Job Description

Food Safety & Shelf-Life Solutions

A&B Ingredients, a specialty food ingredient manufacturer focused on clean-label solutions, is growing its business in the meat, poultry, and seafood industries. We are looking for a sales professional to open new accounts and lead this growth.

The right candidate has: 5+ years of selling to meat, poultry, or seafood processors, an active network of contacts at those companies, and a record of winning new accounts through long, technical sales cycles.

Key Responsibilities

Sales Development and Customer Relationships

• Use your industry network to get meetings with decision-makers at meat, poultry, and seafood processors.
• Prospect new accounts through networking and a consultative sales approach built on understanding each processor's food safety, shelf-life, and cost goals.
• Identify processors using competitive preservation systems that A&B can replace.
• Build relationships with seasoning manufacturers and other partners who can introduce A&B to processors.
• Generate leads at industry conferences, trade shows, and customer events.

Sales Cycle Management

• Lead each opportunity from the first meeting through trials, validation, approval, and first orders.
• Coordinate across the customer's Procurement, R&D, Food Safety, QA, and Operations teams, and keep projects moving over cycles that can run for months.
• Work with A&B's technical team on sampling, plant trials, and shelf-life studies.
• Present value and cost-in-use to Procurement and negotiate commercial terms.

Territory and Account Growth

• Expand existing accounts into new plants, product lines, and applications by building trust and offering solutions that fit each customer's process.
• Act as a trusted advisor to customers and resolve questions and issues quickly.
• Follow up after conversion to confirm customer satisfaction and build long-term partnerships.

Product Expertise and Market Knowledge

• Represent and promote A&B's clean-label antimicrobial and shelf-life solutions, including vinegar-based and other natural preservation ingredients.
• Stay current on industry trends, regulatory requirements, competitor activity, and pricing so your recommendations are informed.
• Share customer and market feedback with A&B's product and technical teams to guide new product development.

Operations Coordination

• Work with A&B's Customer Service, Supply Chain, and Operations teams to forecast customer demand and support on-time delivery.
• Coordinate with Accounting to set up credit terms and make sure customer documentation is complete and filed correctly.

Sales Strategy, Organization and Administration

• Develop and carry out a territory sales plan to meet and exceed revenue targets.
• Organize and prioritize daily activity so follow-ups, sample requests, and customer issues are handled on time.
• Prepare proposals, keep detailed sales records in the CRM, and report pipeline and progress against goals.
• Use the CRM, LinkedIn, and trade directories to research and identify prospects.

Ideal Background

• 5+ years of B2B sales or business development experience with meat, poultry, or seafood processors.
• An established network of contacts at processors in RTE and deli meats, processed poultry, sausage, ham, turkey, seafood, or prepared proteins.
• A proven record of opening new accounts and meeting or exceeding sales targets.
• Experience selling food ingredients, food safety products, seasonings, or related products to processors.
• Working knowledge of Listeria control, shelf-life extension, and clean-label preservation. Familiarity with vinegar, buffered vinegar, dry vinegar, cultured ingredients, organic acids, or lactates/diacetates is a plus.
• Comfort with long sales cycles that involve several stakeholders, plant trials, and validation.
• Strong presentation, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
• A degree in Food Science, Meat Science, Animal Science, Business, or a related field is preferred.
• Willingness to travel to customers, processing plants, conferences, and industry events.

A&B Ingredients offers an entrepreneurial environment where technical expertise, initiative, and business development ability can have a direct impact on the company's growth.

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