Director of Business Development

Mackenzie Stuart; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Mackenzie Stuart is seeking a commercially driven Director of Business Development to accelerate growth in the food, beverage, nutrition, and related markets. This role focuses on new business development, strategic account acquisition, and market expansion, identifying high-value prospects and converting opportunities through technical evaluation and commercialization.

The ideal candidate will have established relationships across flavors, ingredients, or nutrition industries, and enjoy opening

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a relevant field.
• 7–10+ years in business development, sales, or commercial roles in F&B or related industries.
• Proven ability to open doors, build relationships with decision-makers, and develop opportunities from first contact to commercialization.

Responsibilities

• Identify and pursue high-value new customers, markets, and strategic opportunities aligned with growth strategy.
• Build and maintain a robust pipeline of qualified new business opportunities.
• Lead early-stage commercial discussions and progress opportunities from initial contact through commercialization.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate customer needs into development programs.

Skills

Relationship building

Sales strategy

CRM proficiency

Communication skills

Travel readiness

B2B selling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, food science or related discipline

Tools

CRM software

Job description

Location: US - Remote with Regular Travel

Position Summary

My client, an innovative company serving the food, beverage, nutrition, and related markets is seeking a commercially driven Director of Business Development to accelerate growth through the identification, development, and conversion of new business opportunities.

This role will focus primarily on new business development, strategic account acquisition, and market expansion. The successful candidate will identify high-value prospects, build relationships with key decision-makers, uncover customer needs, and introduce differentiated flavor delivery solutions and technical capabilities.

The ideal candidate will be an accomplished business developer with established relationships across the food, beverage, flavor, ingredient, or nutrition industries. This individual should enjoy opening doors, creating opportunities, and developing business from the earliest stages through technical evaluation and commercialization.

The Director will work closely with Sales, Marketing, Flavor Creation, Product Development, Innovation, Operations, Supply Chain, and executive leadership to translate market opportunities and customer challenges into commercially viable programs.

Key Responsibilities

New Business Development

• Identify and pursue high-value new customers, markets, applications, and strategic opportunities aligned with the company’s capabilities and growth strategy.
• Build and maintain a robust pipeline of qualified new business opportunities.
• Develop relationships with key decision-makers across R&D, Product Development, Procurement, Innovation, Operations, and executive leadership.
• Prospect strategically through industry relationships, market intelligence, trade shows, networking, referrals, and targeted outreach.
• Secure introductory meetings, technical presentations, Lunch & Learns, innovation sessions, and customer development meetings.
• Lead early-stage commercial discussions and progress opportunities from initial contact through technical evaluation and commercialization.
• Develop opportunities to an agreed transition point before handing established accounts or programs to the appropriate sales representative for ongoing management and growth.
• Remain involved in strategic opportunities as needed to support successful commercialization.

Strategic Market Development

• Identify emerging categories, applications, technologies, and market trends where the company can create differentiated value.
• Develop business opportunities across areas such as ready-to-drink beverages, ready-to-mix products, sports nutrition, functional beverages, food applications, coffee, citrus, and other high-growth categories.
• Build relationships with strategic partners, ingredient companies, co-manufacturers, product developers, consultants, and other organizations that may generate new commercial opportunities.
• Provide market intelligence and customer feedback to help guide commercial priorities, product development, and innovation.

Value-Based Selling

• Clearly communicate the technical and economic benefits of advanced flavor delivery solutions.
• Sell based on customer value rather than price alone, including opportunities related to:
• Lower flavor usage rates and improved cost-in-use
• Enhanced flavor and aroma delivery
• Improved flavor durability under challenging processing conditions
• Reduced flavor overage
• Improved stability and performance
• Manufacturing and supply-chain efficiencies
• Sustainability benefits
• Powder flavor solutions for applications traditionally using liquid flavors
• Work with customers to identify measurable technical and financial value that supports commercialization decisions.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Sales to ensure new opportunities align with account strategies and commercial priorities.
• Work with Flavor Creation, Product Development, Innovation, Applications, and R&D teams to translate customer needs into actionable development projects.
• Collaborate with Operations and Supply Chain when evaluating new manufacturing, tolling, scale-up, or strategic opportunities.
• Coordinate with Marketing on targeted campaigns, market development initiatives, trade shows, and lead-generation programs.
• Provide clear customer briefs and ensure technical teams understand the commercial opportunity, customer expectations, and potential value.
• Serve as the commercial champion for high-priority new business opportunities.

Pipeline and Commercial Management

• Maintain accurate opportunity and activity information within the company’s CRM system.
• Establish clear commercial values, next steps, timelines, decision-makers, and probability of success for each opportunity.
• Provide regular reporting on new business activity, pipeline development, customer engagement, and commercialization progress.
• Maintain disciplined follow-up throughout the development cycle.
• Develop an annual business development plan covering target accounts, categories, strategic initiatives, and revenue opportunities.

Key Performance Indicators

Success in this role will be measured through a combination of leading and lagging indicators, including:

• Qualified new business pipeline created
• Number and quality of new strategic accounts engaged
• New customer meetings and technical presentations
• New development projects generated
• Progression of opportunities through the development pipelineNew customers commercialized
• New revenue generated
• Strategic and tolling opportunities developed
• Successful transition of developed accounts to the sales organization

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, Food Science, Chemistry, or a related discipline preferred.
• 7–10+ years of business development, sales, or commercial experience within flavors, food ingredients, beverages, nutrition, consumer products, or a related industry.
• Demonstrated success developing new accounts and creating business within complex B2B environments.
• Established industry relationships strongly preferred.
• Experience or relationships within private-label and food-service markets preferred.
• Strong understanding of the food and beverage product development and commercialization process.
• Experience selling technical or value-added solutions rather than commodity products.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and commercial audiences.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including the ability to develop value propositions and cost-in-use comparisons.
• Experience working collaboratively with R&D, Product Development, Operations, Marketing, and executive leadership.
• Strong CRM discipline and pipeline-management skills.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly to customers, industry events, trade shows, and company meetings.