Business Development Lead

Business Development Lead Voyage Foods – Remote, Hybrid, In-Person – Full-time About Voyage Foods Voyage Foods is decoupling the world's favorite foods from their traditional source material. Our portfolio spans cocoa-free chocolate, bean-free coffee, and allergen-free nut spreads, delivering the taste and functionality of the originals while insulating customers from commodity price volatility and dramatically reducing environmental footprint. We manufacture at scale in our 300,000 sq ft Ohio facility and export globally today. We sell B2B to some of the largest food companies in the world. The Role We are hiring a Business Development Lead to own new customer acquisition across our product portfolio in the mid‑market. This is a hunting role. Your job is to build pipeline, run accounts end to end, and convert prospects into producing accounts focusing on CPG manufacturers, contract manufacturers, and regional brands. This is a zero‑to‑one commercial environment. You will not inherit a playbook, a mature CRM, or a warm territory. You will help build them. What You'll Do Pipeline generation Build and own a qualified pipeline of prospects across CPG, specifically snacking, beverage, and private label Run structured outbound prospecting: account mapping, decision‑maker identification, cold outreach, trade show and event coverage Selling a new category Lead prospects through category‑creation selling: educating R&D, procurement, and brand teams on the value proposition of our products, how they perform, and where they fit in their portfolio Manage sampling, spec alignment, and bench‑to‑pilot progression with customer R&D teams Deal execution Own the full deal cycle from first meeting through fulfillment Coordinate with distribution partners on fulfillment, logistics, and account handoff mechanics Commercial infrastructure Maintain rigorous pipeline hygiene: stages, touchpoints, forecasting, and win/loss learnings Feed market intelligence back to R&D and leadership: competitive moves, pricing signals, application gaps Who You Are 5 to 8 years of B2B sales or business development experience in food ingredient sales Background selling novel or innovative ingredients (for example, stevia, sugar reduction, or other new‑to‑market ingredients) or compound chocolate and coatings Experience in food required; confectionery or bakery strongly preferred Proven track record sourcing and closing new business, not just managing inherited accounts Comfortable selling a technical product to R&D, procurement, and commercial stakeholders simultaneously Fluent in ingredient sales mechanics: specs, sampling, trials, co‑manufacturing, MOQs, indexed pricing Self‑directed and resourceful; you build your own target lists, materials, and processes when they do not exist Why This Role Commodity prices across cocoa and coffee have hit historic highs and the world's biggest food companies are actively looking for structural alternatives. You will be selling products with a genuine tailwind, a real cost and sustainability story, and manufacturing capacity ready to scale behind them. #J-18808-Ljbffr