Senior Manager - Techno-Commercial Sales - Food Ingredients
Description
Department: Business Development & Technical Sales
Target Portfolio: Specialty Prebiotics (GOS, FOS, Resistant Dextrin), Sweeteners & Polyols (Maltitol, Monk Fruit, Stevia, Allulose), and Plant Proteins (Pea Protein, Soy Protein)
Position Overview:
Drive revenue growth across the Bakery and Beverage sectors by delivering technical ingredient solutions and managing end-to-end B2B sales cycles. This role bridges technical application support with commercial execution - engaging client R&D and Procurement teams to spearhead New Product Development (NPD), execute Alternate Vendor Development (AVD), solve complex formulation challenges, and scale account volume.
Key Responsibilities:
- NPD & AVD Engagement: Partner with customer R&D and product development teams to lead New Product Development (NPD) projects and Alternate Vendor Development (AVD) initiatives. Support benchtop-to-pilot trials to co-create innovative consumer products or qualify alternative ingredients for cost and supply optimization.
- Technical Application & Problem Solving: Address formulation, processing, and stability challenges in bakery and beverage applications, focusing on texture, sweetness profile, solubility, shelf life, and thermal resistance.
- Procurement & Commercial Execution: Interface directly with client purchasing teams to negotiate pricing, finalize commercial terms, manage volume forecasting, establish credit lines, and ensure smooth order fulfillment.
- Customer Acquisition & Account Management: Retain and expand business with existing enterprise accounts while proactively prospecting and onboarding new customer accounts in the bakery and beverage industries.
- Market Trends & Sourcing Alignment: Track market shifts (clean-label, sugar reduction, high-protein, gut health) and feed market intelligence to internal sourcing teams to identify and onboard high-demand additions to the ingredient portfolio.
- Sales Pipeline & Target Execution: Consistently achieve volume, revenue, and margin targets through disciplined sales pipeline tracking, joint customer workshops, and technical presentations.
Candidate Profile & Qualifications:
Education: Degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Bio-Technology, or Chemical Engineering.
Experience: 7 - 12 years of B2B techno-commercial sales experience within the food ingredients industry, with a proven track record of managing both NPD and AVD cycles for Bakery & Beverage manufacturers.
Domain Knowledge: Strong technical understanding of prebiotics, high-potency sweeteners, polyols, and plant-based proteins, including their functional performance in complex food matrices.
Skills: Expert consultative selling, cross-functional stakeholder management (R&D vs. Purchasing), commercial negotiation, and market sensing.
Contact: Anjali, 8097516674