[Hiring] Product and Business Development Manager @GFIC

Role Description

This position is a succession role for a long-standing employee who is retiring. A transition phase is planned. The candidate would start as an application technologist in our laboratory and would be trained for the new role by the current job holder.

The product and business development manager is responsible for the overall development of his/her assigned group of principals/ingredients. He/She acts as a bridge between the Sales Managers assigned for his/her product groups in our 40 countries and our principals. While the main focus is on strategic topics and how to bring value to the market, he/she can be selectively involved in daily business cases.

Qualifications

• Degree in Food Technology (MBA is a plus)
• Experience with Oil, Fats, Cacao, and Food Ingredients
• Current employment with a distributor or Food Ingredients Producer managing distributors

Requirements

• Food technologist (university degree) - must have
• Minimum 10 years of experience in food ingredients
• Deep technological application know-how in food segments/categories
• Sales experience preferably in multicultural geographical zones (mostly EMEA)
• Communicative, proactive, analytical thinking, supportive skills, and dedication to sell added value ingredient specialties
• Management, leadership & team player skills
• Perfect English, prepared to travel (travel ratio min. 30%)
• Location: Europe, home office based

Tasks

• Keep principals satisfied:
  • Acting as their key contact person for strategic & company-wide topics
  • Ensuring the achievement of their objectives
  • Keeping them informed (potentials, projects & activities, sales data, market studies, …)
• Support and keep sales managers motivated:
  • Acting as a coach for strategic matters: sharing information about principals, organizing training, discussing quarter-plans, analyzing market trends, global or local customer plans
  • Ensuring sales support tools are used properly (Reporting tools, Monitoring tools, CRM, Lab usage)
  • Supporting them in daily business: technical advice, price negotiations with principals, joint customer visits
  • Recruitment & training of new Sales Managers in coordination with Country Manager
• Proactive business development:
  • Anticipating market trends and developing tools to follow these trends, working closely together with principals, Sales Managers, and our internal application centers/Labs
  • Analyzing our portfolio and if needed - searching and checking new potential principals
  • Developing internal structures to fulfill the requirements of our principals (reporting structures, central stock, central sampling, technical service, labs …) in coordination with the Board

Reporting Structure

• Reporting to CSO
• Functional lead of Sales Managers
• Direct reports: Supplier Service Manager

Company Description

Geiger Food Ingredients Recruitment & Consulting (GFIC) is a boutique recruitment consultancy situated to the south of Munich, founded by Alfred Geiger in 2006. GFIC consults in:

• FMGC Food Ingredients
• Starch, Glucose, Sweeteners
• Flavours, Fruit Preparations, Beverages
• Dairy, Nutraceuticals, Pharma
• Colours, Cosmetics, Hydrocolloids

GFIC also consults in Recruitment (Full Time, Interim Positions, Members for the Advisory Board) and recruits globally, including C-Level candidates.