Director of Business Development
About the role
Our client is searching for a Director of Business Development, Branded Ingredients who will be responsible for driving growth of a branded and specialty ingredients portfolio. This individual will identify, develop, and close new business with dietary supplement, sports nutrition, functional food, and ready-to-drink beverage customers. The successful candidate will bring significant experience and established relationships within the branded ingredient and supplement industries. This person must be able to quickly engage key decision-makers, understand customer needs, position differentiated ingredient solutions, and convert opportunities into profitable, long-term business.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Develop and execute strategies to drive growth of the branded ingredients business.
- Identify, pursue, and close new business opportunities within the dietary supplement, sports nutrition, functional food, and ready-to-drink beverage markets.
- Leverage established industry relationships and networks to access key customer decision-makers and accelerate business growth.
- Build and maintain a robust pipeline of opportunities that delivers against revenue and margin objectives.
- Lead the sales process from prospecting through commercialization, including customer engagement, product positioning, negotiations, and contract execution.
- Collaborate with R&D, Innovation, Marketing, Technical Services, Operations, and other cross-functional teams to develop and launch customer solutions.
- Monitor market trends, competitive activity, customer needs, and emerging ingredient opportunities to support future growth initiatives.
- Represent the organization at customer meetings, industry conferences, trade shows, and other market-facing events.
- Deliver against established new customer, revenue, and margin objectives and provide regular pipeline and business updates to senior leadership.
Qualifications Required
- 7+ years of successful sales or business development experience within branded ingredients, dietary supplements, sports nutrition, functional foods, beverages, nutraceuticals, or related industries.
- Demonstrated success developing new business and selling specialty or branded ingredients into supplement, nutrition, functional beverage, or related markets.
- Established relationships and a strong network within the branded ingredient, supplement, or functional beverage industries.
- Proven ability to develop, negotiate, and close profitable business opportunities.
- Strong communication, relationship-building, and value-selling skills.
- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to work independently and build a growing business platform.
Preferred
- Experience selling probiotics, prebiotics, creatine, flavors, fibers, vitamin/mineral premixes, sweeteners, or other specialty nutritional ingredients.
- Existing relationships with major supplement, sports nutrition, health and wellness, direct-selling, or beverage companies.
- Experience commercializing new ingredient technologies or product platforms.
Education
Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant experience in business, sales, marketing, food science, nutrition, or a related field.