Sales Account Manager - Nutraceutical Ingredients

Univar Solutions•Bellevue, WA

25d•Hybrid

About The Position

Under the direction of the Sales Director, Health and Nutrition Americas, the Nutra Account Manager wins and scales Nutraceutical business across the Western United States territory by solving customer problems and focusing on high-value, repeatable use cases. The role sells a science-led, clinically backed portfolio which spans probiotics, actives, amino acids, creatine, botanicals, vitamins, lipids, and cellular health ingredients, into nutraceutical manufacturers, brand owners, contract manufacturers, and private-label producers. The Account Manager works in close partnership with the Global Nutra Core team (technical PhDs, quality and regulatory, and technical marketing) to convert customer trials into commercial revenue, and is accountable for delivered gross profit, margin, win rate, and account and SKU expansion within the territory. The West territory forms part of a North America base of approximately 337 active Nutra accounts within a U.S. market estimated at ~$189B (2024), the largest Nutra region globally.

Requirements

At least a bachelor’s degree in business, science, food science, nutrition, chemistry, or a related field.
Minimum of 5 years of successful business-to-business sales experience, preferably in nutraceutical, dietary supplement, functional food and beverage, specialty ingredient, or pharmaceutical ingredient distribution.
Demonstrated ability to sell technical, solution-led value rather than price, and to work alongside technical and regulatory colleagues throughout the sales cycle.
Working knowledge of nutraceutical applications and formulation concepts sufficient to hold credible conversations with customer R&D and product development teams.
Proven pipeline management discipline: prospecting, qualification, forecasting, and CRM hygiene, with a track record of converting trials into commercial revenue.
Strong negotiation skills with the ability to establish strong working relationships, persuade and influence others, and defend pricing and contract terms professionally.
Business acumen: understands margin, working capital, and the economics of distribution; makes decisions that are beneficial to the business as a whole.
Excellent communication and presentation skills; projects a professional and positive image both inside and outside the company.
Ability to travel extensively within the Western United States; based in or willing to relocate to the territory.

Responsibilities

Deliver territory DGP and margin targets versus AOP, and grow the Nutra book of business through both new customer acquisition and expansion within existing accounts.
Qualify Nutra opportunities against the platform strategy: prioritizing high-value, repeatable use cases and applications where Univar Solutions holds advantaged or exclusive supplier access.
Lead customer trials with technical support: coordinate formulation work, sampling, and scale-up with the technical team, and drive trial-to-commercialization conversion.
Close and expand wins: add new SKUs to existing Nutra customers and convert single-product relationships into multi-product, solution-led partnerships.
Build and maintain a healthy, converted pipeline with accurate forecasting and CRM discipline; maintain pipeline coverage consistent with regional targets.
Sell the differentiated supplier portfolio, along with new specialty portfolios as these authorizations come online.
Negotiate pricing, terms, and supply agreements that protect margin while creating durable customer value; defend value against commodity-based competition.
Feed market needs, competitive intelligence, and unmet application demand back to the Global Nutra Core to shape portfolio, formulation, and supplier priorities.
Partner with technical marketing to deploy application stories, claims, and playbooks in customer conversations, ensuring all claims used are regulatory-approved.
Maintain deep knowledge of territory customers, including manufacturers, private-label producers, and brand owners, and build relationships from R&D and procurement through to executive sponsors.
Cover the Western U.S.: including the California, Pacific Northwest, and Mountain sub-regions, where a significant concentration of supplement brand owners, contract manufacturers, and sports nutrition producers is located.
Support North America M&A and supplier development activity by identifying territory customers and prospects relevant to bolt-on targets and new authorizations.