As a key member of a new team in an established business, you will have autonomy to manage and develop strong relationships with customers and suppliers, both domestically and internationally. You will work to grow high-value key accounts and identify new opportunities for business development. This role requires a proactive, commercially focused individual who can drive growth, strengthen partnerships, and deliver long-term value to the business.
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Key Responsibilities:
1. Build a clear understanding of our customer needs to drive vegetable seed sales and strengthen our market position
2. Implement strategic plans for the crop and support the Head of International Sales to deliver financial targets
3. Source and procure vegetable seed from our established suppliers to ensure a competitive offer for customers
4. Lead the development and launch of new products, managing the product pipeline
5. Maximise sales opportunities by proactively forecasting and managing stock based on product and market insights
6. Work collaboratively with the marketing team to create and execute marketing plans for assigned crops
7. Act as the industry-recognised specialist for your crop portfolio, representing Elsoms with authority and expertise in the market
The position
Qualifications
· Degree in relevant subject is desirable or equivalent by experience
Experience
· Proven track record in sales and key account management, with a focus on driving long-term business growth.
· Extensive experience in managing key accounts and fostering long-term customer relationships.
· In-depth knowledge of the crop industry (ideally vegetable seed), with a strong understanding of market trends and dynamics.
Skills
· Strong communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with both internal teams and external stakeholders.
· Proven experience in strategic planning and execution to achieve sales targets within defined markets.
· Exceptional communication and negotiation abilities, with a focus on driving successful business outcomes.
· Sound understanding of logistics and supply chain management to optimize operations and delivery.
· A history of success in commercial roles, consistently achieving business goals.
· Demonstrated networking expertise, with the ability to build and maintain strong, long-term professional relationships.
Person
· A passionate individual with a strong enthusiasm for the vegetable seed industry.
· Willing and able to travel frequently in UK and internationally, including to the USA and Europe.
· A collaborative team player who actively shares knowledge and experience to foster development within the team.
· Receptive to both giving and receiving constructive feedback, with a proactive approach to encouraging new ideas from colleagues.
· Flexible and adaptable, with the ability to respond effectively to changing production, business, and work demands.
Bridging the Elsoms research-driven breeding programs and the successful commercialisation of new varieties. You will oversee technical aspects of product development pipelines, coordinating across breeding, product advancement, seed production, and the commercial team. Your focus will be guiding the breeding outputs to align with customer needs (including UKFM and MBC members), regulatory requirements, and market strategies. This position requires strong cross-functional leadership, technical depth in plant breeding, and an ability to translate scientific outcomes into commercially viable products.
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Responsibilities and Duties
Liaise between breeding, product development, marketing, and sales teams to ensure alignment on variety positioning, timelines, and customer expectations.
Lead the VSC evaluation of pipeline and candidate varieties through multi-location trials, analysing performance data for selection and recommendation decisions.
Develop and maintain product advancement criteria and ensure robust, data-driven advancement decisions.
Develop technical data to support sales. Technical data might include agronomic information, performance in processing trials (e.g., breadmaking, malting, distilling), or performance of the variety in end-uses such as an ingredient in feedstocks for meat production or for Bioethanol plants, for example.
Manage Technical relationships with end user and markets including Milling Wheat and Malting Barley (actively contributing to MBC and UKFM conversations)
Support intellectual property (IP) protection, regulatory submissions, and technical documentation for variety registration.
Contribute to the development of technical marketing materials and provide agronomic training to internal teams and external partners.
Promote continuous improvement in technical operations, integrating new breeding tools, trialling methods, and digital platforms.
Ensure there is a strong relationship with agency crop suppliers. Manage third party or agented variety registrations and Plant Breeders Rights.
Actively contribute to the company and departmental strategy/goals and support other departmental managers.
At all times, maintain Elsoms’ strong Health & Safety culture and practices with a clean, safe working environment, safe working practices, and keeping accurate records.
Qualifications
ESSENTIAL – Degree in relevant subject or equivalent by experience
DESIRABLE – FACTS / BASIS qualification
ESSENTIAL – GCSE and/or A Level in English, Maths & Science subjects or equivalent
The position
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Excellent crop knowledge and experience of a very wide range of crops. Understands farmers and farming and with a critical appreciation of a wide range of crop varieties
Significant experience working in agriculture, preferably for a breeder
Wide experience of agricultural markets, drivers, influencers, demand, process requirements for all relevant industries such as feed, fuel, distilling, baking, brewing, export, AD, livestock, etc
Experienced in data generation, trial design and analysis plus presentation of results in a commercial environment
Worked in a commercial environment and understands the pressures and demands
Understands the seed production and certification process in great detail
Networking and relationship building skills
Excellent attention to detail and ability to plan over several seasons and across multiple crops, timelines and processes
Previous experience of people management and development skills
Communication (verbal and written), Collaboration and Negotiation skills
Excellent organizational, literacy and numeracy skills
Effective IT skills including Microsoft Office and SharePoint
Person Specification
Highly driven to achieve personal success, meeting and wherever possible exceeding agreed targets, passionate about their subject
Someone who is open to giving and receiving constructive feedback and can encourage new ideas from team members
Someone who understands the company values and proactively tries to live by them at work
Someone who is passionate and able to keep up to date with the industry in which they work
Someone who is interested in continuous improvement and making processes as efficient and cost effective as possible
Someone who is keen on continuous professional development (for both themself and any direct reports) and is able to share their technical knowledge and experience with others, adapting the message to the audience
Someone who takes health and safety seriously and leads by example to encourage a safe and healthy work environment for the team
Someone with a flexible approach to working hours to suit business/work demands
Ability to handle routine tasks and procedures.
Equally capable of working alone or as part of a team.
Ability to remain calm and focused when working under pressure.
Able to communicate appropriately with team members and internal and external contacts.
An ideas person – someone who can spot opportunities and generate information to support them being progressed
