Sales Consultant Frozen Seafood | Italian Market | Freelancer

About the role

Our client is an established Japanese trading house with a food division based in Amsterdam. The division has handled procurement for the group's headquarters and its Southeast Asian operations since 2009, and it started building direct sales activity in Europe a few years ago. The core of the business is frozen seafood, sourced from suppliers around the world and sold on into European markets. Italy is a new market for them, and this is a hands-on market-development role. You would be expected to work independently from day one, using your own network in wholesale, retail, and food services.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and approach new clients in the Italian frozen seafood market, starting with wholesalers and building over time toward supermarkets and restaurant chains
• Visit clients yourself, and accompany the client's own representatives on customer visits, leading commercial discussions and writing up visit reports
• Carry out market research on the Italian frozen seafood sector
• Join the food division's team meeting at least once a week, remotely
• Represent the client at food trade fairs within the EU
• Handle quality inspections and complaint follow-up on the rare occasions they arise

Qualifications & Skills

• Based in Italy or the Netherlands, with a strong and active (frozen) seafood industry network in Italy
• Fluent Italian and business-level English; Spanish is an advantage, since it may open the door to future work on the Spanish market
• A background in the Italian seafood industry, ideally on the trading or wholesale side.
• An existing client base among wholesalers/distribuitors, ideally with additional connections at supermarkets or large restaurant chains
• A practical, commercially minded working style. This role suits someone who has actually done the buying and selling, not only business development in the abstract
• Comfort working independently and building a market from an early stage, without a large internal structure around you
• Availability to travel within Italy, particularly during the first months of the assignment

What We Offer

• A freelance consultancy agreement, contracted directly with the client, for an initial 12 months with room for renewal if the Italian market develops as hoped
• A monthly fee in the range of €5,000 to €6,000, with room to discuss depending on your experience and network
• Genuine flexibility: this role suits someone with time to invest, as well as someone combining it with a current position, as long as the freelance structure works for both sides
• The chance to shape a new market from the ground up, with a real path to more responsibility if it grows, including a possible future role in Spain
• Based in Italy, working remotely day-to-day, with periodic visits to the client's Amsterdam office or coordination timed around customer visits
• It's a full-time role for 35 hours per week.

Interested? Feel free to apply!