This is a new role created to grow business across the Central Plains. This individual will manage all aspects of our commercial activities in the Central Plains North Region and will be responsible for sales activity, customer relationship management, and working cross-functionally with research and marketing teams to meet annual revenue targets.  This position will be the key Limagrain Cereal Seeds (LCS) commercial expert in this region and responsible for managing all components of a complex balance sheet.  This position offers a unique opportunity to oversee and optimize all control points in a commercial environment that is both highly technical and highly relationship driven. The region is defined as Western Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado.

The ideal candidate will be based in Western Kansas or Eastern Colorado.  Other locations will be considered for the right candidate.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Sales Management

·       Plan and implement sales strategies to gain market share

·       Identify and develop new accounts within the region to promote new revenue opportunities for the LCS brand.

·       Work with the Product Development Team to manage and position Foundation seed across the Region for the LCS Portfolio

·       Support the LCS customer network with wholesale transactions of Registered and Certified seed.

·       Represent LCS at regional trade shows, field days and customer events throughout the year.

·       Collection and auditing of royalty reports.

·       Plan and organize entries for state variety testing to support marketing and technical data creation.

Marketing (A&P, Technical, Strategic)

·        Manage all aspects of marketing campaigns at the Region level, and support dealer network with promotional items.

·        Coordinate the production and distribution of annual seed guides.

·       Maintain current and accurate information for the website.

·       Support dealer network with all necessary promotional items.

·       Compile regional technical data from LCS and public trials.

·        Build and annual strategic business plan. Being able to evaluate large data sets is a must.

·       Work with National Sales Manager and Research team to create technical data packages for licensing partners.

·       Knowledge of wheat product development and agronomic pricipals..

·       Maintain a robust knowledge of all products in the marketplace and pipeline of LCS products. Competitive portfolio analysis will be important also.

·         Work with National Sales Manager to conduct gap analysis capable of delivering product targets to the Research team.

Budget Management

·       Responsible for annual revenue targets and bottom line growth:

·       Accurate and up-to-date forecasting of budget specific line items.

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

·       Interpersonal Skills: Strong interpersonal communication skills.  Able to work across all levels of the organization, as well as with outside agencies and customers.

·       Teamwork: Team player with a positive attitude.  Able to facilitate cooperation, as a function of coordinating and providing information for various areas within the company.

·       Judgment: Exhibit sound and accurate judgment.  Accountable for decisions made.  Attention to detail and accuracy/integrity of data provided.  Able to prioritize workload in order to meet the needs of the organization, and to meet designated timelines.

·       Professionalism: Highly self-motivated individual, possessing strong organizational skills.  Comfortable taking direction, work cross-functionally and independently.

·       Adaptability: Able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.  Able to handle multiple projects simultaneously.  Able to identify and troubleshoot problems in order to affect a complete resolution.

·       Attendance/Punctuality: Ensure work responsibilities are completed in a timely fashion.

·       Dependability: Able to perform and maintain the functions of the job in a reliable and consistent manner.

Desired Education and Experience

·       Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business, Agricultural Economics or Agronomy; Master’s degree preferred

·       At least 5 year’s Agricultural experience with small grains, specifically wheat and barley

·       Advanced skills in MS business suite – MS Excel & MS PowerPoint proficiency is very important

·       Experience with development and maintenance of customer accounts

·       Supervisory responsibilities: none

·       Status: Exempt

·       Travel: internationally and domestically as required for business (total travel between 25-50%)

Physical Demands:

 Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 60 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment:

Approximately 50% of duties are in an office setting.  Position will require occasional physical labor to pack for, set up and tear down trade show events.  Physical labor will also be required 6-10 times annually while setting up for field days across the US.  Multiple times during the year, time will be spent walking nursery trials and attending field days in potentially heat stressed environments.