Business Development Manager - Italy and Malta

Situation Overview and Scope

• Capri Sun has been present in the Italian market for decades, with a solid base in tourist areas, Northern Italy and traditional trade, generating approximately 1 million NOS annually.
• Italy is a strategic growth priority, with the ambition to scale to 10 million NOS by 2030. We are seeking a commercial leader to unlock the market and translate this ambition into a focused route-to-market and execution agenda.
• The role will accelerate nationwide retail distribution, rapidly open priority accounts and strengthen assortment, pricing, visibility and in-store execution.
• A core priority is to lead the new Italian distributor and align its organisation behind Capri Sun’s growth agenda. Malta is a smaller, established business (0.3 million NOS) to be managed with proportionate focus, including HoReCa and lighthouse QSR opportunities.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own the Italy growth agenda and shape the commercial roadmap from approximately 1 million to 10 million NOS by 2030.
• Develop the long-term market strategy and identifying new channel and customer opportunities.
• Open and scale the retail market by rapidly securing priority national and regional accounts, expanding listings and building nationwide distribution.
• Own country P&L, delivering revenue, gross margin, volume and distribution targets in line with Annual Plan.
• Support KAM teams in customer negotiations across national and regional accounts, focusing on listings, commercial terms, assortment and promotional plans, creating sustainable value the category.
• Build and align annual plans with distributors through clear priorities, Joint Business Plan targets and strong accountability across key account management, field sales and marketing on activation, promotional and launch calendar to ensure consistent market execution.
• Drive performance transparency across customers, pricing, distribution and promotional effectiveness, ensuring fact-based decision making and accountability.
• Elevate market execution by driving visibility, availability, pricing and in-store POS execution across priority channels and customers.
• Partner with EU Marketing, providing commercial, customer and competitive insight to shape locally relevant assortment, pack-price architecture and activation.
• Act as the key market interface between the distributor and EU teams, ensuring alignment on strategy, investment, performance and corrective action.
• Use market, customer and consumer data to generate practical recommendations and support management decisions. 
• Manage Malta with proportionate focus, maintaining the core business and pursuing selected growth opportunities.

YOUR PROFILE

• 7+ years of progressive commercial leadership experience in FMCG, ideally beverages.
• Strong Italian retail network and a proven record of rapidly opening and scaling national and regional accounts.
• Deep experience with modern trade and/or discounters in Italy, gained as a KAM, Sales Manager or Business Developer.
• Strong background in retailer key account management in Italy , customer negotiations, annual commercial planning and delivery of revenue and margin targets.
• Outstanding negotiation capability, with a track record of securing complex listings and sustainable commercial agreements.
• Experience leading distributors or cross-functional commercial teams; producer and distributor-side experience is an advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to challenge, influence and develop distributor partners / customers while maintaining strong long-term relationships.
• Native Italian and fluent English.
• High autonomy and effectiveness in a hybrid, market-facing environment, flexible to travel extensively across Italy.