Business Development Manager, Personal Care Specialty Ingredients (APAC)

About the role

The Business Development Manager drives market activation for the company's specialty innovation portfolio across China, Korea and Japan, with a particular focus on the beauty segment. The role owns the front end of the funnel: identifying and qualifying new opportunities, building multi-contact relationships with beauty brand owners and ODM partners, and handing qualified opportunities to Account Managers with clear records. It is a permanent position, preferably based in Korea, with no direct reports and about 75%+ travel.

Key responsibilities

• Generate and qualify targets aligned with territory and segment strategy to deliver future growth.
• Drive market activation across China, Korea and Japan, building relationships with beauty brand owners and ODMs beyond procurement, reaching R&D, Marketing, Operations and Senior Leadership.
• Understand customers' unmet needs and buying processes, and challenge them to consider new ways of winning.
• Present and test value propositions that turn ingredient benefits into formulation performance and product claims.
• Steward customer evaluation, including product testing, with Strategic Marketing, Application Development, Technical Services, Sales and Product Management.
• Maintain disciplined front-end funnel and opportunity management in Salesforce, with accurate records and smooth handoffs to Account Managers.
• Work with channel partners and distributors through joint business planning, sales and technical enablement and targeted promotion.
• Plan and host industry and customer events to build relationships and generate project opportunities.
• Capture market insights, trends and unmet customer needs to feed the multigenerational innovation pipeline.

Required profile

• Several years in business development or a similar external customer-facing role in a multinational company, with advanced sales experience and a track record of moving new ingredients or offers from introduction to adoption.
• Demonstrated understanding of the beauty segment, including how brand owners and ODMs develop products and trends across skin care, colour cosmetics, sun care and hair care.
• Bachelor's degree in Business and/or Chemical Engineering or a related field; Master's or PhD preferred.
• Fluent English and Korean, spoken and written; business-level Chinese and/or Japanese preferred.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, ownership, resilience and willingness to travel 75%+ and work with a remote headquarters.

Required skills

• Strong technical and market strategy, discovery, communication and negotiation skills.
• Ability to mobilise cross-functional resources such as R&D and technical sales teams without direct authority.
• Working experience with Salesforce CRM and structured opportunity management.