Sales Director - Europe (Nutraceuticals)
Meet Our Recruiter
About the Role
Greenfield European Launch | Nutraceutical Ingredients | Distribution
We are supporting an established North American ingredients business with the appointment of its first senior commercial leader in Europe.
This is a genuine build opportunity.
The business has a strong reputation in North America, a broad ingredient portfolio, and a successful model built around speed of supply, customer service and deep product access. It is now investing in Europe and looking to appoint a Sales Director to lead the commercial launch.
The initial focus will be the nutraceutical ingredients market, with scope to expand into adjacent sectors including food, pet, animal nutrition, personal care and wider ingredient channels.
This is not a role for someone looking to inherit a fully built team and simply manage from a distance.
The successful candidate will be hands-on, entrepreneurial and commercially driven. You will be expected to win business personally, build strategic customer relationships, shape the European go-to-market plan, and play a key role in hiring the first commercial team across the region.
You will also support the wider business set-up, including market feedback, product stocking decisions, warehousing/logistics requirements and the early-stage operational structure needed to support European growth.
The Role
You will be responsible for:
- Launching and developing the European commercial operation.
- Building sales across nutraceutical and adjacent ingredient markets.
- Managing and developing strategic accounts across Europe.
- Leading hands-on new business development activity.
- Helping define the European sales strategy and product focus.
- Recruiting and leading the first European commercial hires.
- Working closely with senior leadership in the US.
- Supporting local infrastructure decisions, including warehousing and logistics.
- Building a scalable sales platform for long-term European growth.
The Person
We are looking for someone with:
- 10+ years’ experience in ingredient sales.
- A strong background in distribution, not purely manufacturing.
- Experience within nutraceuticals, supplements, food ingredients, pet, animal nutrition, personal care or related markets.
- Previous team leadership experience.
- A proven record of hands-on business development.
- Strong customer relationships across Europe.
- The ability to operate in a lean, entrepreneurial environment.
- A self-starter mindset and the confidence to build from scratch.
- Fluent English; additional European languages would be beneficial.
The business is open to candidates across Europe, with the Netherlands / Benelux considered particularly attractive due to the planned European infrastructure.
Why This Role?
This is a rare chance to lead a European launch for a well-established North American ingredients business.
You will have the autonomy to shape the market approach, influence the product portfolio, build the commercial team and create a long-term European platform.
The package will be competitive and can include a tailored performance bonus / commission structure designed to reward growth and commercial success.
For a sales leader who enjoys building, winning and shaping something new, this is a genuinely exciting opportunity.