Area Manager - Craft North Italy

AB Mauri is a dynamic global group of yeast and bakery ingredients companies and is part of the listed multinational Associated British Foods plc.

We are looking for an Area Manager to join our team in Italy and support the development of our business across Northern Italy in the Craft channel.

Key success factors in this role include a strong commercial mindset, solid technical knowledge of bakery products and applications, the ability to understand customer needs and translate them into effective solutions, and proven experience in the professional bakery or pastry sector or in commercial and technical roles within companies supplying ingredients, mixes, raw materials, equipment or solutions for the bakery and pastry industry.

The successful candidate will be based in Cologne (BS) and will spend most of the time travelling across Northern Italy, visiting customers, distributors, wholesalers, and craft bakery and pastry professionals within the assigned area.

This is a full-time position.

Key activities and responsibilities:

• Act in line with company standards on health, safety, ethics and compliance.
• Manage and develop the business within the assigned area across Northern Italy with regular customer visits across the territory;
• Gather market feedback, monitor trends and identify new business opportunities;
• Build strong relationships with distributors, dealers, wholesalers and craft bakery/pastry customers;
• Promote and expand AB Mauri’s portfolio of yeast and bakery ingredients within the craft channel;
• Analyse customer needs and translate them into effective technical and commercial solutions;
• Provide technical support on products, applications and processes to customers and partners;
• Coordinate and support technical trials, demonstrations and product presentations both in-house and at customer sites;
• Work closely with internal teams including R&D, Quality, Production and Technical Services;
• Prepare commercial and technical reports and contribute to sales planning and performance analysis;

Skills and experience:

• Proven experience in a sales or technical-commercial role within the bakery, pastry, food ingredients or professional food sector;
• Strong commercial skills, with the ability to support negotiations, develop business and build long-term customer relationships;
• Sound technical understanding of bakery and pastry applications, ingredients and processes;
• Ability to identify customer needs and propose practical, value-added solutions;
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret sales data, area performance, margins and technical trial results;
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage clearly and professionally with customers, colleagues and technical stakeholders;
• Good organisational skills, autonomy in planning activities and strong results orientation;
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, especially PowerPoint, Excel and Word;
• Knowledge of Power BI would be an advantage;

Qualifications:

• Technical education or degree in Food Technology, Chemistry, Agriculture or a related field would be preferred;
• Previous experience in the bakery ingredients sector would be a strong advantage;
• Good command of English.

Salary Range: 60.000€ - 80.000€