Strategic Account Executive

Copeland seeks an experienced Strategic Account Executive - Latin America (LATAM) to join the Cooper-Atkins Food Safety team. This position is responsible for growing and managing Cooper-Atkins food safety business across Latin American markets, with country responsibilities determined by Copeland's commercial strategy, with a primary focus on Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chains, restaurant groups, foodservice operators, dealers, and strategic channel partners. This position will require a successful candidate to open new markets.

The SAE will have two primary objectives:

·         Protect, manage, and expand established Cooper-Atkins QSR and foodservice accounts.

·         Develop new strategic accounts and distribution opportunities that increase Cooper-Atkins market penetration throughout Latin America (LATAM).

The position will represent the Cooper-Atkins food safety product portfolio, including temperature measurement, monitoring, HACCP, and related food safety solutions, and may support additional Copeland monitoring technologies where appropriate.

Key Responsibilities

1. Sales Growth & Territory Management

·         Achieve or exceed annual sales, margin, and growth objectives for the assigned LATAM territory.

·         Develop and execute a strategic territory sales plan by country, account, and channel.

·         Identify high-potential markets, QSR chains, restaurant groups, distributors, dealers, and other foodservice opportunities.

·         Build a qualified sales pipeline capable of delivering consistent year-over-year growth.

·         Prioritize resources toward accounts and countries offering the highest revenue and strategic growth potential.

2. Strategic QSR Account Management

·         Manage and grow relationships with established QSR chains and major foodservice operators.

·         Develop relationships across multiple levels of customer organizations, including operations, food safety, quality assurance, procurement, supply chain, engineering, and executive management.

·         Conduct strategic account reviews and identify opportunities to expand Cooper-Atkins products across additional locations, markets, applications, and operating platforms.

·         Understand each customer's food safety requirements, operational challenges, and business objectives.

·         Position Cooper-Atkins solutions around measurable customer needs, including food safety, temperature compliance, operational consistency, productivity, and risk reduction.

·         Support regional implementation of global or multinational QSR account programs.

3. New Business Development

·         Proactively identify and develop new QSR, restaurant, foodservice, convenience, and institutional food accounts throughout the territory.

·         Build relationships with prospective customers and convert qualified opportunities into sustainable revenue.

·         Identify competitive conversions and product-standardization opportunities.

·         Develop opportunities for pilot programs, product evaluations, operational trials, and multi-location rollouts.

·         Build relationships with emerging regional QSR chains and other high-growth foodservice operators before they reach national or multinational scale.

·         Follow through the sales cycle.

Key Competencies

·         Customer Focus

·         Relationship Management

·         Commercial Acumen

·         Negotiation Skills

·         Pipeline Management

·         Effective Communication

·         Accountability and Results Orientation

·         Cross-Cultural Business Skills

·         Independent Decision-Making

·         Action-Oriented Execution

Job Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, engineering, food science, hospitality, or related discipline, or equivalent professional experience. 5+ years of B2B sales or strategic account-management experience, with increasing levels of responsibility. Fluency in English and Spanish required; Portuguese proficiency is strongly preferred. Ability and willingness to travel extensively approximately 70% of the time throughout the assigned LATAM territory.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience selling into the foodservice, QSR, restaurant, food safety, hospitality, food equipment, or related industries

strongly preferred. Demonstrated experience managing large multi-location customers or strategic accounts.

Experience developing new accounts and building a territory or market. Knowledge of foodservice distribution and

dealer/channel structures. Ability to operate independently across multiple countries and cultures.

The position will focus on Latin American markets, including Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, with specific country responsibilities determined by Copeland's commercial strategy.