Are you passionate about wine and looking for the opportunity to represent a highly respected, independent wine business?

Do you thrive on building long-term customer relationships, spotting commercial opportunities and taking ownership of your own territory?

Signature Career Management are partnered with a well-established, privately owned wine business with a strong reputation across the UK drinks industry. With an extensive portfolio and long-standing relationships across the trade, the business combines genuine wine expertise with a highly commercial and entrepreneurial approach to customer partnerships.

They’re now looking for a Regional Sales Account Manager to take ownership of a territory covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire and the wider Anglia region. The location is flexible for the right person, but ideally you'll be based within or close to the patch.

This is a particularly interesting opportunity as the role will bring together independent wine merchants and the On-Trade, giving you the chance to manage established customer relationships while also developing new commercial opportunities across the region.

You'll inherit a strong base of independent wine merchant customers, where the focus will be on building trusted relationships, protecting existing business and identifying opportunities for range development and growth. Alongside this, a key part of the role will be winning new On-Trade business, targeting groups, hospitality businesses, brewers and other regional customers.

With an extensive and flexible wine portfolio, you'll have the opportunity to recommend the right products and create commercially relevant solutions around each customer's individual needs, rather than simply taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

Key responsibilities:

• Manage and develop an established portfolio of independent wine merchant customers, building trusted, long-term relationships and identifying opportunities for growth
• Develop new On-Trade business across groups, hospitality businesses, brewers and other regional customers
• Use your wine knowledge and commercial understanding to recommend the right wines, ranges and solutions for each customer
• Deliver profitable growth through new listings, increased distribution, range extensions and new business
• Balance customer relationships with commercial objectives, understanding where to invest time and resource to maximise return
• Own and manage your territory, planning customer visits, tastings and activity effectively
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across Sales, Product, Marketing and Category to bring new ideas and opportunities to customers

This is a role for someone who really understands wine, but who also has the commercial ability to operate across different customer types. You'll need the credibility to hold your own with established independent wine merchants, alongside the confidence and drive to open doors and develop new On-Trade business.

You'll be joining a people-first, entrepreneurial and relationship-led business with a friendly, informal and knowledgeable culture. There is a genuine passion for wine throughout the organisation, alongside a strong focus on long-term customer relationships, quality and commercial success.

The ideal candidate:

• Will have previous field sales experience within wine – wine experience is essential
• Strong understanding of the wine industry, ideally with experience across independent wine merchants and/or the On-Trade
• Commercially minded, with an understanding of margin, profitability and where to focus time and resource
• A strong relationship builder who can develop trusted, long-term customer partnerships
• Comfortable with both account management and new business development
• Self-motivated, organised and confident managing their own territory independently
• A genuine passion for wine, with the credibility to engage knowledgeable customers and continue developing their category expertise

Sound like you? Please don't hesitate in applying – I'd love to hear from you!

To apply directly, please send a copy of your CV to bruce@signaturecm.co.uk or alternatively, click 'Apply'.

Whilst we will always endeavour to respond to you, due to the high levels of applications we receive, this isn’t always possible. If you are not contacted within 3 working days, unfortunately, you haven't been shortlisted for this role.

Please note Signature Career Management is acting as an employment agency.