Context

Sakata Vegetables Europe is a subsidiary of Sakata Seed Corporation (Japan) and is responsible for the development and expansion of the activities across the EMEA area. With our wide array of vegetable seeds, we want to create a confidence-based relationship with our customers, working to our age-old motto of Quality, Reliability and Service. Sakata’s marketing team provides the maximum of technical information so that our clients get the best results from our varieties. The department performs an essential role in the definition of the development and evolution of our business.

Missions

This position is an excellent opportunity for a passionate Agronomic engineer to translate long term vision into short term actions at an international level.
Within the Marketing department this challenging position is at the center of all company departments (Research, Supply Chain and Sales).
Under the management of the Group Product Manager for cucurbit, your main missions will be to:

• Manage and coordinate the development of Cucumber across the Europe, Middle East and African markets.
• In collaboration with the Group Product Manager develop and implement the strategy across the region, including pricing, portfolios and positioning to be agreed with senior managers during a crop review meeting.
• Manage the complete product life cycle of all the varieties of the assigned crop(s)/segment(s)
• Manage the evaluation and development of new varieties in their pre-commercial phases
• Manage the preparation for commercial introductions of a variety in collaboration with the local sales teams
• Follow-up and take appropriate action regarding the lifecycle of all varieties among the portfolio. This includes coordination between sales needs and seed production; especially with respect to seed production costs and seed availability.
• Ensure efficient communication to breeding teams of market needs, size and information as well as general market trends and expected sales trends to better align breeding programs with the needs of the market
• Coordinate the communication plan for cucumber along with the marketing team

You will have to travel extensively across the region (between 30% to 60% of your time depending the time of year), working with our dedicated sales teams and distributors where relevant, providing technical support and knowledge to customers.

Profile

• We are looking for candidates with a degree level qualification, preferably in a horticultural related field.
• A minimum of 4 years’ working experience in the vegetable industry is necessary and previous experience in product management is desirable.
• The position requires a technical background to support the development of our varieties as well as a commercial approach.
• You will work in an international project-oriented environment within a multicultural organization. You need to have the capacity to adapt yourself to many different cultures and environments as well as being able to demonstrate good teamwork skills.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills along with a high level of autonomy and flexibility are also required to succeed in this position.
• It is mandatory to be fluent in English, (reading, writing and speaking), other language skills are also desirable.
• A comprehensive understanding and control of computer skills are also vital.

Application

This position is available as soon as possible.

It will be based in Europe and can be home-based or in one of our regional offices.

If you believe you have the ability to add value , please send us your application (Resumé and covering letter explaining why you believe you are suitable for this exciting opportunity), before July 31st 2020, by email at the following address: sve.recruitment@sakata.eu.

Thank you for your interest.