Technical Sales Specialist - Food & Beverage

About your role

Looking for a role where you’re out on site, solving real problems, and building trusted relationships — not stuck behind a desk?

We’re hiring a Technical Sales Specialist to support a well-established portfolio, supporting a diverse range of Food & Beverage customers across the Manawatū, Whanganui, Hawkes Bay & Wellington regions — from red meat and dairy processors through to breweries and wineries.

You’ll spend most of your time on customer sites, working directly with operations, quality, technical, H&S and production teams to help them solve their problems, improve processes, enhance cleaning & hygiene outcomes and build trusted relationships.

This is not a purely technical role — success comes from being able to work with different people, adapt to different environments, and deliver practical solutions that customers rely on every day.

What’s on offer

• Competitive salary and bonus with a global, established organisation
• Autonomy – manage your own territory and customer relationships
• Variety – split your time between site visits, troubleshooting and account management
• Established customer base – you’re not starting from scratch
• In depth onboarding process to help you hit the ground running
• Ongoing learning and development opportunities, including study support
• Career growth through internal mobility, secondments and promotion pathways
• Flexible working options to support work-life balance
• Paid volunteering leave and a strong focus on diversity and inclusion

Key Responsibilities

• On-site engagement with customers, supporting cleaning, sanitation and chemical processes
• Troubleshooting plant issues, chemical application and improving performance
• Building strong relationships across operations, QA, H&S, inventory and production teams
• Delivering training, plant assessments and technical service programs
• Identifying opportunities to grow accounts and introduce new solutions
• Acting as the go-to expert and first point of call for your customers

Who are we looking for?

We’re open to different backgrounds, but you’ll likely bring:

• Experience in Food & Beverage environments (e.g. dairy, protein processing, beverage, food production)
• Strong understanding of food safety, hygiene and quality requirements in a food production environment.
• Proven ability to work directly with customers in a B2B or site-based environment
• Excellent communication skills — confident dealing with a wide range of personalities and understanding their specific needs.
• Practical problem-solving mindset — able to adapt in dynamic situations
• Self-motivated and driven to achieve business wins and positive outcomes.
• Comfortable working independently in a field-based role

Nice to have (not essential):

• Technical background in chemicals, sanitation or food processing
• Prior account management, sales experience or B2B customer role

This role covers the Manawatū, Whanganui, Hawkes Bay and Wellington regions.

To be successful, you’ll need to be based within the region or nearby (generally within ~1 hour) due to the regular on-site customer work. Preference is Palmerston North or surrounds as this is central to the territory.

About IXOM

IXOM plays a vital part in the lives of tens of millions of people every day. We’re the experts behind the scenes, helping industries, businesses, and local communities thrive.

Our products, services and solutions are used across many end markets, including dairy, agriculture, viticulture, electricity, steel, food and beverage, pulp and paper, mining and construction, and water treatment (just to name a few). 

To Apply

If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you!

Our Process

At IXOM we are committed to employing individuals who align with our values and meet the requirements of the role. As part of the recruitment process, there are a number of checks which may be conducted to demonstrate applicants’ suitability for a role including police / criminal background checks, medical, drug and alcohol testing, and reference checks.

Diverse candidates have diverse needs. During your recruitment journey, information will be provided about adjustment requests. If you require additional support before submitting your application, please contact our Talent Acquisition team.