Indigo is working to harness nature to sustainably feed the planet.  We have discovered a transformational opportunity to improve global crop yield and reduce the use of agricultural chemicals and fertilizers by utilizing the core microbiome inside plants to confer material yield and crop protection benefits across a variety of crops, geographies and stresses.  The challenge and opportunity for Indigo is to gain critical first mover advantages by scaling quickly and effectively (~$1B 2020 revenue.)

The Marketplace Commercial Development Manager will evaluate, develop, and execute high value strategic initiatives and processes to support Indigo’s Marketplace teams and leadership.  Indigo is looking for a strong professional with process improvement and change management experience to align the Grain Marketing Advisory partnership and Direct to Grower initiatives more closely. This role will identify and outline clear, measurable projects to improve Marketplace processes and/or performance. This will include cross functional collaboration to drive improved business outcomes particularly related to sales, origination, training, grain accounting, settlement, and customer service, as well as drive noticeable improvements to the E2E (Exchange to Exchange) transaction experience.

Responsibilities:

• Develop in-depth knowledge of Indigo's Grain Marketplace Value Proposition for all audiences. 
  • Establish full grasp of all Marketplace customer channels and cross-functional team dynamics. 
  • Understands customer journeys and cross-functional ownership in the process.
• Identify opportunities for Marketplace Improvements to processes, performance or customer experience.
• Establish collaborative working relationship with other key stakeholders in the development of Marketplace.
• Execute full training and understanding of pricing products, data products, their context in the market, associated risk/reward and contract structures.
• Outline clear and measurable projects to improve marketplace processes and/or performance.
• Cross Functional collaboration to drive improved business outcomes particularly related to grain accounting, settlement, customer service, etc.
• Identify systems and process limitations in setting clear expectations with customers proactively in the software and in the sales process.
• Support Regional Merchandising Directors in process development related needs. Help create solutions and identify processes and path forward to deliver on those solutions.
• Lead Activity work streams associated with deliverables for Pragmatic Framework Activities assigned to the team.
• Collaborate with Grain Marketing Enablement Managers to develop resources and training associated with marketplace needs
• Understand Marketplace software product roadmap and how it will impact the sales team roles, go to market strategy, financial impact, and other channels outside of commercial (eg software/app acquisition channel).
• Establish framework for coordinating and identifying key functional partners for more efficient identification, creation, and launch of strategic opportunities
• Drive noticeable improvements to the E2E transaction experience, via collaboration with sales and operations stakeholders to remove barriers to success
• Develops and deploys strategies to align the GMA and DTG initiatives more closely
• Leveraging regional expertise and domain knowledge of the business to elevate information to Marketplace Global Offering Team.
• Deliver field reports / insights from field to product marketing and management teams to inform ongoing activities
• Launch support for new MP products and services between the Marketplace Offering and Commercial Team.
• Lead problem solving for broken transactions that need elevated when Regional Merchandising Directors, Fulfillment or Settlement need additional support.
• Become familiar with competitive intelligence overview of respective Offering market
• Own the North America Marketplace customer journey, including needs and desired future state identification, and prioritization of key jobs-to-be-done
• Understands and embodies our mission & core values
  • Excited by Indigo’s mission; believes that Indigo can fundamentally change the agriculture industry; can clearly articulate passion for our mission and values
  • Optimistic and innovative; solution-oriented; shows no signs of cynicism
  • Will be widely viewed as someone who personifies our core values, is committed to them, and leans on them when making decisions. Specifically:
    • Demonstrates a track record of high integrity - doing the right thing, owning mistakes, conducting oneself honestly
    • Values, communicates and interacts with others with high levels of transparency and respect
    • Collaborates well across functions; creates an inspiring and collegial work environment

Competencies:

• Understands the nuances of transacting grain from both the buyer and grower side, risk management for all parties including indigo and can troubleshoot customer issues and devise solutions.
• Can convey complex concepts in a clear, simplified and concise manner
• Creative thinker: See’s how things could be not just how they have always been done
• Adept at identifying business pain and providing business insights,
• Possess strong communication skills to overcome substantial objections from customers
• Able to troubleshoot Buyer/Grower issues and develop workarounds to obstacles. Experience with training and enablement preferred.
• Able to work with uncertainty and with limited or incomplete data
• Able to work with scarce internal resources and a dynamic offering
• Proven experience working across internal teams to ‘sell’ them on process improvements. A collaborative spirit and approach.
• Strong written and verbal communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills. Solutions oriented.
• Strong customer empathy with demonstrated customer-centric focus partnered with the ability to prioritize and articulate tradeoffs.

Qualifications:

• 7-10 Years professional experience - would trade more experience in place of a degree (if quantitatively focused skill set) with 1-3 years of project management or consulting/strategy role preferred.
• Grain Origination, merchandising or other sales experience
• Industry knowledge of buyer job’s to be done, goals
• Passion for helping growers make financial decisions
• Comfort using analytical tools such as Excel, Tableau, Spotfire, etc.
• Interest in data and financial analysis
• Light on ego and experience working in a team atmosphere with multiple stakeholders
• Travel up to 20% (dependent on location)
• Experience in process improvement and change management
• Comfortable with ambiguity and operates independently with little oversight
• Operates with a sense of urgency and strong attention to detail.
• MBA Preferred but not required

www.indigoag.com

Indigo is committed to living our values, specifically “creating a work environment where everyone feels respected, connected, and has opportunities to learn and grow.” As part of living our values, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone feels they can be themselves and has an equal opportunity of succeeding.