The Senior Manager will be responsible for developing partnerships and leads to the attraction of companies to NEOM, as well as conducting market analysis, analyzing both product lines and the overall profitability. They will be responsible for developing and monitoring data quality metrics and ensuring business data and reporting needs are met in Food Manufacturing, Functional Ingredients, and Natural Products.
Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities
- Promote the concept that NEOM’s vision provides health and wellness-focused food and natural product companies with exceptional market opportunities and global visibility
- Develop and implement a strategy for company attraction that focuses on the adoption of novel foods and functional ingredients, integration with personalized nutrition strategies, and that aligns with sustainable food production business models and environmental stewardship
- Establish criteria for company selection that include financial stability, technological readiness, product differentiation, safety, and quality standards, as well as consumer health and wellness benefits
- Assess the feasibility of, and budgets required, to establish companies at NEOM and support their initial and projected market activities
- Partner with other tenant attraction stakeholders to draft and communicate effective incentive packages for food and natural product companies of interest
- Benchmark strategies and success in attracting companies against other regional and “smart city” efforts, and develop insights to promote NEOM as an advantaged location
- Key responsibilities will include:
- Performing market analyses to identify consumer trends in food and functional ingredient consumption
- Identifying food and natural product companies of high interest
- Assessing the value of targeted companies in terms of financial stability, IP positioning, and product offerings, and describing advantages over competitors
- Communicating assessments with internal stakeholders at NEOM and establishing position statements on lead companies
- Engaging with companies that best fit consumer needs, offer the best market potential, and align with NEOM’s vision
- Identifying key needs (infrastructure, talent pool, etc.) in incentivizing companies to establish at NEOM and in ensuring market take-off
- Building and maintaining a partner engagement pipeline, CRM (customer relations management) tooling, and conducting industry scouting/research
- Set performance goals, incentives, training opportunities, and provide regular feedback on performance for the business development team
- Promote a high-performance working environment embracing NEOM’s values
- Manage, guide, and assist division to perform their operations following set policies and procedures
Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business and/or a Food-related field.
- Experience in a multicultural environment is a plus as is proficiency in at least two languages
- Proven team-player with a minimum of 7 years’ experience contributing to multidisciplinary teams
- Passion for NEOM’s mission in adopting the most innovative and meaningful trends in food and natural products that can be leveraged to enhance health and wellness at NEOM and globally
- Knowledge of regional and global consumer and market trends in healthy natural foods and functional ingredients
- Knowledge of the food and natural product industry encompassing large corporations, SMEs, and start-ups (including VCs, accelerators, technology transfer offices, etc)
- Knowledge of sources of food products and natural products ingredients as well as their health benefits
- Prior experience in a fast-paced international business development role and/or managerial experience in the food/natural product industry
- Prior experience working with consultancy agencies and managing external projects
- Strong networking skills and willingness to initiate engagement with internal and external stakeholders
- Highly effective communicator with strong oral and written presentation skills