Business Development Manager – Food Packaging
Job Title: Business Development Manager – Food Packaging
Our client is a supplier of high-quality packaging solutions for the food & beverage / FMCG / retail sector, with a passion for durability, quality, sustainability and service.
Role Overview
As Business Development Manager, you will be responsible for driving growth through acquisition of new customers, introducing occasional new products, and safeguarding, expanding and nurturing relationships with existing accounts. You will work closely with operations, product development, and marketing to identify opportunities, negotiate, close deals, and ensure customer satisfaction. Your priority will be building a sales pipeline, converting leads, and maintaining strong long-term partnerships.
Key Responsibilities
- Identify, research, and proactively pursue new business opportunities in the food / FMCG / retail sectors, particularly in the UK & EU, that align with the company’s product portfolio.
- Build and maintain a sales pipeline of prospective customers; perform outreach (calls, emails, face‑to‑face meetings), attend industry events / trade shows.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for key new prospects; lead negotiations through to contract signing.
- Occasionally assess and introduce new product offerings (in collaboration with product / R&D team) that respond to customer demand or market trends.
- Manage existing customer accounts: ensuring retention, identifying upsell / cross‑sell opportunities, resolving issues, ensuring delivery and service levels meet expectations.
- Monitor market trends, competitor activity, and regulatory / packaging / sustainability / material innovations to recommend strategic responses.
- Work with marketing to develop customer proposals, materials, pricing strategies, and promotional support.
- Set and achieve targets for sales growth (new business revenue), customer acquisition, and account growth.
- Provide regular reports and forecasts to senior management on business development activity, pipeline progress, and performance vs targets.
- Proven track record in business development / sales in packaging, food / beverage, FMCG or related industries.
- Experience managing both new business acquisition and account management.
- Strong negotiation skills and ability to close deals.
- Good technical awareness of packaging / materials / supply chains would be a plus.
- Capability to understand customer needs; crafting tailored proposals.
- Excellent communication, presentation, interpersonal skills.
- Self‑starter, ability to work independently, but also collaborate well across teams.
- Comfortable with travel, attending trade shows, and meeting clients.
- Strong organisation skills; ability to manage multiple customers / projects simultaneously.
- Experience with CRM tools; forecasting and pipeline management.
- Existing contacts in the UK / EU food / retail / FMCG sectors.
- Knowledge of sustainability, recyclable materials or eco‑friendly packaging.
- An engineering / materials science or packaging design background.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary + commission / bonus based on performance.
- Benefits package.
- Opportunity to shape growth strategy in a fast‑growing packaging business.
- Exposure to new markets and product development.
We ask that you be resident in the UK and have recently worked in the print, packaging or paper sectors.
#J-18808-Ljbffr