Head of Sales - Food & Proteins

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The Role & Your Impact

We are looking for an experienced commercial leader to join us as Associate Director, Head of Sales Food & Proteins. In this role, you will lead a team of eight sales professionals and drive growth across food segments beyond Dairy, Beverage, and Baking throughout Europe. Combining strategic leadership with hands-on commercial execution, you will play a key role in expanding our market presence, delivering value to customers, and developing new business opportunities.

• Lead and develop a high-performing sales team of eight professionals across Europe.
• Drive profitable sales growth by identifying new business opportunities and expanding existing customer relationships.
• Develop and execute commercial strategies that deliver growth above market and company averages.
• Lead customer negotiations, value proposition development, and contract discussions.
• Ensure high customer satisfaction through strong commercial and technical engagement.
• Own monthly sales planning, forecasting, and financial performance reviews.
• Collaborate closely with regional Marketing, Technical Services, Applied Research, and global stakeholders.
• Balance short-term revenue delivery with the exploration of new application areas and future growth opportunities.
• Optimize route-to-market strategies to secure long-term growth and profitability.

• Proven leadership experience managing and developing a high-performing commercial team.
• Strong sales and business development background, ideally within food ingredients, enzymes, biotechnology, or related industries.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen with the ability to translate market opportunities into business results.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to combine strategic thinking with operational execution in a complex and dynamic environment.
• Fluent English language skills.
• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to motivate and coach highly skilled professionals.

• Winning mindset with a strong drive for results.
• Entrepreneurial and proactive "can-do" attitude.
• Persistence and resilience when pursuing opportunities.
• Strong interpersonal skills with both customers and internal stakeholders.
• High integrity, transparency, and professionalism.
• Ability to prioritize effectively in a fast-paced environment.

• Flexible remote or hybrid setup within Europe, with good access to an international airport.
• Regular face-to-face leadership and team meetings, primarily in Lyngby, Denmark.
• Travel required, typically around 35-40%.

In Novonesis, we know that solutions rooted in biology can help solve humanity’s biggest challenges. Since we began more than a century ago, this has been our guide. It’s how we've gotten so far. And it’s how we'll impact the future. Now, more than ever, the world needs change. And with biosolutions, the possibilities for transformation are endless.

We are committed to an inclusive recruitment process and equal opportunity for all applicants. Therefore we ask you to apply without a cover letter or photo and instead include a few sentences in your CV explaining your motivation for applying. We make all employment decisions based on business needs and welcome candidates with a wide range of backgrounds, including ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status.