Key Account Manager - Japan and Korea

Job Title: Key Account Manager - Japan and Korea

Department: Sales

Classification: Exempt / Salary

Reports to: Senior Sales Manager - APAC

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Job Qualifications:

1. Bachelor’s degree or five years of professional experience in sales, administration, or management.
2. Brewing experience and /or direct beer industry professional background.
3. Experience in sales with a proven track record managing and growing revenue and profitability whilst maintaining accuracy and professionalism
4. Strong business acumen and excellent written and oral communication skills, with a major focus on delivering high-standard customer service.
5. Must have contract management and contract terms negotiation experience.
6. Possess experience and skills needed to professionally present complex and technical information to diverse audiences in many different settings and formats.
7. Highly independent and organized, also able to work closely with an international team
8. Must have extensive knowledge of the entire supply chain involved with hop products.
9. Familiarity with hop processing and storage requirements for plant equipment, operation, delivery and the SOPs involved.
10. Possess a strong work ethic to positively contribute to the company’s mission, vision, values, environmental policy and quality policy.
11. Fluent in Japanese and English. Korean a plus

Job Summary:

The Key Account Manager – Japan & Korea is responsible for managing and developing strategic customer relationships in the territory assigned by the Senior Sales Manager - APAC. In addition to Key Account Management, this candidate will be responsible for the day-to-day management of our distribution partners and building relationships with craft breweries within the territory.

This candidate will work collaboratively with, and under the tactical direction of, the Regional Sales Manager – Pacific & Japan, as it pertains to Japanese macro customers (Asahi, Kirin, Suntory, Sapporo & Orion).

The Global Sales Director – Distributors will provide strategic direction and the operating framework for our distributor Go-To-Market strategy; however, this position is fully responsible for service levels, revenue growth, and technical support for our Japanese & Korean distributors.

The candidate must be comfortable with and successful in working within a matrix reporting structure, as these Key Accounts overlap with several stakeholders within Yakima Chief Hops & Yakima Chief Ranches.

The Key Account Manager is expected to travel extensively, building strong in-market relationships, and contribute actively to the growth of Yakima Chief Hops in Japan & Korea.

Job Duties:

1. Fully support orders and contracting for Key Account & Distributor customers
2. Generate leads, prepare quotations, undertake product demonstrations and follow up on enquiries
3. Ensure all import documents meet Japanese or Korean standards
4. Ensure bespoke requests from Key Accounts are handled with care and in collaboration with our Operations and Planning teams.
5. Ability and motivation to travel extensively throughout the region to build relationships with new and existing brewery customers.
6. Perform administrative duties, such as use of CRM
7. Work directly with customers to explore forward contracting options, volume discounts and formulate multi-year hop contracts.
8. Provide regular reports on activities and sales projections
9. Address special requests and respond to contract and spot order inquiries in a prompt and professional manner.
10. Ensure a high level of customer service is consistently provided to Key Accounts & Distributors
11. Maintain sanitary and safe work environment and follow safety requirements.
12. May actively participate on company’s Safety Committee.
13. Ensure that company safety policies as well as federal, state and local safety and environmental regulations are observed.
14. Must have a complete understanding of company’s policies, SOPs, QPs, EPs, HACCP and cGMP that pertain to their department to ensure quality, safety, efficiency and sustainability.
15. Must adhere to all company policies.
16. Examine documents, materials, and products and monitor work processes to assess completeness, accuracy and conformance to standards and specifications.
17. Follow all SOPs in a given area.
18. Perform all other duties as assigned by Manager and/or designee.