Area Sales Manager, East Africa

About the role

Ingredion is seeking an experienced Area Sales Manager to lead profitable growth across East Africa and selected English‑speaking West African markets. You will be responsible for developing new business, expanding strategic accounts, and coordinating a cross‑functional programme that supports the company’s long‑term regional strategy.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of two Sales Representatives and one Customer Service Representative, setting clear direction and coaching performance.
• Build and execute growth plans to win new customers and increase share of wallet for Texture and Healthful Solutions.
• Coordinate the local delivery of a major capability investment in Kenya, managing milestones, timelines, risks and outcomes.
• Own commercial performance by delivering net sales, gross profit, margin and volume targets, using data‑driven pricing and forecasting.
• Manage regional and global key accounts, lead negotiations and develop distributors serving SMB customers.
• Drive growth in priority markets such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana while supporting opportunities in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.
• Partner with Technical Service, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing and Customer Service to accelerate customer projects.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in business, food science, food technology or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Strong B2B sales and new‑business development experience in food ingredients, flavours, beverage ingredients or a comparable solution‑based ingredient business.
• Proven people‑leadership experience managing a commercial or customer‑facing team.
• Experience managing strategic or global key accounts and distributors.

Required skills

• Solution‑selling expertise.
• Data‑driven commercial analysis (pricing, product mix, forecasting).
• Cross‑functional project coordination.