Business Development Manager - Varietal Solutions

Job Description

Job Description

Bay State Milling Job Description

Job Title: Business Development Manager

Department: VSBU Commercial

Reports to: Vice President of VSBU Growth & Corporate Innovation

Location: Remote

FLSA Status: Salaried Exempt

SUMMARY:

The Varietal Solutions Business Unit (VSBU) at Bay State Milling is a recently formed division tasked with commercializing identity-preserved, nutrient dense versions of plant-based ingredients from agricultural crops. The BU has a strategic role within Bay State Milling to build new capabilities and approaches for creating demand for specialty ingredients—including nutrition science, consumer insights, branding, and breeding. As such, much of what the VSBU undertakes is pioneering to generate awareness for these category-defining new offerings. In short, the VSBU is creating and scaling ingredients today that will power the next generation of healthier consumer products tomorrow. Today this ingredient portfolio is comprised of HealthSense® high fiber wheat flour and SowNaked® high protein oats.

As a critical member of the VSBU Commercial team, the Business Development Director is responsible for generating new business opportunities in line with the business unit’s defined commercial strategy and goals with a focus on HealthSense high fiber wheat flour. A key feature of this role is the ability to effectively identify and cultivate new sales opportunities by leveraging his/her knowledge of specialty ingredients and connecting the benefits of these ingredients with their network of contacts at innovative food manufacturers. This is a highly visible and dynamic position, responsible for driving growth of the HealthSense product line and is accountable for delivering results. As such, a portion of the compensation for this role is variable and tied to performance.

This role will be a member of the VSBU business unit, directly reporting to the VP of VS Growth. To be successful, this individual will collaborate with other functions, including Sales, Marketing, R&D, Technical Business Development, Supply Chain, Operations and Finance.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following:

• Generate and close new business opportunities arising from a combination of incoming leads and proactive prospecting according to the BU annual operating plan.
• Use selling resources such as consumer insights, technical functionality data, nutritional research, and financial analysis to identify targets and create and deliver pitches to prospects.
• Accelerate interest and initiate development projects with marketing, R&D and innovation teams at target companies, with relentless follow through.
• Use customer relationship management skills and tools to lead the customer journey from consideration through close (note: once an account matures into a steady state of purchasing, it would transition to a member of the other sales team to manage on an ongoing basis)
• With guidance from commercial colleagues, determine pricing and manage negotiations.
• Present finished product concepts (virtual and physical mock-ups), often in conjunction with R&D, Technical Business Development and Sales, to demonstrate the efficacy and relevance of HealthSense.
• Attend trade shows, speaking events and other industry functions to build network and establish leads.

ALLOCATION OF TIME:

• Up to 40% travel

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, and individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Superior ability to represent Bay State Milling with professionalism, integrity, and diplomacy.
• Proven experience in a sales role (min. 8 years), with evidence of ability to prospect and close new opportunities.
• Direct experience in a specialty ingredients business, preferably with nutrition focused ingredients.
• Skilled in the ability to communicate information and insights internally and externally in a clear, concise manner—verbally and in written communications.
• Proven ability to deliver data-driven analysis and recommendations in a clear, compelling manner.
• Demonstrated ability to influence a variety of stakeholders, including functional and cultural backgrounds, seniority, and internal/external.
• Ability to work independently and within a cross-function team to effectively handle multiple projects and influence stakeholders while driving toward competing deadlines.
• Basic financial literacy and a grasp of supply chain and product manufacturing fundamentals.
• Strong organizational skills, able to juggle various priorities in a dynamic, fast-paced environment while also at times being a strong independent contributor able to thrive with autonomous decision-making.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience in the food industry promoting new-to-the-world products, especially in a start-up environment
• Experience in agriculture, nutrition and bakery experience preferred
• Experience using syndicated data sets like Nielsen, IRI, Mintel, etc.
• Pricing and negotiation expertise

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelors degree in business, marketing or related field
• Minimum of 8 years of applicable professional experience in sales, marketing, product line management or brand management in the B2B food industry, ingredients experience preferred

LANGUAGE SKILLS

• Fluent in English
• Ability to communicate effectively in verbal and written formats is critical
• Working fluency in Spanish is beneficial

OTHER SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Fluent in Microsoft office programs
• Comfort with using all forms of communication technology including Zoom, Teams, LinkedIn, Hubspot, etc.
• Ability to network and extract information from sources

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demand described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform he essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ordinary ability to see, hear and speak
• Ability to travel domestically and sometimes internationally
• Ability to set up marketing backdrops, carry materials and perform basic physical tasks when attending events

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Primarily an office environment, remote or at a Bay State Milling facility
• Comfortable with performing business needs while traveling