Business Development Manager Biobased Products

May 04 2022

Are you a connector? A commercial minded business developer? Do you have entrepreneurial skills? Do you have a strong, international network in biobased products, preferably biobased polymers and biobased plastics? Then we are looking for you! • What are you going to do? • Your main target is to connect the world-leading knowledge of our 250 colleagues of Wageningen Food and Biobased Research (WFBR), part of Wageningen University and Research (WUR), to the needs of our customers and prospects by making valuable project propositions. You will be doing this by:

create and follow-up leads with industrial customers. Translate trends, challenges and innovations of their market into valuable research questions;

organise professional account management for a selected number of customers to maximize impact for WUR; 

together with our experts, translate societal and business needs into new high value project propositions;

build consortia of various international customers to work collectively on large, game-changing, research projects to allow partners to accelerate innovation and product development and get access to the latest technologies;

negotiate the commercial terms of project agreements and get these signed in close collaboration with the legal and financial experts of WFBR;

develop and maintain a relevant international business network to build and expand the brand name of WUR in general and WFBR in particular to create a market leading position in selected areas.

a sales expert with a result-oriented and entrepreneurial attitude with strong networking skills and a high energy level;

at least 3 years of business development/acquisition/sales experience in value-based selling, preferably in a market-oriented R&D environment;

relevant network in the (international) in biobased polymers and biobased plastics domain

well-developed organisational awareness and excellent communication skills to sell our ideas both internally and externally;

an MSc degree (or equivalent) knowledge of a relevant science area. A degree in business development or MBA or relevant work experience/proven track record in commercial skills is an important selection parameter.  

excellent writing and speaking skills in English and willingness to learn Dutch.

Excellent communication, can do hunter mentality, team work and pro-activeness is critical for all our people.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;

the option to accrue additional compensation hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;

sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;

there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. We offer, depending on your experience, a competitive gross salary of between €3.391,- and €5.268,- for a full-time working week of 36 hours, in accordance with the Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a multi-faceted position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

More information

Do you want more information? • For more information about this position, please contact Gerhard de Ruiter, business unit manager, tel. +31 317-489150.For more information about the procedure, please contact Mathilde Keij, HRM department, email: mathilde.keij@wur.nl. • Do you want to apply? • You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.Equal opportunities • Wageningen University & Research (WUR) employs a large number of people with very different backgrounds and qualities, who inspire and motivate each other. We want every talent to feel at home in our organisation and be offered the same career opportunities. We therefore especially welcome applications from people who are underrepresented at WUR. For more information please go to our inclusivity page. A good example of how WUR deals with inclusiveness can be read on the page working at WUR with a functional impairment. •  

The mission of Wageningen University and Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. • With its roughly 30 branches, 6.800 employees and 12.900 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen’s unique approach. WUR has been named Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus! • We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated. •