Head of Pet Nutrition

A sustainable aquaculture company is seeking a Head of Pet Nutrition Japan. The selected candidate will lead business strategy, commercial development, customer pipeline management, negotiations, product portfolio strategy, innovation planning, and business performance management.

Responsibilities:

• Define and lead the Pet Nutrition business strategy, commercial priorities, customer targets, product priorities, and financial objectives for Japan
• Build and manage the business plan and commercial roadmap, including revenue, margin, volume, EBITDA, customer pipeline, and RAS monetisation assumptions
• Determine strategic priorities across White/Private Label, premium products, RAS-based products, wet formats, and potential proprietary brand development based on market potential, factory readiness, margin, customer access, and execution risk
• Build and manage the customer pipeline by identifying, approaching, qualifying, and prioritising customers and commercial partners across Japan and potentially selected export markets
• Develop account plans and build customer relationships in line with Japanese commercial norms, qualification cycles, and trust-based market entry
• Lead commercial negotiations covering pricing, volume commitments, contract terms, launch calendars, exclusivity, customer specifications, payment terms, and service levels
• Work with Finance, Operations, R&D, QA, Production, supply chain, and external partners to ensure commercial plans and product concepts are commercially attractive, technically feasible, and aligned with factory capability
• Own the Pet Nutrition product portfolio and innovation roadmap, defining target categories, segments, product priorities, positioning, claims, pricing logic, and channel fit
• Define and manage business KPIs covering revenue, margins, pipeline, customer conversion, production volumes, RAS utilisation, product launches, and customer concentration risk
• Identify performance gaps and recommend corrective actions to ensure commercial growth remains aligned with realistic industrial and financial assumptions

Requirements:

• More than 10 years of experience in pet food, pet nutrition, animal nutrition, or closely related food, consumer, or industrial categories
• Direct experience in pet food, pet nutrition, or animal nutrition
• Strong commercial and business development experience
• Proven ability to build a business, customer pipeline, commercial function, or new market from an early stage
• Proven ability to lead negotiations with customers, distributors, retailers, industrial partners, or strategic accounts
• Experience working with or alongside manufacturing, factory operations, technical teams, QA, R&D, supply chain, and Finance
• Strong understanding of how industrial capacity, MOQ, formulation complexity, QA, customer specifications, and production constraints affect commercial strategy
• Ability to manage business performance through revenue, margin, pipeline, customer conversion, and KPI tracking
• Ability to read, challenge, and use business cases, pricing models, margin analysis, and commercial forecasts
• Fluent level English

About the Company:

A sustainable aquaculture company specialising in land-based salmon farming, using innovative technology to produce high-quality salmon with a focus on environmental responsibility. Employees benefit from career growth, professional development and opportunities within an innovative and sustainability-focused workplace.

Keywords:

ペットフード, ペット栄養, 動物栄養, 事業開発, 事業戦略, 営業戦略, 顧客開拓, アカウントマネジメント, 商談, 価格交渉, 商品企画, 製品ポートフォリオ, 求人, 外資系

Job Ref: EL9WXW