International Sales Account Executive

Company

Located in Seattle, Washington, Athena Marketing International (www.athenaintl.com) is a leading international marketing, export sales management and business development firm. We assist North American food, beverage, nutrition and consumer goods manufacturers seeking to expand global sales and brand awareness. Our objective is to assist high quality, emerging manufacturers increase worldwide sales and distribution, and develop into major global brands.  In addition, AMI serves as an advisor to its customer’s senior management, offering counsel on international marketing, business development, foreign joint ventures and alliances, strategic planning, media and promotion, distribution, and foreign language packaging.

 

Position Summary

The Sales Account Executive will play a key role in building a world-class global professional services firm.  This position will report to the President initially and will support our North American manufacturing customers and international distributor partners worldwide. There will be close interaction with our Sales and Marketing executives, including our international sales offices, as well as Operations and Administration.  The successful candidate must be willing to be a “hands on” enabler in the current high growth phase of our company.

This position will have the responsibility for managing our worldwide international distributor/importer/retailer partners, and for a wide variety of customers.  She/he will open new international partner accounts and grow existing international customer sales.  This role will also be responsible for generating new sales leads for our customers and researching various import procedures and regulations in a large variety of countries worldwide.  The Sales Account Executive will ensure that export sales are managed in compliance with U.S. and international regulations.  An understanding of export documentation required in various markets is preferred for this role.  Finally, there will be a growing amount of customer management in this role, as the Manager learns and grows professionally through training from supervisor and “hands on” training.

The winning candidate will ideally have spent time in a food and beverage or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturing company, preferably with Sales, Account Management, Supply Chain, Customer Service and/or Inside Sales responsibilities.

She/he may also have worked in a smaller, resource-restricted environment that requires a hands-on, entrepreneurial management style.  This role requires a detailed, “roll up the sleeves” type person who thrives on making things happen.  Being a global company, employees often work “around-the-clock” with our worldwide customers.

 

Major Responsibilities 

• Support Sales Managers and Directors in business development and global sales.
• Ensure consistent application of customer brand guidelines across our global markets.
• Manage all assigned customers and international distributor partners to ensure each is managed properly and professionally with excellent customer service.
  • Complete new customer set-up forms
  • Assist customers with processing of Purchase Orders
  • Communicate with all customers on a timely basis with concise information
• Conduct appropriate market research in U.S. and foreign countries to understand various food, beverage, nutrition and consumer goods categories and competitors.
• Lead annual budget and strategy planning for customer marketing and sales initiatives.
• International trade show management and attendance.
• Correspond with and build a network of international distributor partners to increase sales.
• Database development and entry; contribute to building the world’s leading database for the global food, beverage and nutrition industry.
• Collaborate effectively across the company and gain a deep understanding of international customer needs to increase sales and distribution globally.

 

KEY SELECTION CRITERIA

Ideal Experience

• Sales and/or Customer Service experience; food, beverage or consumer goods work experience is preferred.
• A track record of Sales and Customer Service experience would be valuable, and a clearly articulated desire to build world-class food, beverage, nutrition and consumer goods brands.
• Knowledge of export processes, purchasing, and packaging regulations for food and beverage products is helpful.
• Experience with food manufacturing, ingredients and technical issues would be beneficial.
• Knowledge of foreign import regulations and requirements would be helpful.
• Demonstrated ability to work with business executives of foreign cultures.

 

Aptitudes and Skills

• Outstanding organizational and analytical capabilities.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to recognize needs of customers, and quickly act to solve customer issues.
• Strong leadership skills, detail oriented, and accurate.
• Determination and drive to manage new tasks without the benefit of written procedures.
• A curious mindset to interpret complex data, and the ability to develop and communicate value-added solutions.
• Approachability and sense of humor which enables you to build and foster relationships internally and externally with people of all cultural backgrounds.
• Flexibility and the uncanny skill of balancing priorities with grace under pressure.
• Advanced skill of Microsoft office suite (PowerPoint, Access, Excel, and Access) and Customer Relationship Management software applications.
• High initiative and self-directed – able to work independently.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with a high degree of attention to detail and strong organizational skills.
• Ability to effectively prioritize in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to simultaneously manage multiple, fast-paced initiatives.

Please send your Resume and Cover Letter to: [email protected]