Area Sales Manager, East Africa

About the role

Ingredion is looking for an Area Sales Manager based in Nairobi to drive profitable growth across East Africa and selected English-speaking West African markets. The role develops new business, grows strategic accounts, manages distributors, leads three customer-facing employees and coordinates the local delivery of a complex cross-functional programme supporting the company's regional growth strategy.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of two Sales Representatives and one Customer Service Representative, setting direction, coaching performance and building accountability.
• Build and execute growth plans, win new customers and expand share of wallet across Texture and Healthful Solutions, focusing on solution selling rather than account maintenance.
• Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders and implementation activities for a major capability investment in Kenya, managing milestones, timelines, risks and delivery outcomes.
• Deliver net sales, gross profit, margin and volume objectives, using data to guide pricing, product mix, forecasting, pipeline priorities and resource deployment.
• Manage selected regional and global key accounts, lead negotiations and develop distributors serving small and medium-sized customers.
• Drive growth in 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 and support office and site responsibilities.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in business, food science, food technology or a related field, or equivalent experience, with knowledge of food ingredients, processes and applications.
• Strong B2B sales and new-business development experience in food ingredients, flavours, beverage ingredients or a comparable solution-based ingredient business.
• Direct experience leading and developing a commercial or customer-facing team (essential).
• Experience managing strategic or global key accounts and distributors, with a strong understanding of pricing, gross profit, margins, net sales and product mix.
• Demonstrated success leading complex cross-functional projects, fluent English and willingness to travel regularly across the region.