Sun World is proud to be a renowned grower, marketer and breeder of premium varieties with a full line of tasty seedless grapes, sweet peppers, stonefruits and other distinctive fruits and vegetables. We have over 10,000 acres of farming land and 950 domestic and international licensed partner growers. Plus, we manage the farming, packing, marketing and distribution operations for a large part of our U.S. grown produce.
Sun World has offices in Italy, Australia, Chile, Mexico and South Africa. Come join our team as Director of Export Sales at our Bakersfield, Ca location.
The director of Export Sales works within the sales department and is responsible for managing the Sun World global go to market strategy; sets the country and variety focus for export sales; works collaboratively with the executive VP and the sales manager to develop export pricing plans and prioritization; collaborates with our marketing department to develop in country branding tools and messaging. The Director of Export Sales will be the primary voice in dealing with the daily communications of our global customer base and our organizational constituents.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS/JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
SALES:
- Work with the Sun World team to identify areas of need for product, and assist with clarity of specifications.
- Works with Sales Planning Manager to obtain the best field harvest forecasts in order to develop a sales plan.
- Develop global customer plans and associated metrics to monitor actual to plan performance by customer, by variety, by profitability, by country.
- Actively involved in the development of the global customer development and sales plans.
- Supports customer performance reviews and ensure the effective use and analysis of sales data, along with market intelligence, to evaluate product and account performance and initiate action plans to improve results.
- Monitor industry inventory, harvesting and pricing data, and measure Sun World performance against key indicators.
- Gather market intelligence from third parties in order to project the market.
- Optimize movement across export customer base by variety, market and season.
- Review all PAS sales and “trouble files” to ensure that the proper pricing levels are being maintained.
- Develop strategic pricing strategies to optimize the value to Sun World and our partners.
- Work in collaboration with the Marketing resources to continue to leverage strategic customer grape branded programs.
ADMINISTRATION:
- Work closely with the Executive Vice President to ensure that the Export Sales department is operating within budgetary guidelines.
- Ensure all company policies and governmental regulations are complied with and followed.
- Educate, train and lead the export sales specialist and any new personnel that joins the export team, both in and out of the country, by utilizing “next generation” marketing and selling techniques to promote and secure our global position.
STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE:
- New products are promoted and are value added to the business.
- Product distribution channels are enhanced and strategically captured to provide segmentation and diversification.
- The Export business continues to grow without significant claims.
- 5,000,000 cartons in 2020.
- Average FOB of $25 or better across all volume (export $28+).
- Valuable input to the Claims Management process to ensure it runs smooth, retains valuable customers, and helps to minimize customer claims payouts to no more than .50% of Gross Revenue.
- Implement administrative duties to promote strategic planning that is executed at the highest possible level; display strong organizational skills; build team spirit, but instill competition against the market.
GENERAL PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTES:
- Quality of work: Accuracy, thoroughness and presentation of work.
- Dependability: Meet commitments and deadlines.
- Attitude: Team oriented demeanor toward job, co-workers, supervisors and company.
- Initiative: Recognize problems and take corrective action(s), make suggestions for improvements, and accept responsibility for accomplishing unassigned tasks.
- Potential for growth and advancement: Potential for increasing job knowledge and for advancing to other jobs in the organization.
- Problem Solving: Develop and implement solutions to complex or difficult issues, or situations.
- Professional Development: Development of professional skills and knowledge.
- Team Building: Develop teamwork and cooperation with and among employees, customers, suppliers and competitors.
- Special projects when requested.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- B.S with emphasis in Sales and Marketing.
- Effective record in building strong customer relationship skills.
- Expertise in the Produce Sales sector.
- Minimum of 10 years industry experience preferred.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to create and present customer presentations and proposals.
- Demonstrate the ability to build and maintain all levels of customer relationships, handle multiple priorities, and work in a self-initiative/self-directed manner.
- This position requires that you be able to speak, read and write English at a level, which allows full communication and participation in a team situation.
- Requires frequent travel to visit customers-30%-40 %(out of season), both domestically and internationally for prolonged trips in both vehicles and aircraft.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
- Occasional lifting of 25 lbs. or less.
- Frequently required to stand, walk, and use hands and fingers to handle, feel, reach with hands and arms, stoop, or kneel.
- Specific vision abilities required by this job include close and far away vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus and distinguish color.
- Required to regularly enter data on a keyboard.
