Regional Sales Manager Ingredients
What are you going to do now?
Regional Sales Manager Ingredients (36 - 40 hours)
International Markets
From ingredient supplier to solutions partner and you're the one who makes that shift real.
The world is moving toward healthier, more natural food and Cosun Ingredients is at the heart of that shift. With our plant-based ingredients; inulin, oligofructose, fibers, prebiotics and protein at the core of our portfolio, we help food, beverage and nutraceutical brands create products people actually want to eat. As we expand our range and our ambitions, we're looking for a Regional Sales Manager who can turn ingredients into solutions, and relationships into partnerships.
Location: Cosun Ingredients Head Office, Dinteloord, the Netherlands
Hours: 36 - 40 hours per week
Travel: ~30%, focused on Southern Europe (Italy, Spain, France, Greece) and key customers potentially across regions
The role
You'll take ownership of a region built on strong existing business and real headroom for growth. Roughly 60% of your time goes into deepening and safeguarding our current customer and distributor relationships; the other 40% is about spotting opportunities and developing project pipeline . You'll get to know your accounts inside out: not just what they buy, but how they think, where they're headed, and where we can add value they haven't asked for yet.
This isn't a role for someone who waits for a brief. We want a sales professional who reads the market, sees the opening, and builds the bridge, someone who can sit down with an R&D team, understand where a customer's product development is going, and help shape how our ingredients get positioned and marketed within it.
During your first months you'll focus on understanding the business, customers and distribution landscape. As you establish yourself, the emphasis gradually shifts towards identifying strategic growth opportunities and building new business across the region.
What you'll actually do:
- Manage, grow and ensure relationship developments with existing customers, distributors and key accounts across your region
- Identify projects and convert new business opportunities; from first conversation to signed agreement
- Build genuine partnerships: understand customer strategy, connect it to our portfolio, and co-create solutions to add value
- Work closely with R&D, science, marketing and application teams to translate technical capability into customer-relevant positioning
- Negotiate agreements, prices and contracts; prepare accurate forecasts and sales plans
- Represent Cosun Ingredients at customer visits, exhibitions and industry events
- Navigate complex accounts and multiple stakeholders with patience, curiosity and cultural awareness
What are you taking with you?
We're looking for someone with real ingredients experience who's outgrown their first role in the industry and is ready for more ownership. Think second or third role in ingredients, not necessarily 20+ years. Dynamism and drive matter more than tenure.
- Solid track record in international B2B sales or account management
- Experience within functional ingredients, food ingredients, or nutraceutical ingredients is strongly preferred.
- A degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Nutrition, or a similar field. We also welcome commercial professionals with proven ability to engage credibly with R&D and product development teams.
- Fluent in English (must); Spanish is a strong plus; French / Italian is a plus. Dutch is not required
- Comfortable navigating cultural differences and building trust across customer organisations and business environments
- Familiar with distribution networks and how to build relationships with distributors as well as direct accounts
- Thrives in a changing environment and enjoys exploring new opportunities, markets and ways of working.
- Confident and easy to connect with: you build bridges naturally, without ego
- Someone who understands that partnership beats transaction: outside-in thinking, customer-solutions focused, joint value creation
What do you get in return?
- Join a motivated and informal team with direct access to Cosun’s RD&I and Innovation Center in Dinteloord
- Hybrid and remote working options available
- Competitive salary of approximately €85,000 to €100,000 per year
- Excellent secondary benefits, including an annual bonus and Cosun pension scheme
- Extensive development and training opportunities
- Plenty of room to grow, from strengthening key customer relationships in your first months to driving new business development as you establish yourself in the role
About Cosun Ingredients
Cosun Ingredients is part of Royal Cosun, an international cooperative owned by around 9,000 growers, encompassing Aviko, Cosun Beet Company, Duynie Group and Cosun Ingredients; together developing food, ingredients, animal feed and biobased solutions with over 4,000 employees worldwide.
Ready to help shape how our plant-based ingredients become solutions customers understand, trust and choose? We'd love to hear from you.
Procedure
- Getting to know you
If you are a good fit for the vacancy, the HR Specialist Recruitment will contact you. This is to get an initial impression and to answer any questions from both sides.
- The first conversation
During the first interview you will come into contact with your potential future manager and of course someone from HR will be present to get to know you better as a person.
- Case
A case may be part of the procedure. This will look at how you would deal with certain practical situations. Often the case can be made from home and sometimes you make the case before the start of the 2nd interview on location.
- The second conversation
How good you are still in the procedure! During this conversation we will go into more detail. In addition, these people also want to get to know you a little better, so that we know for sure that we have a good match.
