Sustainability Business Development Manager

The Sustainability Business Development manager will be a crucial member of the regional commercial team, driving sustainable sales across their region in line with our 100% Sustainable Ingredients by 2030 Forever Chocolate commitment. Working cross-functionally with the Global Sustainability team and the commercial team of their region, the role reports to the region’s Managing Director, and with a dotted line to the Global Sustainability Customer Solution team via the Global Business Development Director. They will be the go to person for all topics linked to sustainability across the full value chain.  This role offers an exciting opportunity to execute BC's ambition to be the leading provider of sustainable chocolate solutions for cocoa farming communities and for our customers

Main responsibilities

• Shape and execute regional strategy to increase sustainable sales, 
• Establish, monitor and evaluate the Sustainable Sales Mid Term Plan, budget, forecast and actuals to ensure sustainable sales targets are met
• Manage strategic and operational sustainability relationships with (defined set of) customers
• Collaborate with BC Global Sustainability (& sourcing) team to design and develop customer programs based on complex briefs, using standardised solution building blocks where possible
• Create sustainability awareness and influence the sustainability landscape in the Region (e.g. via sustainability webinars & events, via market Initiatives for Sustainable Cocoa)
• Be a subject matter expert for Forever Chocolate strategy/ progress and other sustainability topics to BC, its customers and stakeholders where relevant, develop &  implement retail strategy to drive acceptance of Cocoa Horizons & create pull
• Build the capacity of customer facing and support teams. by giving training, sharing best practices, (e.g. Sales, Customer R&D, Pricing, and Customer Care Agents)
• Build a relevant network of external stakeholders and position BC as the leader in sustainability
• pitch and sell BC sustainable solutions that go beyond basic certification / verification,  e.g. Carbon, EUDR, Living Income, and Community projects, etc.

Education, Language skills & Qualifications

• Business-focused advanced degree in relevant field such as  business administration, marketing or commerce. Additional education in a field related to sustainability is a plus e.g. ESG, environmental science, sustainability.
• Strong interpersonal skills, particularly strong listening, influencing, negotiation, and perseverance skills.
• Fluent in English and German. Fluency in any other European language is a plus
• Ability to manage competing priorities and operate independently as well as being a strong team player
• Willingness to travel 40% of your time including 1-2 visits per year to the origin countries.
   

The experience and knowledge that you bring to the job: 

• At least 7-10 years experience in B2B customer-facing sales / account management roles at local and regional levels in large companies
• At least 3-5 years of experience on commercial or programmatic side of sustainability (ideally cocoa)
• Broad understanding of major cocoa & chocolate industry sustainability issues i.e. human rights, deforestation, poverty, carbon / SBTi, traceability, and regenerative agriculture. 
• Highly skilled in technical sales, especially in translating complex topics into clear and sharp messaging to customers and sales teams with varying levels of understanding of the topic.
• Strong commercial acumen and customer-orientedness to be able to drive engagement with customer key stakeholders
• Basic understanding of certifications (e.g. RA, FT)
• Good understanding of the cocoa supply chain 
• Exposure to West Africa and other Cocoa sourcing regions would be an advantage