Regional Account Manager, Health & Performance Nutrition - North America

Are you ready to take on responsibility for a number of dedicated and highly demanding customers within the health foods and sport nutrition industries in North America and help reaching our ambitious sales targets as Regional Account Manager? Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) is an independent company within the Arla Foods Group and a global leader in natural whey ingredients for many different categories including bakery, beverages, dairy, infant and sport nutrition.

 

Take AFI’s whey protein business to the next level
As part of Arla Foods Ingredients organization in the United States, you will be responsible for value-added B2B sales of milk and whey protein ingredients to the sports nutrition, supplements and health foods industries in USA and Canada. Our customers are start-up companies, medium-sized players and large food production companies and brands that develop, manufacture and market protein bars, ready-to-mix protein powders, food snacks and meals, and beverages. The customer portfolio will consist of smaller individual customers to large international players where Key Account Management experience will come in handy.

 

You will handle your own customer portfolio with a high degree of support from our very skilled Sales Support, Sales Development and Application and Nutrition Science teams, and rest of the US organization that has many years of experience in the whey industry. It is therefore important that you have a high degree of goal-oriented drive towards the customer, but can also work as a team player with the rest of the organization.  Key responsibilities in the position will be to:

• Encourage and develop strategic partnerships with key customers as well as internal stakeholders within the commercial organization.
• Play a significant part in the implementation of the regional market strategy for North America
• Continuously negotiate contracts on product prices, product volumes and commercial terms with your accounts
• Be responsible for making and executing account plans as well as making sure that targets are met, through structured key account management
• Master sales forecasting and sales excellence in collaboration with internal stakeholders incl. Product Management and Logistics
• Take ownership of the total sales cycle around every account, from lead generation to sales closure
• Develop larger impact and closer relationship with targeted accounts in new industries through dedicated work with key decision makers in the organizations of our customers, including R&D teams, category management, marketers and procurement
• Use your business sense and analytical mind-set when you identify and pursue new opportunities to develop our business even further

 

On top of your business area responsibility, it is expected that you contribute actively to developing the regional unit, as well as developing AFI as a whole. You will be part of the North American sales team and report to the General Manager in North America.

 

Expect 50-60 travel days a year mainly in the United States and Canada, and mostly as customer visits but also participation in trade shows. Several travels a year to our head quarter in Denmark, with customers and to visit HQ functions will be necessary. 

 

Excellent sales skills and technical product knowledge combined with ambition and drive

You have a proven sales experience within the food industry, preferably within the ingredients industry for nutrition. Knowledge of the supplements and sports nutrition industry in the United States will be an advantage. Furthermore, you have a technical product understanding either from your educational background or your work experience, which will enable you to understand our offering to the food and nutrition industries and use this actively to grow your business area.

 

You have a proven record of working systematically with both small and big customers in a long term strategic business and you must be able to handle varying workloads, keep calm when things are hectic and stand your ground when the going gets tough. You are driven by results and are capable of obtaining the best possible deals through professional and authoritative negotiations. Furthermore, you have a flair for numbers and work in a structured way with your assignments. As you will be operating in an international environment with supporting functions from Europe, you will need extraordinarily good communication skills to appreciate different cultures, as well as the ability to cooperate with people at all levels.

 

Application and contact

Please be aware this role closes on the 8th of January. We will continuously invite candidates for further process and will get back to you, once we have reviewed your application thoroughly. For additional information, please conta