As an Associate Account Manager, you will be responsible for driving sustainable business growth, strengthening strategic customer partnerships, and delivering profitable solutions across West Africa. Working closely with customers and cross-functional teams, you will help translate market opportunities into commercial success while positioning IFF as a trusted innovation partner.
Where You'll Make a Difference
- Deliver annual sales, profitability, and volume targets across assigned accounts and territories.
- Develop and execute strategic account plans aligned to regional business objectives.
- Identify and secure new business opportunities while expanding existing customer partnerships.
- Build and maintain a healthy opportunity pipeline using Salesforce (SFDC).
- Lead commercial negotiations and support pricing and margin optimization initiatives.
- Develop trusted relationships with key stakeholders across customer organizations.
- Create customer growth roadmaps and joint business plans to drive long-term success.
- Lead innovation projects from concept through commercialization.
- Translate market trends and consumer insights into actionable customer opportunities.
- Partner with Technical, R&D, Product Development, Operations, Regulatory, and Customer Experience teams to deliver winning solutions.
- Drive customer satisfaction, retention, and proactive issue resolution.
- Support forecasting, demand planning, and business review activities.
- Manage customer profitability, receivables, budgeting, and forecasting activities.
- Ensure accurate reporting, pipeline management, and account planning through Salesforce.
What Makes You the Right Fit?
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Food Science, Chemistry, Biotechnology, or a related field.
- Minimum 5-8 years of B2B sales and account management experience.
- Experience within Food Ingredients, Flavors, Fragrances, Nutrition, FMCG Ingredients, Specialty Chemicals, or related industries.
- Proven success managing strategic accounts and complex sales cycles.
- Demonstrated track record of delivering revenue growth and profitability targets.
- Experience working across multiple West African markets.
- Strong commercial and negotiation skills with a customer-focused mindset.
- Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building capabilities.
- Strong financial acumen, forecasting, and business planning skills.
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and influencing skills.
- Comfortable with frequent travel across the region (40-60%).
- Experience selling complex technical or ingredient-based solutions to FMCG manufacturers.
- Knowledge of categories such as Beverage, Dairy, Bakery, Culinary, Snacks, Confectionery, and Health & Wellness.
- Strong understanding of innovation commercialization and new product development processes.
- Experience facilitating customer workshops, innovation days, and executive-level business reviews.
- Advanced Salesforce (SFDC) and pipeline management experience.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate market insights into commercial opportunities.
- An entrepreneurial mindset with a passion for identifying growth opportunities.
- Proven ability to build relationships with senior decision-makers and executive stakeholders.
- Experience working in multinational or highly matrixed organizations.
- Resilience, adaptability, and a strong results-oriented approach.
- Fantastic opportunity to become part of our fast-moving, creative and innovative team!
- Professional onboarding process.
- Ability to work with multiple disciplines in a dynamic, global environment.
- Training and development opportunities.
- Exposure to diverse customers and markets across West Africa.
- Opportunity to collaborate with global experts in innovation, science, and commercial excellence.
- Chance to make a meaningful impact by driving business growth and customer success across a strategically important region.