Business Development Manager – European Retail

Approach People; Deutschland; Remote; EUR 54,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

25 days annual leave

Senior leadership exposure

Job summary

Approach People Recruitment is seeking a European Sales Manager – Retail to drive new business across Europe from a remote setup. You will secure opportunities with major retailers, build a broad portfolio, and work closely with senior leadership to shape European growth.

The role offers autonomy and significant travel across Europe. Fluency in English is essential; German, French, Dutch, or Italian are advantageous.

Qualifications

• Proven track record in new business development within European retail.
• Strong experience selling products directly to major retailers.
• Able to identify prospects, approach buyers and open new accounts.
• Fluency in English is essential; additional European languages are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Identify and secure new business opportunities with major retailers across Europe.
• Develop relationships with buyers and key commercial decision-makers.
• Prospect and open new retail accounts in greenfield markets.
• Build and manage a profitable portfolio of European customers.
• Negotiate commercial agreements, pricing and terms.
• Identify opportunities for new product listings and range expansion.
• Develop account strategies to maximise revenue, margin and growth.
• Forecast and report on pipeline and commercial performance.
• Travel across Europe and collaborate with internal teams for launches.

Skills

New business development

Retail sales

Relationship building

Negotiation

Hunter mentality

Autonomous remote work

European market knowledge

Prospecting

Tools

AI-enabled tools

Job description

Location: Remote – France, Germany or the Netherlands preferred
Travel: Approximately 30–40% across Europe
Salary: Circa €60,000 base salary + highly attractive uncapped performance-based bonus

About the Opportunity

Our client is an established international business operating across multiple consumer product categories and supplying major retail partners in international markets.

As part of an ambitious European growth strategy, the company is looking to appoint a commercially driven European Sales Manager – Retail to develop its presence across key European markets.

This is a newly created, highly entrepreneurial role offering significant autonomy. You will be entering largely greenfield markets, identifying opportunities, opening new retail accounts and building your own portfolio across Europe.

For someone who enjoys creating business from scratch rather than simply managing an established customer base, this represents an opportunity to have a direct impact on the company’s European growth while benefiting financially from the business you develop.

The Role

Initially, this will be a 100% new business development role.

Your priority will be to identify and secure new opportunities with major retailers across Europe, establishing relationships with key decision-makers and turning these relationships into sustainable and profitable accounts.

As your customer portfolio develops, you will take increasing ownership of your accounts and their commercial performance, effectively managing your own area of the business.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and secure new business opportunities with major retailers across Europe.
• Develop relationships with buyers and key commercial decision-makers.
• Proactively prospect and open new retail accounts in greenfield markets.
• Build and manage a profitable portfolio of European customers.
• Negotiate commercial agreements, pricing and terms.
• Identify opportunities for new product listings and range expansion.
• Develop account strategies to maximise revenue, margin and long-term growth.
• Take ownership of the commercial performance of your customer portfolio.
• Analyse European markets and identify new growth opportunities.
• Represent the business at customer meetings, industry events and trade exhibitions.
• Work closely with internal teams to ensure successful product launches and customer delivery.
• Maintain accurate forecasts, pipeline visibility and commercial reporting.
• Embrace new technology and AI-enabled tools to improve prospecting, account development and commercial effectiveness.

About You

To succeed in this role, you will have:

• A proven track record in new business development within European retail.
• Strong experience selling products directly to major retailers.
• A demonstrable ability to identify prospects, approach buyers and successfully open new accounts.
• Existing relationships with major European retailers, buying groups or retail decision-makers would be highly advantageous.
• A strong hunter mentality and genuine motivation to build business from the ground up.
• Commercial awareness and the ability to take ownership of revenue, margin and profitability.
• Strong negotiation and relationship-management skills.
• An entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to operate autonomously in a remote international environment.
• An open and technology-driven mindset, including a willingness to adopt new AI and digital sales tools.
• Fluency in English is essential. Additional European languages, particularly German, French, Dutch, Spanish or Italian, would be advantageous.
• Willingness to travel regularly throughout Europe and occasionally to the UK.

Experience within consumer products, FMCG/CPG, home and lifestyle products, automotive aftermarket, retail supply or adjacent product categories would be particularly relevant.

Candidates with established relationships with major European retailers and a track record of converting those relationships into commercial business will be especially well suited to this opportunity.

What’s on Offer

• Circa €60,000 base salary.
• Highly attractive uncapped performance-related bonus, directly linked to the profitability of the business you develop.
• 25 days’ annual leave.
• Remote working with a high degree of autonomy.
• The opportunity to build a European customer portfolio from the ground up.
• Direct exposure to and collaboration with senior leadership.
• Significant influence over the company’s European expansion.
• International travel across European markets.
• A genuinely entrepreneurial environment where strong commercial performance is directly rewarded.

Recruitment Process

The recruitment process is expected to consist of three stages:

1. Initial Teams interview.
2. Second Teams interview with members of the sales team.
3. Final face-to-face meeting in the UK.