Deliver sustainable, profitable sales growth for the designated geography. Responsible for general management of a country(ies), or group of accounts, including sales team, leadership, people development and stewardship of the day to day operating functions for the Business Unit; responsible for setting financial targets and expenses; deliver sustainable, profitable sales growth for the designated geography; manage sales team performance, ensure implementation of best sales practices using KPIs; developing and executing business plans in line with regional and global strategy.
The role can be based anywhere in Europe/Hybrid position.Responsibilities/Description
• Foster and lead customer relationships with key decision makers
• Drive top-to-top engagement for strategic alignment
• Create business opportunities from market assessment and knowledge of customer ecosystem
• Lead strategic commercial negotiation(core listing, annual pricing, payment terms, rebates/cost savings, supply agreements)
• Calibrate IFF strategy based on understanding of market intelligence and customer, taking into consideration specific consumer and customer activities
• Create trust with key stakeholders and proactively address customer pain points
• Drive olfactive vision for the main stakeholders of the brand
• Navigate and drive sustainability agenda
• Manage the overall network of relationships to ensure optimal customer intimacy
• Orchestrate internal and external communications to maximize opportunities for IFF
• Liaise with Operations to facilitate specific customer supply chain requirements
• Maximize IFF advantage (GP improvement/ Catalog optimization/ Complexity reduction, etc.) from any changes driven by regulatory, compaction and/or cost savings initiatives
• To leverage IFF’s consumer understanding and strategic insight to deliver relevant IFF go-to-market solutions that meet customer / consumer unmet needs and generate excitement
• Role model and hold team members accountable to demonstrate IFF Culture Principles and foster a culture consistent with the IFF vision and values
• Ignite winning spirit in the sales team to maximize business growth. Passion for results and passion for the customer
• Demonstrate Leadership Courage in challenging the status quo and tackling difficult issues to ensure IFF’s interests are represented in a positive and inclusive manner both internally and externally
• Laser focus on securing and developing best in class sales team through talent selection, recruitment, onboarding, coaching and performance management / recognition
• Ensure objectives are aligned to the business and a personal development plan is in place
• Manage and/or mentor commercial and creative team members
• Build and lead collaborative teams across functions and geography
• Identify, develop and champion talent in the team who can take broader leadership roles in the future of IFF supporting our Talent Management processes (ITRs, Talent Councils, Hipo programs)
• Develop and communicate overall vision and strategic plan of given geographies with internal stakeholders
• Set clear long-term commercial targets (Sales / profitability) annually aligned to strategic plan
• Ensure commercial teams have clearly defined account plans aligned with regional strategy
• Lead commercial team in identifying prospective customers, expanding business access, and building business cases
• Ensure full deployment of IFF capabilities (consumer insights, sustainability, ingredients, formulation, innovative solutions) to deliver product superiority and differentiation
• Execute successfully against account plan giving early warning to any threats to deliver it
• Define, request, and allocate the required resources
• Define and develop the strategy for major projects aligned with regional objectives that maximizes win-rate
• Secure buy-in from Commercial Director or RGM on project strategy
• Lead the team to formalize the project with a kick-off meeting to set clear vision, priorities and ensure adequate crossfunctional resources
• Secure necessary support (resources, commercial negotiation, etc.) to ensure projects’ success
• Drive commercial team to maintain good level of projects in the pipeline at all times
• Ensure the debrief process is followed and win/loss analysis is broadly communicated across functions in order to maximize learning and improve chances of future success
• Ensure corrective actions are taken as needed to achieve required win rate to deliver profitable sustainable growth
• Foster team’s awareness of the costs associated with projects. Ensure actions are taken to optimize
• When necessary, influence management to approve certain projects with low Gross Profit but high strategic value
• Accountable for securing profitable and sustainable sales growth
• Ensure business potential by account, country and category is accurately captured and validated via laser market intelligence
• Build and define account and country strategies for growth, aligned with the overall regional strategy
• Ensure controllable and sales expenses are within agreed P&L parameters
• Monitor account and team sales performance and provide proactive corrective action and strategic project updates to management
• Understand impact of economic scenarios, raw material cost fluctuations on the business and, as needed, establish price increase strategies
Requirements
Experience:
• Between 7 10+ years of industry related experience with strong track record, at least 3 years serving in a senior sales role and 3 years of people management experience
Skills:
• Strategic vision, innovative thinking, business acumen, and ability to drive and rally cross functional teams
• Ability to create, nurture relationships at senior levels and create opportunities for growth
• Strong Proficiency with financial concepts/processes (pricing/margin/forecasting/cash flow)
• Solid vision of regulatory and sustainability issues impacting the industry
• Passion and in depth knowledge of subject matter and product development
• Manage sales team performance, ensure best sales practices implementation
• Understanding of socio economic environment and relevance to the environment
Training / Certifications
• Essential: Bachelor’s degree
• Preferred:
Concentration in Business, Marketing, Chemistry, or Biology / Arts & Fashion Master's Degree
We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.
Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more