Business Development Lead

Serves as a strategic growth leader responsible for advancing Fortiva’s feed additive pipeline, market expansion priorities, and key customer partnerships. This role partners with Fortiva leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to shape business strategy, define growth priorities, and translate market, customer, and technical insights into actionable commercial plans.

Responsibilities

• Influence and partner with Fortiva leadership in shaping business strategy, growth priorities, and market expansion opportunities for feed additive solutions.
• Own and grow a portfolio of B2B customers and influencers, including feed mills, premix partners, integrators, consulting nutritionists, and key opinion leaders.
• Develop business cases that demonstrate the commercial potential of new projects, partnerships, and market opportunities.
• Translate customer, market, competitive, regulatory, and technical insights into strategic recommendations, project charters, launch priorities, positioning, and execution plans.
• Lead commercial alignment across technical service, marketing, operations, supply chain, R&D, and sales teams to support strategic priorities and deliver on customer commitments.
• Establish and maintain relationships with academics, research organizations, industry partners, and other stakeholders to identify business, testing, insight, and innovation opportunities.
• Lead ideation, development, alignment, and initiation of project charters into the R&D pipeline workstream.
• Oversee project charters through the pipeline, ensuring resources, milestones, KPIs, and stakeholder alignment are in place to support successful execution.
• Identify, pursue, and close targeted direct-sales opportunities for priority swine feed additive products and programs.
• Lead customer discovery, needs assessment, solution design, and value quantification using performance and economic assumptions appropriate to the customer’s system.
• Prepare and deliver customer proposals, coordinate order execution, support onboarding, and identify renewal or expansion opportunities.
• Manage high-value strategic accounts and build trusted relationships with customers, influencers, and partners that support Fortiva’s long-term growth objectives.
• Mentor and coach sales and account team members on feed additive value selling, technical-to-economic messaging, consultative selling, and disciplined opportunity management.
• Provide onboarding and ongoing training support related to product knowledge, competitive differentiation, objection handling, CRM discipline, and customer engagement.
• Conduct joint customer calls to model consultative selling behaviors and provide actionable feedback.
• Share best practices, playbooks, account planning tools, trial protocols, and ROI resources to strengthen team capability and improve overall commercial execution.
• Lead through influence across teams by connecting market needs, technical insights, and commercial priorities to improve decision making and accelerate growth.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science, Dairy Science, Business, Agriculture, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in feed additives, animal health, livestock sales, strategic account management, business development, or a related commercial role.
• Demonstrated success working with large accounts, nutritionist-led sales environments, B2B customers, influencers, or integrated livestock production systems.
• Strong business acumen with experience developing business cases, shaping growth strategies, and translating customer or market insights into commercial action.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and lead work through collaboration without direct authority.
• Experience managing complex customer relationships, commercial opportunities, and strategic projects from concept through execution.
• Ability to travel 50 to 80%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree, including master’s degree or PhD, in Animal Science, Dairy Science, Nutrition, Business, Agriculture, or a related field.
• Direct experience with large-scale livestock operations, commercial feedyards, or large strategic swine accounts.
• Strong understanding of livestock production systems, feed additive value propositions, performance metrics, and economic drivers.
• Experience with ration formulation, additive inclusion strategies, product trials, launch planning, or technical-to-commercial value translation.

Pay

This is a sales role compensated with a target mix of base salary plus commission. Base salary ranges between $142,160 - $213,240, dependent upon experience/tenure. Target bonus is $40,000. In most cases, candidates can expect to be hired at a pay rate near the middle of the salary range.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Paid time off (PTO).
• Life and disability insurance.
• Education assistance.
• 401k retirement plan.
• Various well-being resources.

Most part-time employees are eligible for prorated PTO, holiday pay, employee development programs, prorated education assistance, and a 401(k).