Customer Business Manager Jobs

About Caravela

Caravela Coffee is a team of over 200 coffee professionals located in 11 different countries, with our own Producer Relationship Offices (PRO) in 7 Latin American countries and 4 Customer Relationship Offices (CRO) in Australia, North America, Taiwan and the UK. Our goal is 'To Make Coffee Better' for all of those involved, from the communities where coffee is grown to the coffee drinkers, based on five main principles: quality, transparency, traceability, education and sustainability.

What we do

Unlike most green coffee traders out there, we don't just buy and sell coffee for a living. We connect the most talented coffee growers and the most professional coffee roasters, developing true partnerships that lead to improved quality, profitability and sustainability for the entire coffee chain.

How we do it

We achieve this by working directly with close to 4 thousand small and medium sized coffee farmers in 7 Latin American countries, constantly providing them with education, technical assistance and access to the world's best coffee roasters around the World, paying premium prices for their best coffees. The results are a better coffee world, with growers and the communities where they live receiving increased incomes and a higher quality of life and coffee consumers drinking a better and more sustainable product.

Our model has been validated as a high impact model by BCorp since 2014, being the highest rated coffee BCorp in the World. We have been named a 'Best-For-the- World' company by BLabs for five years in a row.

The Opportunity

Our North American headquarters is based in Houston, TX, where we have a world class facility conveniently located close to our customers and our origin operations in Latin America. We are looking for two Customer Business Managers, one on the East Coast and the other for the South region to help us bring the best Latin American coffees to our North American customers.

About You

Reporting directly to the North American Managing Director, you will be an

important team member and sometimes the first point of contact for our new customers. First impressions count! You will be responsible for driving sales growth by providing comprehensive support to both existing and new customers.

Working together with the local quality and logistics team, you will ensure our customers are always receiving the best tasting and most consistent coffees from Latin America, without compromising quality and details.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Service

• Build and maintain customer relationships, including regular communication and occasional visits to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Monitoring and analyzing customer performance metrics to identify areas for improvement and growth.
• Have an active role in the curation and selection of coffees for our spot offerings.
• Interact with our Producer Relationship Offices (PRO) to develop new products and solutions for customers.
• Understand and communicate the entire product mix to transactional accounts.
• Work together with our IT team to improve the functionalities of our different E-commerce and Customer Centric systems.
• Assist new customers with their onboarding process and understanding that coffees they might need.

Green Coffee Sales

• Develop and execute sales strategies to meet margin and revenue targets, including identifying new business opportunities and negotiating contracts.
• Collaborate with internal teams such as logistics, quality control, and PRO to ensure smooth operations and customer satisfaction.
• Generate opportunities and/or appointments and by means of proactive outbound prospecting and lead activity management to qualify and market our coffee to potential customers.
• Conduct market research to stay up-to-date with industry trends, pricing, and competitors.
• Develop working relationships with coffee buying teams of customers, identifying customer profiles and preferences and communicating them clearly to our QA and origin teams when needed.

Marketing

• Work directly with marketing to discover opportunities from leads and set opportunities or appointments from those leads.
• In collaboration with the Marketing team, develop marketing and promotional materials to support sales efforts.
• Represent Caravela in quality-driven industry events in your location, such as CoE Competitions.
• Work closely with all sales functions, attend sales meetings, occasional training, and host at local trade shows.

Experience, Qualifications, Qualities

• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to build strong customer relationships.
• Good knowledge of coffee grading, cupping, and quality control.
• Passion for high-quality coffee and sales
• Ability to manage time effectively, work independently and be self- motivated.
• Very detail-oriented, meticulous and highly analytical.
• Eager to learn.
• A team player.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office and cloud-based equivalents (e.g. Google Docs) as well as CRM systems
• Ideally 3–5 years’ experience in an equivalent position, preferably in a B2B industry.

Preferred

• Certification in coffee cupping, Q Grader, or related certification is a plus.
• A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field of studies is desirable.
• Spanish proficiency (reading, writing, speaking) is highly desirable.
• Data analytics experience, including using Business Intelligence systems such as Tableau or Power BI is desirable.

Benefits

• 401k, after six months from initial employment
• Paid Time Off: 20 days per year
• We offer competitive compensation based on experience.
• Maternity and Paternity pay for eligible employees.
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employees may perform other related duties to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

Caravela is committed to being an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based on a person's race, color, religion, age, veteran status, disability, national origin, medical condition including pregnancy, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other legally protected status.

Please submit a resume and cover letter indicating why you would be the best person for this role to [email protected].

IMPORTANT NOTE: Only applications of candidates eligible to work in the USA will be considered. This role is not eligible for VISA sponsorship.