Business Development Manager

La Dolce Vita is about enjoying the moments we share - pizza together, a family day at the beach, laughter and play.

Capri-Sun adds a little extra fun to all those moments.

We are the company that brings a smile to children's faces.

Our mission is to put a smile on 8 billion faces and we are led by our purpose to provide carefree moments to children all around the world.

With our iconic Capri-Sun brand, we aim to be the best tasting, sustainable, no.1 kids' drink.

We are the ideal employer for thirsty people who think in solutions, enjoy shaping a love brand and want to grow with us.

We are looking for a Business Development Manager - Italy and Malta (m/f/x), to lead our growth in Italy.

Location: Milan region, Italy with willingness to travel as required.

Capri Sun has been present in the Italian market for decades, with a solid base in tourist areas, Northern Italy and traditional trade, generating a high six figure NOS annually.

Italy is a strategic growth priority for the company, with the ambition to scale our business ten times by 2030.

We are seeking a commercial leader to unlock the market and translate this ambition into a focused route-to-market and execution agenda.

The role will accelerate nationwide retail distribution, rapidly open priority accounts and strengthen assortment, pricing, visibility and in-store execution.

A core priority is to lead the new Italian distributor and align its organisation behind Capri Sun’s growth agenda.

Malta is a relatively smaller, established business to be managed with proportionate focus, including HoReCa and lighthouse QSR opportunities.

Accountable for Italy growth agenda and shaping the commercial roadmap for delivering aggressive revenue growth by 2030 - country P&L, delivering revenue, gross margin, volume and distribution targets in line with Annual Plan

Develop the long-term market strategy in collaboration with business leaders and identify new channel and customer opportunities

Open and scale the retail market by rapidly securing priority national and regional accounts, expanding listings and building nationwide distribution

Support KAM teams in customer negotiations across national and regional accounts, focusing on listings, commercial terms, assortment and promotional plans, creating sustainable value the category

Build and align annual plans with distributors through clear priorities, Joint Business Plan targets and strong accountability across key account management, field sales and marketing on activation, promotional and launch calendar to ensure consistent market execution

Drive performance transparency across customers, pricing, distribution and promotional effectiveness, ensuring fact-based decision making and accountability

Elevate market execution by driving visibility, availability, pricing and in-store POS execution across priority channels and customers

Partner with EU Marketing, providing commercial, customer and competitive insight to shape locally relevant assortment, pack-price architecture and activation

Act as the key market interface between the distributor and EU teams, ensuring alignment on strategy, investment, performance and corrective action

Use market, customer and consumer data to generate practical recommendations and support management decisions

Manage Malta business with proportionate focus, maintaining the core business and pursuing selected growth opportunities

7+ years of progressive commercial leadership experience in FMCG, ideally beverages

Strong existing Italian retail network and a proven record of rapidly opening and scaling national and regional accounts. This is a required criteria

Deep experience with modern trade and/or discounters in Italy on a national level

Strong background in retailer key account management in Italy, customer negotiations, annual commercial planning and delivery of revenue and margin targets

Outstanding negotiation capability, with a track record of securing complex listings and sustainable commercial agreements

Experience leading distributors or cross-functional commercial teams; producer and distributor-side experience is an advantage

Demonstrated ability to challenge, influence and develop distributor partners / customers while maintaining strong long-term relationships

Native Italian and fluent English

High autonomy and effectiveness in a hybrid, market-facing environment, flexible to travel extensively across Italy

Competitive base salary based on experience and interview outcome.

Gross annual compensation range: EUR 56,000 - EUR 68,000

Local benefits package including annual bonus and car allowance

A fast recruitment process with maximum three interview rounds

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