Business Development Manager

Finsbury Food Group; Greater London; Remote; GBP 35,000 - 65,000

Job description

Salary: Competitive + Benefits & Car Allowance

We have an opportunity for a Business Development Manager to join our Commercial team.

Finsbury Food Group is a leading speciality bakery manufacturer. We constantly raise quality and efficiency standards, and build long-term relationships with major multiple retailers and the foodservice channel. The bread for your morning toast, ready for butter-spreading or egg-dipping. The candle-filled centrepiece for a memorable celebration. The buns, muffins and other treats that turn teatime into quality time. We make 75% of the UK’s sharing cakes from retailer own brands cakes, tray bakes through to party cakes like Caterpillar cakes. This is what we do, and why we’re in business. Baking brilliance makes every day special.

As a Business Development Manager (BDM) within the Commercial team, you will drive business growth by managing and developing key national foodservice accounts. You will build strong, collaborative relationships with customers, ensuring the delivery of sales, profitability, and growth targets. Your focus will be on identifying opportunities, implementing strategic account plans, and championing customer satisfaction within the bakery product category.

This is a fast-paced role, where the successful candidate will have a proven track record in account management within the out of home or FMCG industry. With strong communication skills, you will maintain and develop strong relationships with key stakeholders, including buyers, category managers, and supply chain contacts, as well as deliver excellent customer service to foster trust and long-term partnerships.

This role is home-based with travel to our other sites (Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow, Cardiff or Salisbury) for meetings which could be weekly or monthly, depending on the requirement.

This is a great opportunity for someone to gain experience with one of the UK’s largest bakery businesses. You’ll work closely with a friendly and engaging team from both a site and group perspective, offering opportunities for growth and long-term career development.

This is what you’ll actually do!

As the Business Development Manager, you will be the primary point of contact for assigned end user accounts, new business and wholesale accounts, achieving sales and profitability targets across all assigned accounts. You will identify opportunities to expand product listings and drive incremental growth through new product development (NPD) and range extensions, and monitor sales performance and adjust strategies to meet KPIs and financial objectives.

You will be responsible for developing and executing account plans tailored to customer needs and business goals, working collaboratively with the out of home team to align strategies with broader company objectives. You will forecast sales volumes and work closely with the supply chain and production teams to ensure accurate delivery schedules.

The Business Development Manager will collaborate with customers to develop category insights and implement initiatives that drive growth, monitoring market trends, competitor activity, and customer performance to identify emerging opportunities. You will liaise with internal teams, including NPD, Marketing, and Finance, to ensure seamless delivery of customer projects and new product launches and present regular account updates and sales performance reviews to senior leadership.

Ideally, this is you!

• Proven track record in account management within the foodservice or FMCG industry.
• Strong commercial acumen and negotiation skills.
• Excellent relationship-building and communication abilities.
• Ability to analyse data and translate insights into actionable plans.
• Results-oriented with a proactive approach to problem-solving.
• Ability to work under pressure and challenge the status quo.
• Experience with NPD processes, particularly in bakery or similar product categories, is a plus.
• Flexibility to travel for customer meetings and trade events.

What's in it for you?

• Enhanced Maternity & Paternity Leave to allow quality time with your new arrival!
• Enhanced Pension Scheme for our employees.
• Free Employee Assistance Programme (open to colleagues and their families).
• Retail discounts accessible via our Benefits Hub platform!
• Company shop available at sites (heavily discounted, yummy products!).
• Refer a Friend Scheme (up to £300 per referral – t&cs dependent).
• Employee Recognition Awards.
• Extensive Learning & Development opportunities (including opportunities for sponsored professional memberships and our own in-house development course!).
• An opportunity to be part of a fantastic, growing organisation. Head over to our LinkedIn page to find out more!