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Sales Manager Food Ingredients - Benelux & Nordics
Corbion
Source: Headcount Labs · original listing ↗
Job data: Headcount Labs, ODbL 1.0. Job descriptions belong to their employers.
Posted Oct 26
About this role
At Corbion, we exist to champion preservation in all its forms, preserving food and food production, health, and our planet. The role As Sales Manager Benelux-Nordics, you take commercial ownership of the region and translate Corbion’s strategy into action across the food portfolio. You will manage the full sales cycle, from identifying opportunities and discussing applications to guiding customer projects and closing commercial agreements. Distributor management is central to the role. You will set targets, monitor performance and conduct joint customer visits, while also developing direct customer relationships and new business. Your focus will vary by market, from growing established business to building customer networks and project pipelines. You will be accountable for the region’s commercial performance and growth targets. This hybrid role reports to the Sales Director, Preservation, and is connected to Gorinchem. Extensive travel across the region is required, typically 25-50% and closer to 50% during the first period. Key Responsibilities • Develop and implement the commercial strategy for the Benelux-Nordics markets and translate strategic priorities into practical market and account plans. • Create and manage the regional sales budget, with accountability for net sales, added value, volume and costs. • Deliver the regional target pipeline and oversee the progress of customer and innovation projects, independently leading straightforward projects and involving Business Development, Application, Analytical or Microbiology specialists when greater technical depth is required. • Manage and develop existing key accounts while actively prospecting for new customers, including initiating contact through cold outreach where required. • Build trusted relationships with customers, understand their technical and commercial needs and translate these into tailored solutions and value propositions across Corbion's portfolio. • Lead distributor performance across the region by setting clear annual and product-level targets, following up on delivery, improving forecasts, conducting joint customer visits and activating new opportunities. • Formulate, implement and manage the regional distribution strategy in close collaboration with the Distribution team, while monitoring portfolio conflicts and competitive principals. • Apply customer segmentation principles to determine whether opportunities should be developed directly by Corbion or together with a distribution partner. • Identify new markets and opportunities for innovative products and concepts, including developments created by acquisitions, new market entrants and changing customer structures. • Build and maintain a broad external network with customers, retailers, research institutes and other relevant market stakeholders to identify trends, challenges and future needs. • Optimize the product portfolio, including pricing and packaging, and contribute to logistics optimization for the region. • Maintain accurate customer and distributor forecasts and work closely with Forecasting, Application, Business Development, Analytical, Microbiology, Regulatory, Finance and sales colleagues. • Monitor competitor activity and market developments and define appropriate commercial responses. • Attend conferences, workshops and trade shows to build relationships, generate leads and strengthen Corbion's market leadership and brand recognition. • Support the management of global key accounts and contribute to effective cross-regional collaboration. You bring • A bachelor's or master's degree in Food Science, Food Technology or a related technical discipline is preferred. A business degree combined with strong and demonstrable technical knowledge of food ingredients may also be considered. • Previous B2B sales experience in the food ingredients industry, ideally gained with an ingredient producer, supplier or distributor. • Demonstrated experience working with distributors and an understanding of how distributor sales differs from direct-account selling. • Enough technical understanding to explain products and applications confidently, lead straightforward customer projects and recognize when specialist support is needed. • A proactive, self-starting approach and the confidence to build opportunities from the ground up, including prospecting and cold outreach. • Strong relationship-building and influencing skills, with the ability to set direction, create commitment and hold distributors accountable for agreed actions and targets. • Strategic thinking combined with pragmatic execution, commercial judgment and a strong focus on customers and sustainable value creation. • Strong organization, project-management and time-management skills, particularly while managing a large territory and frequent travel. • Clear communication skills and the ability to build effective internal and external networks. • Fluency in Dutch and English is required. French is an advantage. • Willingness and ability to travel extensively across the Benelux and Nordic countries, with travel expected to be approximately 25-50% and often closer to 50%. • A relevant network within the regional food industry is an advantage, but not essential when you bring strong technical and sales capabilities. What we offer • A commercially influential role with end-to-end involvement, from market scouting and first customer contact to technical discussions, project leadership and commercial closure. • Ownership of a diverse international region with a meaningful mix of established business, market defence, distributor activation and greenfield growth opportunities. • The opportunity to work across Corbion's broad food portfolio and introduce innovative concepts and value propositions that address customer and market needs. • Close collaboration with experienced colleagues in Sales, Distribution, Business Development, Application, Forecasting, Analytical, Microbiology, Regulatory and Finance. • The opportunity to build a broad network across customers, distributors, retailers, research institutes and industry stakeholders. • Room to shape the regional commercial approach and develop through broader portfolio, market or key-account responsibilities as the business evolves. • A role in a sustainable ingredients company where science, application expertise and customer collaboration come together to preserve what matters. About Corbion Corbion is a sustainable ingredients company dedicated to preserving what matters, including food and food production, health, and the planet. We specialize in lactic acid, lactic acid derivatives, food preservation solutions, functional blends, and algae ingredients, using our deep application and product knowledge to propel nature’s ingenuity through science. With more than a century of experience, we continue working side-by-side with our customers to make our cutting-edge technologies work for them. Leveraging our advanced capabilities in fermentation and preservation technology, we help customers differentiate their products in diverse markets ranging from food and animal nutrition to home & personal care, pharmaceuticals, electronics, medical devices, and bioplastics. In 2025, Corbion generated annual sales of €1,267.4 million and had a workforce of 2,408 FTE. For more information: www.corbion.com Corbion is an equal opportunity employer and committed to a diverse workplace. All applicants will be considered equally. Corbion does not accept unsolicited resumes from individual recruiters or third party recruiting agencies in response to job postings. No fee will be paid to third parties who submit unsolicited candidates directly to our hiring managers. All candidates must be submitted by approved Corbion vendors who have been expressly requested to make a submission by our Talent Acquisition team for a specific job opening. No placement fees will be paid to any firm unless such a request has been made by the Corbion Talent Acquisition team and such candidate was submitted to the Corbion Talent Acquisition Team.