Customer Development Manager, Ingredients, Helsinki

Customer Development Manager, Ingredients (based in Valio HQ, Pitäjänmäki)

Did you know that Valio is the biggest exporter of food products in Finland? Every week about 200 shipping containers filled with Valio products are exported around the world. We export milk powders, butter, cheese and consumer products to around 50 countries. Valio’s value added ingredients (special milk powders) are used as an ingredient e.g. in baby foods, in the chocolate and confectionery industry, and in dietary supplements for athletes and the elderly. 

BU Powders is driving Valio’s value added ingredients business. Our role at Valio is: 

• To drive and develop Valio’s food ingredient business for international B2B customers 
• To listen and understand customers and work cross-functionally enabling our customers to succeed 
• To enable professional, trusted and effective food export and customer care services for our customers 

We focus on developing customer-centric sales for our global B2B customers. We are working in close cooperation with other Valio functions and subsidiaries in a result-oriented way.  In line with our strategic initiatives, we continue to enforce our Customer Development team and are looking for a Customer Development Manager for a permanent position. Preferred location for the position is Helsinki.  

In this role, you will be a one of the key players of our Ingredients business line’s customer development team. Together with our team you will focus on identifying new business opportunities, develop sales and manage customer relationships in identified key markets in Europe and Asia. You co-operate closely with different stakeholders.  However most importantly you enjoy working towards our business targets with customers and developing their business, supported by our solutions and capabilities. 

What we expect from you:  

• Proven track-record in international sales and B2B business, familiarity with food and/or ingredients business is considered an advantage
• Strong experience in customer-centric approach and solutions sales 
• Lead generation and new customer acquisition   
• Excellent negotiating, communication and influential skills 
• Positive, result-oriented and successful customer work
• Team-player – solution sales requires close co-operation with different internal and external stakeholders  
• English mandatory, Finnish and other languages beneficial  
• Willingness to travel extensively to meet the demands of the role and customer interactions
• Understanding of special nutrition, dairy, ice cream and/or confectionary would be an advantage 

We offer you: 

We work in a hybrid model that takes into account the employee and team’s wishes for office and remote work. We all share the same passion working at Valio: together we make life better. We invest in coaching leadership and the development of our people. We want every Valio employee to have a clear understanding of their own job and goals, and the opportunity to influence their own work and expertise. We pay attention to, among other things, employee well-being and engagement at work and workplace safety with various metrics. You will also have access to the benefits of a large, renowned Finnish food company.

For further information: Please contact Dennis van der Veer, Head of Customer Development for Food Solution for any additional questions / tel. +358 44 321 3821/ on 17.4.2022 at 14.00-16:00 (EET) or 23.4.2022 at 14.30-16:00 (EET). He will be happy to answer any additional questions and tell you more about this opening. 

Applications: Applications are processed actively throughout the search period. Please send your application, including CV, resumes and salary request by 1.5.2024 via application link. 

At Valio, we work together to make life better. Our innovative community develops and produces nutritious food products that are loved by our consumers in 60 countries. We are Finland's biggest food exporter. We are driven by responsible mindset in everything that we do, and together with our partners, our goal is to make our milk carbon neutral by 2035.

Valio is a company owned by Finnish family farmers, employing over 4,000 people around the world in various career fields. Our priority is that our people can grow and develop in their work, and we want to give them the best ingredients for doing it. More information about us:Valio Group | Valio

Keywords: B2B, food solution sales, customer development, food ingredient industry, food ingredient market