Livestock Specialist, Beef – South Dakota

Position Summary 

The Livestock Specialist will use a deep ruminant nutrition background and current understanding of commercial cattle production to win beef feed sales in a competitive environment. This position requires high technical competency combined with a proven approach to winning large accounts through diet formulation and optimization, service, and problem-solving, ultimately resulting in ROI improvement in FBN Members’ operations.

The Specialist will dedicate a significant portion of their time to training, mentoring, activating, and supporting the sales team to competently service and win beef feed accounts directly.

Responsibilities 

• Execute a Farmers First℠ sales process – win producer trust and loyalty through competence and ability to provide a better and differentiated holistic nutrition solution
• Define and lead the direct feed sales process to medium and large accounts, including as the primary relationship manager on a subset of accounts
• Execute your proven sales playbook for overcoming objections, and assist the sales team in developing and executing their own
• Provide technical nutrition, production, and management support to field and inside sales teams
• Oversee and support livestock sales specialists as they formulate beef and dairy diets
• Work closely with the Livestock Technical Services Team (Nutritionists and Vets) to provide whole-farm solutions to beef operators
• Contribute to the development of FBN’s feed product lines across multiple categories, species, and stages of production
• Collaborate with marketing to generate producer-facing and salesperson-facing content on our feed products and offerings
• Remain abreast of trends, practices and technology used by US farmers and ranchers
• Build relationships and influence within key trade channels including: veterinarians, nutritionists, dealers, community builders, extension and university personnel.
• Use Salesforce, NetSuite, and other SaaS tools to manage, prioritize, and document all interactions and sales processes with farmers
• Contribute to broader strategic ideation and planning centered around solving the “hard problems” in livestock production; specifically how technology, data, and the power of the FBN Network can be harnessed for the benefit of livestock producers

Qualifications 

Formal Education or Equivalent 

• Masters in Ruminant Nutrition or equivalent; PhD preferred

Years of Experience 

• Minimum 5, but preferred10 years of experience in the ruminant feeding industry in a technical / commercial role

Characteristics 

• Passionate about livestock and farming; a desire to put Farmers First by solving the big, hard problems in modern livestock production
• Deep Beef industry domain knowledge and expertise. Knowledge of Dairy industry is preferred. Knowledge of Swine industry a plus
• Competency and desire to be a trainer / teacher
• A willingness to work in a fast-paced work environment
• Willingness to travel ~70% of the time
• Practical capabilities to observe / collect empirical evidence on-farm and turn it into actionable decisions
• Ability to quickly establish relationships of trust with producers, including over the phone
• Knowledge of animal health and veterinary protocols and products a plus
• Proven ability to excel in a self-guided, independent work environment
• Comfortable using and explaining technology products/services

The following represents FBN’s reasonable estimate of the US national average base salary range of possible compensation for this role based on market data and placement of internal employees: $73,000 – $105,000. 

This salary range may vary based on geography and variations in cost of labor. Beyond the above or adjusted to market salary range, FBN also offers all full-time employees competitive equity compensation, health and wellness benefits, and various perks.