Business Development Manager, International (FMCG, Ice Cream)

Business Development Manager, International (FMCG, Ice Cream)

Location: Sharjah, UAE/Remote
Department: International Business
Job Type: Full-time
Travel: Extensive within MEA

About the role

You will build and scale the international ice cream business across the MEA region, from market entry and distributor onboarding to export operations, cold-chain logistics, and compliance. You will own sales targets, expand into new countries and channels, and keep our products fresh, visible, and compliant from factory to shelf.

Key responsibilities

• Market expansion: Scan and size new MEA markets, analyze demand and competitors, visit on-ground, and produce market intelligence to guide entry decisions.
• Distributor management: Identify, evaluate, and onboard capable distributors, align joint plans, drive price and promo discipline, and ensure in-store visibility that meets brand guidelines.
• Sales ownership: Run the full export sales cycle, issue quotations, negotiate and close, forecast revenue, manage the export budget, and represent the brand at trade shows.
• Cold-chain and logistics: Coordinate with forwarders, shipping lines, and cold storage, safeguard temperature integrity, optimize cost and delivery times, and monitor stock age and freshness.
• Operations and reporting: Track primary and secondary sales by market and customer, monitor customer financial health, and deliver periodic performance reports and sales dashboards.
• Documentation and compliance: Ensure correct and complete export documentation and adherence to customs, food safety, labeling, halal, and health certification standards.
• Team leadership: Coach distributor sales and operations teams, enforce SOPs and policy discipline, and uplift execution quality across markets.
• Systems: Use sales tools, DMS, and Microsoft Office to plan, track, and report performance.

What you’ll need

• Education and experience: Bachelor’s degree and 10 to 15 years in a managerial role within FMCG or Dairy in GCC markets. Direct cold-chain logistics exposure is essential.
• Functional skills: Export regulations, documentation, channel management, and MEA market dynamics. Strong analytical, problem solving, communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
• Languages: English required. Tamil and Malayalam desired. Additional local languages are a plus.
• Work style: Collaborative, disciplined, data-driven, and willing to travel extensively.

Nice to have

• Proven launch or relaunch of an FMCG category in multiple MEA countries
• Familiarity with trade marketing calendars, promo ROI, and price-pack architecture
• Experience with distributor scorecards and route-to-market redesigns

What we offer

• Competitive salary with performance incentives
• Regional exposure, ownership of new market entries, and clear growth pathways
• A mission-driven team building a loved consumer brand across MEA.

Job Type: Full-time