Terranova Seeds is a specialist vegetable seeds company. Established for over 22 years they supply local commercial growers with a broad range of vegetable varieties and technical advice while exporting selected products to a range of countries including USA, China, PNG, The Pacific Islands with additional customers in Europe, Africa, and Central America.
Partnering with leading international breeding companies as their key suppliers has enabled them to grow consistently over the years into being a market leader. With specialised technical staff and world-class seed production facilities, they provide the highest quality seed offering to their customers that are trialled under local conditions to ensure reliability and exceptional customer service.
With an exceptional reputation for service and pride, they maintain extremely high client retention and continue to grow in New Zealand, within the ANZ region and globally.
The Role
Reporting to the Country Manager – New Zealand, and due to a pending retirement, the Product Development Manager is responsible for the ongoing development of new products across New Zealand while maintaining robust forecasting and supplier relationships for existing commercial lines. You will do this by taking a lead role in supplier trials, overseeing product development as required while being highly connected to the end user, suppliers and client base in the supply of specific vegetable seed products. Focusing on crops such as onions, sweetcorn, tomato, pumpkin, squash, capsicum, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, cucumber to name a few.
The Product Development Manager is pivotal to delivering the desired products to an established and loyal client base while preserving exceptional delivery standards. You will oversee ongoing trialling, development and launch of new vegetable varieties while also working closely with the sales team and suppliers to forecast supply and inventory needs.
The Person
To be successful in this role you will ideally have:
- technical experience in the vegetable seed industry and a sound knowledge of agronomy
- direct experience in running ongoing annual trial programs
- strong report writing skills with accuracy/attention to detail supported by exceptional written and verbal communication skills
- experienced people leader
- a natural ability and experience to listen and work positively with clients, suppliers, and growers
- relevant tertiary qualifications
- the ability to undertake local and international travel
This is a great opportunity to join an agile company which delivers tailored and ethical service delivery to its clients. A place where you have the flexibility to make decisions and lead by example.
For a confidential conversation please call David Jackson on on +61 1300 380 701 or apply with a brief cover letter addressing the advertisement criteria and an updated resume.
