Director of Commercial Development

Company: This company is an international flavour and fragrance business supporting food and beverage manufacturers through flavour creation, applications, technical expertise and market insight. Its customer base spans multinational manufacturers, established regional businesses and emerging brands. The organisation combines global technical resources with an entrepreneurial and collaborative working style, bringing commercial, category and technical teams together to address customer needs. As part of its growth plans in North America, the company is seeking a Director of Commercial Development to strengthen new business development, lead its pre-sales function and identify growth opportunities within existing house accounts.

Role: The company is seeking an experienced commercial leader who combines a record of winning new business with the ability to coach and develop a team. The position will bring pre-sales, prospect qualification and house-account activity into a coordinated commercial function. Working between Category Management and Sales, the Director will translate category priorities into targeted customer activity, establish qualified opportunities and manage their transition into the field sales organisation.

The role combines strategic direction and people leadership with direct involvement in selected customer relationships. The Director will develop priority mid-market food and beverage accounts, understand their flavour and formulation challenges, and connect their needs with the company’s technical capabilities. Alongside this, they will guide a pre-sales team focused on emerging and scaling brands, helping colleagues secure customer access, communicate relevant value propositions and progress opportunities into active projects.

The planned team comprises six direct reports: three pre-sales Business Development Managers, a Prospect and Lead Analyst, and two colleagues responsible for house accounts. The Director will establish clear responsibilities, qualification standards, performance expectations and handover processes. They will also assess the existing house-account portfolio to identify customers who warrant further commercial investment.

The position covers all food and beverage categories. Culinary experience would be beneficial, as this is a key growth area for the business, particularly across soups, sauces, dressings and protein applications. Success will depend on commercial judgement, persistence and an open, collaborative leadership style. The company is looking for someone who understands how to develop new customer relationships and uses this experience to improve the performance of others.

Main Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop the pre-sales, prospect qualification and house-account team, establishing clear objectives and individual development plans.
• Bring related commercial activities into a coordinated function, clarifying responsibilities across Category Management, pre-sales and field sales.
• Translate category strategies into customer targeting plans, team priorities and measurable pipeline objectives across the food and beverage business.
• Guide pre-sales Business Development Managers targeting emerging and scaling food and beverage brands, typically with annual revenues of $10 million to $100 million.
• Personally develop selected strategic mid-market accounts, typically with annual revenues of $100 million to $1 billion, from initial contact through qualification and project activation.
• Build relationships with customer decision-makers across procurement, R&D, applications and leadership, including founders where relevant.
• Coach the team on securing customer meetings, understanding business needs and presenting the commercial value of the company’s flavour technologies and systems.
• Work with Category Management, Applications and R&D to develop customer proposals and translate technical capabilities into relevant solutions.
• Review the house-account portfolio, identify customers with further growth potential and establish appropriate development priorities.
• Oversee house-account management, directing team time and resources towards opportunities with a clear commercial rationale.
• Lead the process for validating marketing-qualified leads and converting suitable prospects into sales-qualified opportunities.
• Establish qualification criteria covering category fit, business scale, customer needs, creditworthiness and commercial potential.
• Ensure qualified prospects reach the appropriate pre-sales colleague with sufficient customer information, contact history and qualification rationale.
• Monitor pipeline health, lead conversion, account progression and team performance, addressing gaps through coaching and resource planning.
• Establish documented handovers to Key Account Managers when opportunities become project-active, preserving customer relationships and commercial context.
• Coordinate with Category Directors and Sales leaders to align account development with category strategy and customer ownership.
• Capture customer feedback on flavour needs, applications, formulation challenges and competitor capabilities, with particular attention to emerging and scaling brands.
• Provide quarterly commercial intelligence to Category, R&D and Sales leaders, sharing significant customer and market developments as they arise.
• Develop career pathways within the team, including progression from inside sales into pre-sales or field sales roles.
• Represent the business at relevant customer meetings and industry events, strengthening relationships across the North American food and beverage market.

Key Requirements & Skills

• Substantial commercial experience in food and beverage, ideally around 10–14 years, including success in business development and people leadership.
• Experience within flavours is strongly preferred. Relevant food ingredient experience, supported by an understanding of flavour applications and customer development, will also be considered.
• Demonstrated success identifying prospects, gaining access to decision-makers, developing new accounts and converting opportunities into revenue.
• Experience working with emerging and scaling brands, with an understanding of their commercial priorities, decision-making processes and growth challenges.
• Established relationships across the food and beverage sector and the ability to build credibility with new customers.
• Experience leading and developing business development, pre-sales or inside sales teams, with evidence of improving individual and team performance.
• The ability to combine personal drive for new business with patient, practical coaching and clear direction.
• Culinary experience would be beneficial given the company’s growth priorities, particularly within soups, sauces, dressings and protein applications.
• Technical understanding sufficient to discuss flavour systems, recognise formulation challenges and translate customer requirements into clear briefs for Applications and R&D.
• Experience building structured pipelines, defining qualification criteria and managing handovers between business development and account management.
• Commercial judgement to distinguish promising opportunities from accounts requiring limited ongoing support.
• Confidence engaging procurement, technical and commercial leaders, while adapting communication to founders and smaller businesses.
• An open and collaborative approach, with the ability to influence colleagues across Category Management, Sales, Marketing and technical functions.
• Persistence, resilience and creativity in developing customer relationships and overcoming barriers to new business.
• The ability to turn customer feedback into practical market insight and distinguish recurring commercial needs from isolated requests.
• Comfortable establishing processes and team structures within an evolving commercial organisation.