Commercial Manager, Oils (Sales & Marketing Lead)

Position: Commercial Manager, Oils (Sales & Marketing Lead)

Location: Ghislenghien, Belgium with regular travels to customers, conferences and trade shows 

Reports to: CEO

Type: Permanent Contract with the option to have a hybrid-model - presence in the Belgium office and home office 

1) Company & Role Context:  

Founded in 2015, Fairoils ( is a young and dynamic company that has experienced extensive and sustained growth. Fairoils is a leader in ethically produced essential and vegetable oils, processing raw materials grown on its own plantations and through partnerships with small-scale farming co-operatives.  

Fairoils supplies ingredients to and is partnered with many internationally recognized brands who value Fairoils’ sustainable, transparent, and ethical supply chains. Many of our products are sourced via a network of over 10,000 small-scale farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar.

Fairoils has sister companies in Kenya and Madagascar with farms, factories, offices and colleagues spread out across the wider group. For further information on our activity please feel free to visit

We are offering a full-time position which will preferably work from our office located in Avenue de l’innovation 5, 7822 Ghislenghien, Belgium but we are open to consider remote working constellations.  

This is a critical, hands-on leadership role, designed to replace and expand upon the functions previously held by the Sales Manager. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and executing our commercial strategy across sales, marketing, and team development

2) Key Responsibilities:  

The Commercial Manager will be accountable for three primary areas:

A. Strategic Sales & Business Development (70%)

• Sales Strategy & Execution: Define and implement the global and regional sales strategy for our essential and vegetable oil portfolio, aligning with production forecasts and operational capacity.
• Key Account Management (KAM): Maintain, deepen, and grow relationships with major international and domestic B2B buyers (F&F, Cosmetics, Food Service).
• Market Intelligence: Monitor commodity markets, competitor activity, and regulatory changes (e.g., EU-MRLs, US-FDA) impacting the oils sector to identify new revenue streams.
• Pricing & Contract Negotiation: Oversee all commercial contracts and pricing structures to optimize profitability.
• Forecasting & S&OP Coordination: Drive accurate sales forecasts and work closely with Operations and Finance to integrate commercial needs into the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process, ensuring optimal resource allocation and inventory management.

B. Marketing & Brand Coordination (20%)

• Agency Management: Act as the primary point of contact and lead coordinator for our external marketing agency, ensuring all campaigns, content, trade show participation, and digital activities are brand-aligned and sales-enabling.
• Marketing Strategy Alignment: Manage the marketing budget and guide the agency to develop materials that effectively communicate our key differentiators: ethical sourcing, sustainable production, and Kenyan origin/quality.
• Brand Messaging: Ensure consistent and compelling brand messaging across all commercial touchpoints.

C. Team Leadership & Operations (10%)

• Team Leadership: Serve as the team leader, managing the performance, development, and motivation of the Sales Manager and the Sales Administration Officer.
• Process Optimization: Establish, streamline, and enforce commercial processes, including CRM adoption, order-to-cash cycles, and documentation standards, to improve efficiency and data quality.
• Cross-Functional Liaison: Represent the Commercial function in executive meetings and serve as the voice of the customer to the production, finance, and agricultural teams.

3) Candidate Profile & Qualification:  

This role requires a unique blend of industry expertise, commercial acumen, and operational discipline.

Essential Experience & Skills:

• Commercial Leadership: 5+ years of progressive experience in B2B sales/commercial management. Ideally at least 2 years experience in a leadership role managing a small team.
• Industry Deep Dive: Proven track record selling Essential Oils, Vegetable Oils, Oleochemicals, or related high-value agricultural commodities (e.g. spices, extracts).
• Contract Negotiation: Superior negotiation skills with experience drafting and executing complex international supply agreements. 
• Strong communicator: Fluent in French and English to assure an efficient exchange with colleagues and customers.  
• Systems Proficiency: Experience with ERP & CRM systems (e.g. SAGE & efficy) and an understanding of how to leverage business intelligence for commercial decisions.

Required Education:

• A Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Master of Engineering, Supply Chain, Business, Marketing) is highly desirable, reflecting the strategic and operational depth of the role.
• Very good English and French skills in speaking and writing.

4) The Offer & Application:

Fairoils offers: 

• Great working atmosphere in an international team.
• Attractive performance based salary package. 
• A hybrid model with physical presence in the office and home office days is possible.
• Felixbel working hours.
• Full time permanent employment contract after a six month probationary period.  

To apply, please submit your CV and a cover letter detailing your specific experience in the oils/agri-processing sector, your strategy for achieving commercial success and your salary expectations to info@fairoils.com by January 31st.