Account Manager Food Manufacturing

**Role Summary** The Account Manager drives profitable sales growth by developing existing accounts and securing new business within the food and beverage manufacturing sector. The role represents Ecolab’s integrated F&B United offering, bringing together F&B Hygiene and Water F&B capabilities to provide customers with a coordinated, total-plant approach. This includes Ecolab hygiene and sanitation solutions together with Nalco Water products, services and expertise. **Key Responsibilities** **Business Development** * Achieve sales, profitability and account-growth targets. * Develop and manage the opportunity pipeline and account-acquisition plan. * Identify, qualify and close new business opportunities. * Coordinate customer conversions, programme start-ups and implementation. * Identify opportunities to introduce hygiene solutions to water customers and water-management solutions to hygiene customers. * Implement commercial initiatives, account action plans and targeted price increases. * Represent a customer-centric One Ecolab approach that brings together Water F&B and F&B Hygiene. * Assess customer operations holistically to identify sanitation and water-management opportunities. * Develop joint account plans with Hygiene, Nalco Water, technical and corporate-account colleagues. * Coordinate joint customer meetings, plant surveys, technical reviews, trials, proposals and conversions. * Engage the appropriate technical specialists while providing customers with a simple and cohesive experience. * Position integrated solutions against customer priorities such as food safety, product quality, productivity, operating cost, sustainability and risk management. * Identify, quantify and communicate the combined value of hygiene and water programmes. **Account Management** * Build relationships with customers across operations, quality, engineering, utilities, procurement and management. * Deliver agreed service levels and coordinate resources across the F&B United team. * Conduct regular business reviews and present programme performance, value delivered and improvement opportunities. * Manage account profitability, contract renewals, customer-retention risks and service issues. * Implement corporate-account commitments and provide updates on results, risks and initiatives. * Support timely collection of outstanding receivables. **Customer Value Delivery** * Develop solutions that improve customer performance, service and total operating cost. * Document baseline conditions, agreed actions and measurable outcomes. * Communicate Total Value Delivered from integrated hygiene and water-management solutions. * Maintain accurate account, opportunity and pipeline information in relevant CRM and business systems. * Coordinate resolution of technical, service, supply or customer-risk issues. **Job Requirements** * Bachelor’s degree in food science, biotechnology, microbiology, chemical engineering, chemistry, environmental engineering or a related discipline. * At least five years of experience in: * Food or beverage manufacturing, including production, QA or QC; or * Sales or business development within F&B, food safety, industrial hygiene or water treatment. * Good understanding of food-manufacturing operations and customer needs. * Experience developing business plans, qualifying opportunities, presenting value propositions and closing deals. * Ability to engage plant stakeholders across multiple functions and organisational levels. * Exposure to CIP, sanitation, industrial water treatment, process utilities or sustainability improvement is advantageous. * Strong commercial judgement, communication, analytical and relationship-management skills. * Proficiency in Microsoft Office and CRM tools. * Ability to travel frequently. * Bilingual or multilingual capability is advantageous.