicable experience
• Experience:
  
  0–3 years in sales, account management, customer success, marketing, or a related commercial role
• Exposure to laboratory, research, academic, or scientific environments preferred
• Experience supporting complex accounts with multiple stakeholders and purchasing workflows
• Demonstrated ability to support solution‑based or consultative selling approaches

• Strong commitment to being onsite and engaging customers face to face, building trusted relationships with researchers, lab managers, procurement partners, and other stakeholders across Baltimore area schools.
• Customer‑obsessed mindset with genuine curiosity for understanding researcher needs, lab workflows, and institutional priorities.
• Strong Excel skills, including the ability to analyze data, build trackers, identify trends, and support opportunity and account planning.
• Analytical and strategic thinking skills with the ability to translate data and field insights into actionable plans.
• Creativity and a marketing‑oriented mindset, comfortable testing new ideas, outreach approaches, and engagement tactics—and scaling what works.
• Ability to balance a test‑and‑learn approach with structured planning, follow‑through, and execution.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills across customers, manufacturers, and internal teams.
• High level of organization, time management, and attention to detail.
• Ability to handle difficult situations and customer challenges with professionalism and composure.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating closely with a Field Sales Representative and cross‑functional partners.

• Support Avantor’s relationship with academic customers by delivering solutions aligned to customer research goals and operational needs.
• Spend significant time onsite building relationships and strengthening Avantor’s presence across labs, departments, and campuses.
• Partner closely with the assigned Field Sales Representative to execute account strategies and growth initiatives.
• Use Excel and data analysis to identify trends, whitespace opportunities, and areas for increased engagement.
• Support pipeline development through opportunity tracking, proposal preparation, pricing analysis, and follow‑up.
• Apply a test‑and‑learn mindset: piloting new outreach ideas, promotions, and engagement strategies, then refining and scaling what works.
• Sell consultatively by helping assess customer needs, coordinating product recommendations, and reinforcing Avantor’s value proposition.
• Assist with marketing and customer engagement initiatives, including campaigns, events, promotions, and targeted outreach.
• Support onboarding of new labs, programs, and researchers by facilitating setup, product access, and ordering workflows.
• Coordinate with internal teams (Customer Service,…