Senior Key Account Manager, Pet Food - US Based (Remote)

dsm-firmenich•Remote, OR

4d•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Key Account Manager, Pet Food will manage strategic pet food accounts across the United States, serving as the primary customer contact and building long-term partnerships with stakeholders in procurement, innovation, R&D, and marketing. The role focuses on customer satisfaction and retention, strategic account planning, commercial growth, forecasting, supply coordination, and delivery of customer commitments. The manager will promote a portfolio of pet food solutions, including premixes, vitamins and minerals, marine-based lipids, palatants, and postbiotics, while providing category insights and supporting customer innovation. The role is US home-based, with approximately 30–40% travel for trade, customer, and company meetings. The position collaborates across Sales, Marketing, R&D, Supply Chain, Customer Experience, and Quality, and works with a North America-focused team with global reach. The role is eligible for bonuses and benefits, subject to eligibility requirements.

Requirements

At least 5 years of experience in key account management or sales in the pet food or ingredients industry.
Experience managing strategic accounts and developing new business while growing existing accounts.
Strong experience presenting technical products to customers, with persuasive presentation and public-speaking ability.
Proven negotiation skills and a track record of delivering commercial growth.
Strong analytical, financial, and strategic-thinking skills.
Ability to influence senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
Willingness and ability to travel approximately 30–40% for trade, customer, and company meetings.
Significant experience using Teams, Outlook, SAP, Excel, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and pipeline management.
Ability to thrive in a collaborative, team-oriented, fast-paced environment and learn on the fly.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in business or a technical field is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary point of contact for key pet food accounts and build trusted partnerships with customer stakeholders in procurement, innovation, R&D, and marketing.
Support customer satisfaction, retention, and value-added services; manage escalations and complex issues across regions.
Create and execute strategic account plans aligned with business objectives, leveraging company assets, expertise, and sales strategies.
Manage forecasting, supply coordination, and demand-planning alignment, and ensure execution at regional and local levels.
Apply corporate commercial strategies and pricing tools to meet quarterly and annual budget and gross profit margin objectives.
Identify, develop, manage, and expand business in the pet food segment by promoting the company’s solutions portfolio.
Track and forecast account performance and KPIs, and proactively manage and close the CRM project pipeline.
Lead internal alignment across Sales, Marketing, R&D, Supply Chain, Customer Experience, and Quality to deliver customer commitments.
Provide category insights, concept presentations, and documentation to support customer innovation goals.
Support customer innovation in areas such as functional ingredients and sustainability.
Monitor competitor activity across global pet food markets and translate market trends into actionable business opportunities.