Technical Sales Account Support

About the Role

The Technical Service Account Support (Associate Scientist) will provide technical support to new or existing customers with growth potential to grow sales of Tate & Lyle ingredients. This position supports the technical service team on cross category projects by conducting bench and pilot lab trials, analytical testing and providing support to project related tasks. This position will work on a broad range of food applications and will be a good entry level position for someone looking to grow their career in the food industry. Contribution is measured through conversion of technical opportunities to sales. Willingness to travel up to 25%.

Key Responsibilities

• Supports customer projects, internal research, and external growth campaigns by using application knowledge within categories.
• Works under limited supervision on assigned tasks or project support to determine and develop approach to meet desired objectives.
• Conducts bench and pilot lab experiments, including analytical testing, while working closely with technical service account managers.
• Supports food product formulation with ability to develop and optimize formulas to meet project objectives.
• Provides clear and timely communication of application study findings.
• Resolves technical problems through continuous collaboration with others.
• Travels to customer locations and supports consultations, pilot trials and provides ongoing project support.
• Maintains proper laboratory notebooks and prepares project reports.
• Ensures laboratory activities meet or exceed technical, safety and efficiency goals.
• Assists with maintaining a world-class laboratory environment, including management of ingredients and supplies, lab upkeep and equipment maintenance.

Competencies

• Portfolio, Category & Customer Technical Application: Knowledge of the product portfolio, category trends and customer needs. Expertise in formulation and industrialisation in the customer’s field of application.
• Business Development & Opportunity Prioritisation: Partners with Technical Sales colleagues to identify profitable growth opportunities with new / existing customers. Draws on technical expertise and customer understanding to support pipeline development and conversion.
• Account Planning & Execution: Provides technical and customer input to support Sales in creating, managing and executing Account Plans. Understands the basic structures of account and joint business plans.
• Solution Selling: Identifies holistic customer needs and the most appropriate offerings to address them. Provides support in the development and communication of customer-aligned, profitable value propositions.
• Solution, Commercial & Financial Effectiveness: Makes business decisions that are aligned with commercial strategy, customer segmentation and broader business objectives. Understands core financial metrics and impact of technical decisions upon them.
• Solution Design and Project Management: Develops innovative solutions through differentiated offerings, enabled by cross-functional teams. Tracks project timelines and dependencies, managing stakeholders to ensure activities are completed on time. Understands workflows and core project management principles.
• Customer Relationship Management & Market Engagement: Contributes functional expertise to connect with customers and create mutual value. Provides ad hoc support to Sales in managing pipeline and building positive relationships with customers. Understands the role of industry forums and relevant comms guidelines.

Qualifications

• Minimum MS or BS in food science or other related scientific disciplines required.
• Moderate production and processing knowledge in food science or related industry.
• Sound basic knowledge of food science, food chemistry, food microbiology and general food processing.
• Demonstrated ability to learn and apply basic scientific principles, theories, and concepts to assignments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, analytical, and technical skills.
• Critical thinking and problem solving; attention to detail and organization.
• Proven ability to be creative and pro-active while “thinking outside the box,” is required.
• Basic computer literacy in Microsoft Office 365 Applications.
• Ability to travel domestically or internationally as required to achieve project goals.