Business Development Manager (Personal Care)

Background:

Melt&Marble’s mission is to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable products across different industries. We harness precision fermentation to create the next generation of sustainable designer fats, tailored for applications ranging from delicious, climate-friendly foods to high-performance personal care products.

We are growing our personal care commercial team and are looking for a Business Development Manager (personal care) to help turn early market traction into a growing, repeatable business. Reporting to the Head of Business Development & Sales – Personal Care, you will combine hands-on business development with distributor and channel management, making sure brands, formulators, and our distribution partners have everything they need to adopt our ingredients successfully.

Position summary:

The Business Development Manager will be a key day-to-day contact for Melt&Marble’s personal care customers and distribution partners. You will:

• Build and convert a pipeline of new business with personal care brands, contract manufacturers, and formulation houses.

• Manage and grow Melt&Marble’s relationships with personal care ingredient distributors, helping them sell our ingredients effectively in their markets.

• Coordinate samples, trials, and documentation between customers, distributors, and Melt&Marble’s R&D, regulatory, and operations teams.

This is a hands-on, customer-facing role ideal for someone with experience in business development, account management, and distributor management in the personal care or cosmetic ingredients sector, who wants to grow with a fast-scaling company. While the focus is personal care, the role offers the flexibility to contribute to our food business as priorities evolve.

Occasionally, some activities may require working outside of standard working hours. The position will require occasional travel within Sweden and abroad.

Key Responsibilities:

Business development & pipeline management

• Identify, qualify, and develop new opportunities with personal care brands (from multinationals to innovative indie brands), contract manufacturers, and formulation houses, in line with the personal care commercial strategy.

• Own a defined portfolio of accounts and/or territories, managing opportunities from first contact through sampling, evaluation, and commercial agreement.

• Prepare proposals, quotations, and commercial documentation, support negotiations, and maintain accurate CRM records, pipeline forecasts, and sales reporting.

Distributor & channel management

• Manage and grow relationships with distribution partners, including onboarding, training, joint account planning, business reviews, and performance tracking against agreed targets.

• Enable distributor sales and technical teams with the necessary product knowledge, samples, technical and regulatory documentation, and marketing materials.

• Support the identification and onboarding of new distribution partners and coordinate forecasts, orders, and sample logistics with distributors and internal teams.

Customer support & market insight

• Coordinate sample requests, formulation trials, and follow-ups with customers and distributors, working closely with R&D and application teams.

• Ensure customers and partners have timely access to product and regulatory documentation (e.g., TDS, SDS, INCI, REACH, natural origin information), in collaboration with the regulatory team.

• Collect and share customer feedback, market trends, and competitive intelligence to support product development, positioning, and commercial decision-making.

Market presence & cross-functional collaboration

• Represent Melt&Marble at industry events, conferences, and trade shows, and support distributor-led customer events.

• Collaborate with marketing, R&D, regulatory, operations, and commercial teams to support sales initiatives, develop market-facing materials, and align business activities.

• As business needs evolve, contribute to business development activities across Melt&Marble's broader ingredient portfolio, leveraging commercial and channel-management expertise across sectors.

Required qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in chemistry, cosmetic science, chemical engineering, life sciences, business, or a related field.

• Minimum 4 years of experience in business development, sales, or account management in the personal care/cosmetic ingredients industry (supplier or distributor side).

• Hands-on experience managing distributor or channel partner relationships.

• Proven track record of building a pipeline and closing B2B deals, with strong CRM and pipeline discipline.

• Good understanding of the role of different ingredients in cosmetic formulations.

• Excellent communication skills in English

• Willingness to travel regularly within Europe and internationally.

• Entrepreneurial mindset with ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced startup.

• Passion for sustainability, innovation, and shaping the future of beauty.

Bonus points:

• Experience working at, or closely with, a specialty ingredient distributor.

• Technical understanding of fats, oils, emollients, or other functional ingredients in formulations.

• Exposure to food ingredients, or experience selling ingredients across both food and personal care markets.

• Experience launching a novel or new-to-market ingredient.

• Familiarity with cosmetics regulatory requirements and documentation (e.g., EU Cosmetics Regulation, REACH, INCI listings, ISO 16128).

We offer:

• A mission-driven, collaborative environment where your work directly contributes to global sustainability and innovation in personal care.

• A high-growth startup culture that values initiative, creativity, and impact.

• The opportunity to help build Melt&Marble’s personal care business from an early stage, with a clear path for career development as it grows.

• Competitive remuneration, generous vacation package, and other benefits

Location: Gothenburg, Sweden.

Reports to: Head of Business Development & Sales – Personal Care

Application procedure:

Applications should contain the following:

• Cover letter- tell us about your ambitions and why you’re a great fit for Melt&Marble and this particular position (300 words max!)

• CV outlining your experience, educational background and key skills, including contact information of 2 current/former supervisors and 1 current/former colleague

Please submit all application materials in English.

Application deadline: October 20th. Please note that we evaluate applications as they are received and may close the position ahead of the deadline if we find a suitable applicant, so please apply early!

If you have any questions about the position, feel free to contact us at [email protected]