SALES MANAGER - Central Eastern Europe (W/M)

Biospringer is a global producer of natural fermentation-based ingredients including yeast extracts, inactive dried yeast, and yeast-based flavors.  Subsidiary of an industrial business-to-business (B2B) group and world leader in the semi-processed food product sector, Bio Springer is continuing with international expansion into our growth markets.  

The Sales Manager is responsible to grow the sales turnover on the assigned market, following the established growth strategy in the region.

She/he is the day-to-day liaison between the company and our customers. The Sales Manager is responsible for customer relationships, generating new sales, initiating and leading customer-led innovation projects, and providing accurate business information to internal business partners to ensure forecast/production accurately reflects needs.

The Sales manager provides input to the Marketing and Technical team in terms of market trends, product development opportunities. He/She must develop and drive account plans for critical and strategically aligned customers.

The Sales Manager collaborates with Technical Sales Managers, the Marketing teams, the Culinary Centers, and support functions regionally and globally.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Account Development & Growth: Lead account development and expansion in the assigned territory or key category. Build relationships with established clients and identify new opportunities for the yeast extract and specialty ingredient portfolio,
• Strategic Sales Planning: Develop and execute a strategic sales plan to optimize client relationships and drive business growth for key accounts,
• Project Management: Manage client projects from initial brief to completion, ensuring timely delivery by internal teams. Projects may involve multiple stakeholders, including Purchasing, Marketing, R&D/Technical Teams, and Regulatory Compliance, 
• Business Strategy Development: Create tailored business strategies for key accounts, aligning internal resources to meet sales objectives. Collaborate with multifunctional internal teams at both regional and global levels,
• Customer Relationship Management: Maintain positive customer relations, foster strong client partnerships, and effectively engage with key stakeholders,
• Key Account Management: To work with sales teams in support of large, high-valued, and complex customers to drive regional growth,
• Leadership & Coaching: Senior account leads should be expected to coach and support the development of Account Managers and Sales leads as peer mentors.

• Education & Experience: Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred. A minimum of 5 to 10 years of relevant experience, 
• Extensive Account Management: Experience managing accounts in excess of 1 million EUR of single ingredients,
• Effective Communication: Demonstrated ability to communicate, present, and influence effectively with clients and internal teams. Strong communication skills will be assessed through interviews and presentations and comfort with presenting to executive and senior leader audiences.

Skills:

• Leadership Skills: Proven leadership capabilities, high energy, and passion for the business. Showcase past achievements and leadership roles supported by references,
• Business Acumen: Strong business sense with a track record of successfully growing businesses and delivering innovative solutions. Demonstrated industry experience through case studies or references,
• Market Knowledge: Deep understanding of market segments and trends, assessed during the interview or through industry-specific questions,
• Project Management Expertise: Proven ability to lead client initiatives from conception to completion, validated by discussing past projects or hypothetical scenarios,
• Customer Focus: Commitment to providing exceptional customer service, illustrated through references or situational examples during interviews, 
• Interpersonal Skills: Self-confidence and excellent people skills, assessed through interviews and interactions with the hiring team,
• Knowledge and experience with CRM, SAP, and MS suite of tools required.

Willingness to Travel: Open to traveling 50-70%, with travels mostly within the territory and occasionally to the head offices in Paris, France.