Key Accounts Manager

About the role

The Key Account Sustainability Manager is the first point of contact on all sustainability topics for selected Key Accounts. This role takes the lead for strategic and operational relationships with the sustainability teams of selected Key Accounts. This role is part of the Key Account Sustainability Team (which sits within the Customer Solutions Team) and reports into the Key Account Sustainability Director.

This role offers an exciting opportunity to help build upon BCs customer experience ambition through the development of impact-led initiatives that make a difference on the ground and play a role in shaping the global chocolate supply chain.

Key responsibilities include

• Manage strategic and operational sustainability relationships with selected Key Accounts.
• Convert for selected Key Accounts conventional volumes to sustainable.
• Work in close collaboration with Key Account Sustainability Director and the Customer Solutions Team to ensure alignment with BC’s sustainability offering and pricing strategy, enabling the sign off of customer negotiations and contracting.
• Develop end-to-end sustainability strategies and programs to jointly tackle the largest sustainability issues in Cocoa and Chocolate (human rights, forest conservation, poverty and net zero).
• Collaborate with the Customer Offer team to design and develop customer programs based on complex briefs.
• Position BC as the leader in sustainability.
• Lead representative & subject matter expert for Forever Chocolate strategy / progress to some of BC’s largest customers.
•  Account management for sustainability related topics for selected Key Accounts.
• Define targets and oversee progress and activities of selected Key Accounts.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration / joint advocacy with our largest customers.
• In collaboration with commercial teams, lead negotiation & budgeting of customer proposals and pitches of our largest customers.
• Contracting of multi-year sustainability agreements & detailed technical customer specs per country of our largest customers.
• Issue management/problem solving on existing implementation or reporting of customer programs of our largest customers.
• Pitch BC sustainability innovations (e.g. carbon) or BC sustainable solutions to selected Key Accounts by collaborating and coordinating directly with various internal and external departments (Forever Chocolate pillar leads, account leads, sourcing, origins teams, legal, marketing, etc.).
• Organize and accompany client visits to cocoa sustainability projects in cocoa-origin countries.

About you

• Master degree in a relevant field such as agronomy, development economics, environmental science, sustainability or related.
• Business-focused degree in relevant fields such as commerce, supply chain or business administration.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to interact with senior stakeholders.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and operate independently as well as being a strong team player.
• Strong analytical skills and commercial acumen.
• Strong writing and presentation skills.
• Fluent in English (written, spoken). French, German, Spanish or Portuguese is a plus.
• Travel requirements: Availability and willingness to travel globally up to 30% of the time
• Others: Travel to origin countries including remote in-field trips
• At least 8 years’ experience in customer-facing or multi-stakeholder roles at global level in large corps.
• At least 3-5 years of experience in agribusiness and smallholder sustainability program management (ideally cocoa)
• Experienced cross-functional professional  tasked with complex briefs, challenging timelines, and ambiguous and multi-stakeholder environments
• Broad and deep understanding of major cocoa & chocolate industry sustainability issues i.e. human rights, deforestation, poverty, carbon / SBTi, traceability, regenerative agriculture.
• Highly skilled in communication, especially in translating complex technical topics into clear and sharp messaging to varied groups of stakeholders and levels of understanding of the topic.
• Analytical and strategic thinker, able to translate customer briefs and available data into well-thought-out customer program strategies and accompanying programs.
• Strong commercial acumen to be able to drive engagement with customers and customer key stakeholders
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to communicate across a wide range of internal and external functions (traders, sales, marketing, communications, sustainability, sourcing) and matrix hierarchies.
• High emotional intelligence and experience and ability to build multiple strong relationships with customer counterparts.
• High degree of self-discipline and effective prioritization.
• Ability to manage ambiguity & complexity
• Highly aware and sensitive of cultural differences (company & country).