About Kerry
Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.
About the role
We are hiring a Senior Account Manager to help grow our UK & Ireland alcohol beverage business, partnering with distilleries, breweries, and leading brands. Based in Naas, County Kildare and reporting to the Sales Director, you will drive both new customer acquisition and existing account growth, representing Kerry's portfolio of yeast, brewing ingredients, flavours, and functional technologies.
This role combines commercial ownership, technical engagement, and customer relationship-building, working closely with R&D, Applications, and commercial teams to deliver solutions that help customers innovate and scale successful products. You will play a key role in shaping the alcohol channel strategy, identifying opportunities, and delivering profitable growth in a fast‑moving category.
If you enjoy building business from the ground up, influencing customers, and working at the intersection of technical insight and commercial delivery, this role offers a high‑impact opportunity within a growing, dynamic market.
Key responsibilitiesGrow and protect existing business — deepen relationships across technical and commercial stakeholders, proactively defend core volumes, identify growth pathways, and deliver best‑in‑class customer experience. Provide technical & application expertise — act as subject‑matter expert for yeast, brewing ingredients, flavour and alcohol applications; support customer trials, scale‑ups, troubleshooting, and portfolio optimisation in collaboration with application teams and on-site customer contacts. Deliver commercial excellence — lead pricing and negotiation with support from Commercial Finance, manage contracts and forecasting accuracy, monitor KPIs, and ensure strong commercial and analytical discipline. Drive insight‑led customer and channel strategy — contribute to account planning through market insights, consumer trends, competitive intelligence, customer mapping, and oversight of the alcohol beverage landscape. Collaborate cross‑functionally and represent Kerry externally — work closely with internal R&D, BD, Regulatory, Marketing, and regional teams; support distributor training; and represent Kerry professionally at customer meetings, tradeshows, and industry events.
Qualifications and skillsProven commercial acumen with experience in consultative or technical sales, including negotiation, analytics, and value‑based selling. Strong background selling distilling yeast, brewing ingredients or flavours within the alcohol or beverage industry (highly preferred). Credible relationship‑builder able to influence technical and commercial stakeholders internally and externally. Solutions‑focused with a commitment to delivering best‑in‑class customer experience. Excellent communication, interpersonal and active‑listening skills, with the ability to simplify technical topics for different audiences. Strong time‑management and organisational capability; able to prioritise effectively across multiple opportunities. High emotional intelligence, curiosity, adaptability and a positive, persuasive style. Willingness to travel regularly to customer sites, distilleries, breweries, distributors and key industry events. Passion for the food and beverage industry and helping customers create products consumers love at scale.
Why join us?
In Kerry we benefit from the knowledge of our colleagues who bring a diverse range of cultures, backgrounds, lifestyles, and experiences. One team fostering an inclusive culture that, above all, inspires food and nourishes life. One culture where everyone brings their unique perspectives and experiences to help make us better, together. We are committed to nurturing an environment of positivity and inclusiveness, where everyone can be at their best, both personally and professionally.Our recruitment, selection and assessment process are based on the skills and competencies of the specific roles and based entirely on merit. We are committed to and value Diversity and Inclusion in all recruitment processes within Kerry and do not discriminate based on gender, race, class, economic status, ethnic background, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, veteran status, marital status or any other protected characteristic.
Beware of scams online or from individuals claiming to represent us. A Kerry employee will not solicit candidates through a non-Kerry email address or phone number. In addition, Kerry does not currently utilise video chat rooms (e.g., Google Hangouts) to conduct interviews. Refuse any request that asks you to provide payment to participate in the hiring process (e.g., purchasing a "starter kit," investing in training, or something similar). Kerry will not ask you to pay any money at any point in the hiring process with the exception of reimbursable travel expenses. In addition, any payments made by Kerry will be from official firm accounts bearing the Kerry name.Please note We do not accept CVs or candidate profiles from recruitment agencies where Kerry terms of business have not been signed. Additionally, we will not consider or agree to payment of any recruiter fee under these circumstances. This also applies to CVs or candidate profiles sent directly to any Kerry Hiring Managers.