Trade Sales Development Director

Client

Our client is a world leader in nutrition, dedicated to providing infants and children with the best start in life. With more than 70 products in over 60 countries, its products are trusted by parents and health care professionals around the world.

Our client celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2005 and is extremely proud of maintaining its strong commitment to the company’s founding goals of creating products that help infants and children lead healthier lives through innovative science-based nutrition. The business generates in excess of $2.5 billion in revenue globally.

Our client’s strategic focus is on infant and children’s nutrition. Approximately half of the company’s total sales are represented by its Intercontinental business and approximately half by the North America business. The U.S. is the company’s single largest business where it is also the market share leader in infant formula. The largest International markets include Mexico, China and the Philippines. The International product portfolio represents a balance between the infant formula and children’s nutrition.

Our client continues to look well into the future to determine the nutritional needs of a changing global population. Their plan is to continually strengthen their number one position in the areas of infant and child nutrition and be a world leader in creating major new businesses in other consumer nutritional categories. Given Our client’s commitment to being a world leader in nutrition, their passion for innovation and their unyielding determination to have the best people in the industry driving their business, industry experts predict that they have a very bright future. This includes a special emphasis on expanding and growing their foot print in Europe.

Our client employs approximately 5,000 people worldwide.

The pediatric nutrition category remains poised for strong and sustainable growth driven by economic growth, social change and the growing recognition of the value of infant/child nutrition in adult life.
 
The position

This new role of Trade Sales Development Director Europe will be responsible for the development and communication of a vision and strategy for the trade sales function in Europe to drive profitable growth through effective customer and channel strategies and appropriate development and management of necessary resources.

Expectation Areas of Competence

• Actively work with markets in the development and execution of commercial (customer and channel “go-to-market”) strategies and associated operations to drive sustainable, profitable growth in all markets in Europe and achieve agreed sales goals.
• Design and implementation of the necessary regional structure, policies and processes (demand planning, pricing, trade support, etc) to execute trade sales strategies (wholesaler, key account, distributor) and achieve sales goals. 
• Identifying opportunities and developing strategies for regional management of customers (wholesalers and key accounts) where needed.
• Ability to work with supply chain (production, logistics and distribution) and related processes (S&OP) to maximise profitability of trade strategies.
• Ability to interact at high level and build strong relationships with key customers, distributors and third parties as well as internal stakeholders. 
• Ability to manage and operate successfully in a matrix environment, working cross functionally to ensure alignment in strategy and execution. 
• Ability to execute leadership role and responsibilities as a member of senior management team, including setting good examples by demonstrating the highest level of integrity and compliance.

Experiences Desired

• 5-8 years experience at a senior level in trade sales (retail/wholesaler) in a consumer goods or health care product environment.
• Track record in leadership, including change management.
• Experience managing wholesaler, distributor and key account relationships in and across key markets in Europe. Regional experience a pre-requisite.
• P&L responsibility.
• Demonstrated creativity in strategic thinking and proven success in developing and implementing new business models.
• Expertise in managing export or distributor businesses.
• Experience in central and/or eastern Europe an advantage.

Knowledge Desired

• Detailed knowledge of European retail grocery and preferably pharmacy/health trade, current trends and future directions.
• Trade and channel marketing expertise.
• Knowledge of distributor and wholesaler operations.
• Understanding of logistics, distribution and supply chain as it impacts the consumer sales operation.
• Fluency in English and at least one European language.
• Knowledge of sales force management, sales force effectiveness and sales force measurement systems.  

Developmental Value

• Involvement in both strategy and operations at a regional level
• Involvement in working across geographies and with diverse business functions
• Extensive cross functional interaction with all other departments. 
• Opportunity for involvement in regional working groups. 
• Exposure to senior regional and global management.
• Opportunity to demonstrate innovation and creativity.

Interested?

You can apply by using the form below. For more information you can contact Alexander Nicolai at +31 (0)6-55 54 08 07.