Business Development Manager

About the company

Our client provides specialty and functional ingredients serving the food, beverage, nutraceutical, and dietary supplement industries. We partner with manufacturers across New Zealand and the wider Asia-Pacific region to deliver high-quality, science-backed ingredient solutions that support health, wellness, and nutrition trends.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced and commercially driven Business Development Manager to grow our footprint in the nutritional ingredients sector. Based in Auckland, this role is responsible for identifying new business opportunities, building strong customer relationships, and driving revenue growth across food, beverage, sports nutrition, and dietary supplement categories.

You will work closely with technical, regulatory, and supply chain teams to bring ingredient solutions to market, while managing a portfolio of new and existing customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify, target, and secure new business opportunities within the nutritional ingredients sector (functional foods, supplements, sports nutrition, dairy, bakery, beverage, etc.)
• Develop and execute a strategic business development plan to achieve sales and margin targets
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key customers, distributors, and industry stakeholders across New Zealand and Australia
• Stay ahead of market trends, competitor activity, and emerging nutritional ingredient technologies
• Collaborate with suppliers and principals to identify new ingredient opportunities aligned with market demand
• Work closely with technical and regulatory teams to support product development and compliance requirements
• Prepare and deliver compelling proposals, presentations, and pricing negotiations
• Attend industry trade shows, conferences, and networking events to represent the company and generate leads
• Maintain accurate CRM records, sales forecasts, and pipeline reporting
• Provide market intelligence and customer feedback to inform product and supplier strategy

About You

• 5+ years' experience in business development, sales, or account management within ingredients, food/beverage manufacturing, nutraceuticals, or a related B2B industry
• Strong understanding of the nutritional ingredients landscape (vitamins, minerals, proteins, botanicals, functional additives, etc.) is highly advantageous
• Proven track record of achieving sales targets and growing a customer portfolio
• Excellent relationship-building, negotiation, and communication skills
• Commercially astute with strong analytical and problem-solving ability
• Self-motivated, results-driven, and comfortable working autonomously
• Tertiary qualification in Food Science, Nutrition, Business, or a related field preferred
• Full New Zealand driver's licence and willingness to travel domestically (occasional international travel may be required)

What We Offer

Competitive base salary + performance-based incentivesCompany vehicle allowanceCareer development within a growing, specialist industryExposure to a broad customer base across ANZ nutrition and food manufacturing sectors