About This Role

At Apeel Sciences, we look to nature to help the global food system improve quality, reduce waste, and ensure an abundant future for our planet. The Sales team at Apeel Sciences is charged with taking our technology to market and effectively communicating the benefits and value to customers, suppliers, and consumers in order to drive commercial success for the company. We are seeking an Account Director - Buyer Sales Team to join our Sales Team. The Account Director will work within the sales team and is responsible for direct sales activity with our buy side customers. This involves initiatives in the area of presenting analysis on product performance on a regular cadence. We expect this individual to master pricing, category expansion and supply coordination. The Account Director manages sales, relationships and business development across a set customer base in North America.

What You’ll Do

• Understand Apeel’s business model and strategy to orchestrate the resources within Apeel to meet our customer's requirements. Position the advantages of Apeel's products and capabilities to articulate the benefits and possibilities they present. Develop a comprehensive knowledge of Apeel technologies and capabilities and use this knowledge to deliver solutions to customers.
• Manage sales for a set of defined customers. Utilize entrepreneurial skills to close contracts and achieve targets for business growth.
• Serve as Apeel’s principal working and communicating interface with the customer's category team leaders and produce buyers. Analyze and report to the customer on product performance.
• Develop superb working relationships on a day-to-day basis with these customer stakeholders to build both Apeel’s and the customer's sales. Visit the customer's stores and distribution centers periodically throughout the year, attend customer in-store events and supplier meetings. Develop a strong understanding of customer's organizational structure and use this knowledge to maneuver effectively.
• Stay current on industry and retailer activities and trends to promote Apeel in new business and the expansion of existing business. Stay keenly aware of the industry and competitors. Network within the produce community and develop commercial relationships with customers, brokers, trade associations and academic institutions. Communicate insights to senior Apeel management.
• Understand the fresh produce landscape and supply developments and trends, reporting on the forces that shift tactical budgets and strategic direction of accounts. Anticipate the direction of the customer's business and develop and present programs, products, and promotional ideas (such as consumer education programs and merchandising) to increase sales volume, growth and profitability.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent professional or military experience required
• 5-10 years of sales or consumer analysis experience with the produce or consumer packaged goods business. A substantial portion of that experience dealing with major retail accounts.
• Comfort with leveraging data to utilize it in the selling process is very important. Successful record of developing data-driven strategic plans and building innovative tactics that help a company grow and achieve progressively sustainable results.
• Experience with produce from multiple growing areas is a plus. Solid knowledge of produce growing, packing, and buying (terms of sales, product quality, and specs) is ideal but not absolutely necessary.
• A deep understanding of the retail business and the supply and distribution chains and retail metrics is more important. Retail experience is produce is desirable.
• A proven track record of successfully closing sales and getting contracts signed, building sales growth and profits. Can develop with an entrepreneurial flair, new programs that demonstrate success. Proven ability at selling. Have implemented effective sales processes to meet growth targets with requisite efficiency, scalability, and profitability (in a start-up or fast-growth environment a major plus).
• Strong record of successful "team selling", involving other company subject matter expertise to achieve goals. Ability to drive key account goals while working in a collaborative environment.
• Proven skills in moving seamlessly between supply partners and retail accounts. Ability to assess customer needs and translate them to internal senior leadership team.
• Is personable. Holds very strong business acumen with emphasis on relationship management, presentation and communication skills.
• Savvy interpersonal skills. Foster new business relationships. Demonstrated ability to effectively visualize, understand, and persuasively communicate, at multiple levels, what Apeel can bring to customers and often to suppliers.
• Passion for innovative technologies that resolve important problems for our world. Tech savvy - comfortable working with and learning new applications. A "roll-up-your-sleeves", effective attitude in a young organization. Agile enough to be strategic and hands-on enough to ensure execution of strategy and connection with customers / employees.
• Outstanding communication skills. A collaborative style that demonstrates confidence, assertiveness, sound judgment. The ability to quickly develop relationships and generate trust with stakeholders. High emotional intelligence, political discernment, and sensitivity.
• Unquestionable integrity, curiosity, energy, entrepreneurial and a sense of urgency are traits we’re looking for in this role.

Apeel believes that the scale of our impact is determined by the teams that work with us. As such, we seek to build high-performing teams of people from various experiences and backgrounds who can collectively push our company into new realms. We seek a diverse pool of applicants and consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, ancestry, color, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, citizenship, disability, Veteran status, marital status, or any other protected status. If you have a special need or disability that requires accommodation, please let us know.

Please note that Apeel Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies. In the event of a recruiter or agency submitting a resume or candidate without a signed agreement being in place, we explicitly reserve the right to pursue and hire such candidates without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted directly to hiring managers, are deemed to be the property of Apeel Sciences.