Senior Key Accounts Manager

Job Summary

The Senior Key Accounts Manager will play a pivotal role in building and growing strategic customer relationships within the food, nutraceutical, and allied industries across India. This is a B2B consultative sales role based in Bangalore, responsible for managing large and important accounts, understanding customer needs, and translating them into long-term, commercially viable ingredient solutions. The role involves working closely with cross-functional teams to ensure successful product development, launches, and ongoing customer satisfaction, contributing directly to the growth and market expansion.

Responsibilities

• Own and expand strategic accounts across food, nutraceutical, nutrition, and related segments.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships across multiple levels within customer organizations, including R&D, Procurement, Product Development, Supply Chain, and senior management.
• Identify new projects, customer requirements, and position the ingredient platforms as solutions to technical and commercial challenges.
• Build and manage a robust sales pipeline from opportunity identification, sampling, trials, negotiations, to conversion.
• Drive revenue growth, increase volume, and deepen account penetration within existing customers.
• Develop new strategic accounts and build a high-quality customer portfolio within assigned territories and categories.
• Lead commercial negotiations, including pricing, contracts, volume commitments, and supply arrangements.
• Collaborate with R&D, Applications, Supply Chain, Quality, and Regulatory teams to ensure successful customer trials, product launches, and ongoing service.
• Develop account plans for major customers and explore opportunities for cross-selling multiple ingredient technologies.
• Maintain a strong understanding of customer pipelines, industry trends, competitive activity, and emerging ingredient needs.
• Ensure disciplined forecasting, opportunity tracking, and CRM management.
• Represent at customer meetings, industry conferences, exhibitions, and technical-commercial discussions.

Qualifications

• 5–8+ years of B2B sales or key account management experience, preferably within food ingredients, nutraceutical ingredients, specialty chemicals, flavors, functional ingredients, or related industries.
• Prior experience working with Tier-1 ingredient manufacturers or distributors is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience managing large or strategic B2B customers and developing relationships beyond procurement.
• Strong understanding of consultative and solution-oriented selling, especially involving R&D trials and long sales cycles.
• Excellent sales, negotiation, communication, and presentation skills, both verbal and written.
• Strong commercial judgment with the ability to balance revenue, margins, customer needs, and long-term potential.
• High ownership, strong work ethic, bias for action, and ability to operate independently.
• Ability to build trusted, long-term relationships with customers while maintaining commercial discipline.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Nutrition, Biotechnology, Chemistry, or a related discipline is a strong advantage, but exceptional commercial experience can also be considered.
• Existing relationships with food, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, or consumer-health companies are a significant plus.

Preferred Skills

• Experience in the food, nutraceutical, or related industries with a focus on ingredient solutions.
• Strong network within the food and nutraceutical sectors.
• Ability to coordinate cross-functional teams and technical resources.
• Familiarity with CRM tools and disciplined forecasting.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a drive to build and grow accounts.
• Multilingual skills or regional market knowledge (preferred but not mandatory).

Experience

• 5 to 8+ years of relevant B2B sales or key account management experience.
• Experience working with Tier-1 ingredient manufacturers or distributors is highly desirable.
• Proven track record of managing large accounts and developing long-term customer relationships.

Environment

This role is based in Bangalore and involves working in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. The candidate will engage in frequent industry meetings, conferences, and client visits. The work involves collaboration with cross-functional teams including R&D, supply chain, and regulatory departments. The position requires a proactive approach, with a mix of office-based work and field visits to customer sites.

Growth Opportunities

The successful candidate will work closely with the founders and senior leadership, gaining significant ownership of key customer relationships and revenue streams. This role offers a fast-track path to senior leadership positions within the company, with opportunities to influence product development, market expansion, and strategic growth initiatives.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package with performance incentives.
• Opportunity to work with category-leading customers and innovative products.
• Fast-paced environment fostering professional growth and ownership.
• Direct engagement with founders and senior leadership.
• Exposure to cutting-edge food and nutraceutical ingredient technology.