Business Development Manager, Cross Country Trading

About Providence Grain:

Providence Grain Solutions is one of the few producer-owned agricultural commodity businesses in Canada. We offer grain drying, storage, off-farm pickups, specialized marketing services, hedging, futures, and options.

Working at Providence Grain Solutions opens the door to vast opportunities: being involved in decision-making, being inspired by your team to do your best work, learning, developing and growing as an individual, feeling proud of your personal accomplishments, coming up with new ideas and being valued by the company.

We are an agricultural company who hears the voice and ideas of each employee, and we are proud to do so.

About the role:

Reporting to the VP of Merchandising, the Business Development Manager, Cross Country Trading, will be responsible for the planning and execution of all domestic grain merchandising activities in Western Canada. This position will capitalize on off-farm and third-party grain market opportunities, sourcing and merchandising grains for delivery into domestic markets, developing regional grain merchandising strategies, directing logistical activities and managing sales, credit and collections. The Cross Country Manager will be accountable for preparing and fulfilling the Cross Country handling budgets.

Responsibilities:

·Build and maintain a strong and profitable Cross Country Trading division.

·Train and mentor a team of Cross Country Traders.

·Help the Team build and maintain customer and supplier relationships in the domestic business segment.

·Oversee the buying and selling of agricultural products across North America, with the responsibility of growing a portfolio of profitable customers and transactions.

·Developing and maintaining extensive and varied business relationships in the marketplace

·Actively driving new business growth by developing new relationships with both buyers and sellers.

·Negotiating purchase and/or sales contracts with customers and ensuring all contracts are properly executed.

·Accountable for achieving their own budget and the overall budget for the Cross County department.

·Working with the existing export merchant team to collaboratively build and grow trading opportunities and develop trading strategies.

·Monitor customer service levels with respect to timely delivery, pick-up and suggesting and implementing strategies for continuous improvement in those areas.

·Monitoring freight spreads, local freight values and freight rates to ensure the lowest cost of transport and logistics for products moving in your designated area.

·Working with internal and external logistics to arrange for the transportation and/or storage of products.

·Resolving issues and any disputes as they arise with transporters, producers and/or end users.

·Ensure that Cross Country Traders are updating information in the CRM about each contacted customer. Ensure effective use of the CRM system to help manage and grow the Cross Country Business.

·Ensure compliance with all company policies, including but not limited to commodity contracts, granting of credit and risk.

·Daily communication and coaching of the Cross County group.

Qualifications:

·A degree/diploma in Agriculture or Agri-Business and a minimum of 5 years of experience working in the grain industry in a leadership role.

·Excellent understanding of grain business in Western Canada, including canola crushing, cereal milling, feed processing, and special crop processing.

·Expert-level understanding of the commodity markets, futures, foreign exchange and hedging.

·Entrepreneurial self-starter with a proven ability to develop and grow a book of business.

·Knowledge of commodity mark-to-market accounting.

·Strong organization and time management skills.

·Strong software skills.

·Able to work flexible hours with some domestic travel.

·Strong understanding of grain industry operations and logistics, including freight arbitrage opportunities.

·Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to communicate with all levels of the organization.

Depending on the candidate's current location, Cross Country MGR has the flexibility to choose where to work – whether that’s remotely, in one of our offices (Vancouver, Fort Saskatchewan or Winnipeg), or a mix of both.