Commercial and Sales Operations Lead

COMPANY & CULTURE

Crane (NYSE: CR) is a leading global provider of mission-critical, highly engineered products and solutions, with differentiated technology, respected brands, and leadership positions in the Process Flow Technologies and Aerospace & Electronics markets. Today, Crane has approximately 7,000 associates in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, with 2024 net sales of more than $2 billion. Crane Company celebrated our 170th anniversary this year.

With strict adherence to the Crane Business System (CBS), Crane is a highly process focused organization. CBS has been, and will continue to be, a critical driver of Crane's consistent execution and long-term success, driving a performance-based culture with a strong focus on accountability and results. Through the years, Crane has excelled in serving its customers, employees, investors, and communities in which they operate by focusing on the following principles:

• Unwavering commitment to ethics and integrity. The R.T. Crane Resolution written when the company was founded in 1855 is the core upon which our business has been built, "I am resolved to conduct my business in the strictest honesty and fairness, to avoid all deception and trickery, to deal fairly with both customers and competitors, to be liberal and just towards employees and to put my whole mind on the business".
• Focus on philanthropy. Giving back to the communities in which we operate has been a core part of the Company’s identity for over a century, deeply rooted in the values of our founder, R.T. Crane. We believe that success comes with a responsibility to support both employees and the broader community – not just through financial contributions, but also through active engagement and volunteerism.
• Customer focus. Every day, Crane’s associates ensure that they are doing their utmost to solve their customer’s most critical process needs. With a high commitment to Quality and On-Time Delivery, we leverage our innovative solutions to solve their most pressing needs. Driving profitable growth, for our customers… our associates… our communities… and our shareholders.
• A disciplined cadence of execution built on clear objectives and metrics, detailed action plans and a repeatable process to drive execution and profitable growth.
• Emphasis on continuous improvement in all that we do. We believe there is always an opportunity to become better, and we continuously strive to improve in all facets of our business, eliminating waste, variation, and overburden.
• Development of our people, who are process focused and thrive on executing strategy and profitable growth through a disciplined cadence of execution. Nothing that we accomplish can be achieved without our outstanding employees. They are an integral part of who we are, and we leverage our Intellectual Capital* (IC) process to foster their growth and development.

In January 2026, Crane completed its acquisition of Precision Sensors & Instrumentation (“PSI”), bringing the Druck, Panametrics, and Reuter-Stokes brands into the Crane portfolio. These businesses provide advanced technologies for measuring pressure, flow, gas, moisture, and radiation across the aerospace, nuclear, and process industries. By joining Crane, you will become part of a growing global organization focused on innovation, operational excellence, and profitable growth.

OPPORTUNITY

You will lead the commercial and sales operations function, owning the processes, disciplines, and analytics that drive forecast accuracy, pricing effectiveness, operational scalability, customer responsiveness, and profitable growth. In support of these objectives, you will work closely with the Contract Manager to ensure complex deals are structured and executed within established contractual, risk, compliance, and governance requirements while maintaining speed and customer focus.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Commercial and Sales Operations Leadership - Lead the Commercial Operations, Sales Operations, and Customer Care operating rhythm. Build the processes, standards, systems, and infrastructure required to enable a high-performing sales organization and consistent execution across Inquiry-to-Order (ITO) and Order-to-Remittance (OTR).
• Performance Management and Continuous Improvement - Own the operating metrics and improvement roadmap for orders, sales, margin, proposal on-time delivery, proposal quality, cycle time, hit rate and win rate, purchase-order turnaround, quote turnaround, backlog quality, and customer responsiveness. Establish root-cause reviews, corrective actions, and sustained process controls.
• Pricing Strategy and Commercial Analytics - Lead price benchmarking, segmentation, volume and margin analysis, and development of advanced pricing models, tools, and configurators. Partner with Sales, Product Line, Finance, and headquarters stakeholders to identify price opportunity and risk and to deliver fact-based, competitive, margin-accretive recommendations.
• Forecasting and Planning - Lead orders estimates and related commercial inputs for all planning sessions. Establish forecast assumptions, review pipeline quality and conversion, identify upside and risk, and provide leadership with clear actions to improve predictability and performance.
• Tender Strategy and Proposal Execution - Lead disciplined bid and complex proposal execution. Coordinate Sales, Engineering, Product Line, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, and Quality inputs; translate customer requirements into executable solutions; help set proposal strategy, schedule, and governance; and ensure complete, accurate, and timely customer-facing submissions.
• Customer and Partner Frameworks - In partnership with the Contracts Manager, support strategic frame agreements and commercial arrangements with customers, channel partners, and other strategic partners, balancing growth, customer requirements, margin, execution burden, compliance, and long-term risk.
• Commercial Risk Management and Governance - Assist with identifying, quantifying, communicating, and mitigating commercial, contractual, pricing, delivery, supply chain, cybersecurity, confidentiality, and compliance risks. Support deal and risk reviews, document decisions, enforce Delegation of Authority requirements, and maintain practical clause guidance, deviation logs, and negotiation playbooks.
• Deal Review, Handover, and Post-Award Support - Lead reviews of pricing, cost, margin, contractual obligations, execution assumptions, and deviations. Ensure complete handover from ITO to OTR using contract summaries, risk and obligation matrices, and prime and supplier flowdowns. Support complex change orders, claims, amendments, and formal contract notices in coordination with Contracts Manager, Legal and Operations.
• Team Capability and Cross-Functional Enablement - Develop training curricula and reference materials across Commercial Operations and Sales. Coach teams on pricing, proposal quality, risk parameters, contract structures, negotiation frameworks, CRM discipline, and operating processes.
• Systems, Data, and Decision Support - Own and influence CRM data quality, commercial dashboards, standard reporting, and analytical tools. Convert data into clear insights, decisions, and actions for Sales and business leadership.
• Travel - Travel based on business and customer requirements.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Education - Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college in Business, Engineering, or a related field.
• Relevant Experience - Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in commercial operations, sales operations, pricing, proposals, contracts, business management, or a comparable B2B environment, including experience leading cross-functional programs or teams.
• Commercial and Contract Capability - Demonstrated ability to structure and support complex proposals and agreements, assess commercial risk, interpret customer terms, and convert contractual commitments into executable business requirements.
• Leadership - Proven ability to establish operating discipline, influence across functions, resolve difficult internal and external issues, and deliver measurable improvement without relying solely on direct authority.
• Analytical and Financial Acumen - Strong capability in pricing, margin analysis, forecasting, pipeline performance, metrics, and decision support.
• Program Execution - Excellent project-management, process-improvement, problem-solving, prioritization, and schedule-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and complex stakeholder requirements.
• Communication - Exceptional written and verbal English communication skills, including the ability to present concise recommendations, risk positions, and executive-level updates.
• Systems - Proficiency with Salesforce.com or an equivalent CRM, Microsoft Office tools, dashboards, and commercial analytics applications.
• Export-Control Eligibility - This role requires access to export-controlled data and technical information. Access may be restricted under applicable U.S. export-control laws and company authorization requirements.

PREFERRED

• Industry Experience - Experience supporting industrial, energy, aerospace, nuclear, engineered-product, or other technically complex markets.
• Trade Compliance - Familiarity with ITAR, EAR, sanctions, and export-control implications for contract obligations, customer commitments, technical-data access, and execution.
• Public Tenders - Demonstrated experience with tender strategy, public bids, customer portals, and formal compliance matrices.
• Advanced Commercial Tools - Experience developing pricing models, configurators, proposal automation, reporting, or analytics that improve speed, quality, control, and margin.
• Change Leadership - Demonstrated success implementing new processes, systems, governance, or organizational transitions across functions and regions.

160k-180k

This description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work being performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Crane Company. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, general identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.