CNC Machinist Sales and Application Engineer

CNC Machinist Sales and Application Engineer

Location:

Fargo, ND, US, 58047

On-site or Remote:
Remote

REQ

With over 80 years as an industrial technology leader, Kennametal Inc. delivers productivity to customers through materials science, tooling, and wear‑resistant solutions. Customers across aerospace, earthworks, energy, general engineering, and transportation turn to Kennametal to help them manufacture with precision and efficiency. Every day approximately 10,000 employees help customers in more than 60 countries stay competitive. Kennametal generated nearly $2.4 billion in revenues in fiscal 2019.

CNC Machinist Sales and Application Engineer

Location – North Dakota or South Dakota. Preferred locations would be Fargo, Bismarck, or Sioux Falls.

Job Summary

Kennametal is seeking talented machinists and programmers looking to transition their career off the floor day to day into a professional sales role. If you are currently working as a machinist or have previous hands–on machining and CNC programming experience, we would be very interested in speaking to you! This position is responsible for driving metal‑cutting tool sales growth with new and established customers, both direct and indirect, or new and established machine‑tool customers by managing customer relationships, providing technical direction/support, and increasing productivity for our customers.

This role combines technical knowledge and sales skills to achieve sales targets, build strong territory presence and pipeline. This role will partner with multiple internal sales and support professionals to support the customers’ initiatives and technical needs. Sales and Application Engineers work on unique challenges related to CNC machining, milling, and lathe applications. The role is based from a home office within the assigned territory, but 80% or more of the week is spent out in the field at customer locations.

The territory is all within commuting distance; overnight travel not regularly required. A company vehicle is provided as part of a top‑of‑market compensation package which includes a base salary, performance bonus, and benefits starting day 1.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Meet or exceed revenue targets by providing metal‑cutting solutions, understanding market trends, and meeting customers’ key needs and objectives in a professional manner.
• Generate, qualify, and manage all sales leads, prospects, and new customer accounts.
• Proactively manage the complete sales process, including prospecting, qualification, consultative sales meetings, product demos, pricing, terms negotiations, and sourcing.
• Develop and execute strategic territory plans to deliver revenue goals with a focus on new product sales.
• Coordinate support of end customer and market‑share growth efforts in collaboration with local and national channel partners.
• Provide timely answers to pre‑sales technical and commercial queries from customers.
• Maintain up‑to‑date customer and project records in CRM to ensure a clean and healthy pipeline.
• Actively collaborate with internal sales and support professionals—such as Application Engineers, Channel Partner Reps, Inside Sales, and others—to provide value and a positive end‑to‑end customer experience.
• Perform online and/or onsite demonstrations of metal‑cutting products tailored to customers’ needs.
• Conduct pre‑sales workshops, webinars, and other online/onsite events within the territory.
• Represent and promote Kennametal at trade shows, conferences, and other events within the territory.
• Deliver cost savings through analysis of complex application needs and providing recommendations to support customer business needs through tooling and application testing.
• Prepare and present progress, status, and forecasting reports.

Requirements

• Technical degree or Degree in Business, Manufacturing, and/or Engineering preferred.
• 3+ years of related CNC machining industry experience; 1–2 years of technical sales and/or application experience preferred.
• Proficient in product knowledge, including applications and troubleshooting; can tailor solutions to meet customer needs.
• Solid grasp of industry dynamics; effectively align product solutions with customer…