Sustainability Business Lead

The core mission is to make sustainability commercially legible inside Aviko. Day to day, that means shaping the company's commercial sustainability strategy together with the Sustainability Manager, scouting opportunities across the value chain where an environmental improvement also unlocks customer value, and translating those into propositions the sales organisation can use in tenders and strategic account conversations. Another substantial part of the job is building business cases, which implies modelling costs, investments, savings and revenue implications of initiatives such as regenerative agriculture programmes, Scope 3 reductions or circular packaging. Beyond that, the role carries a cross-functional coordination mandate. You are expected to pull together colleagues from Global Marketing & Sales, Agro, Procurement and Supply Chain around shared initiatives, and to manage sustainability projects from concept to implementation. That is a blend of project management, internal influencing and external-facing support rather than a purely analytical role. Longer term, the objective is to embed sustainability into Aviko's commercial strategy rather than treat it as a parallel workstream. Success likely looks like a pipeline of sustainability-linked propositions that customers actively ask for, stronger positioning in tenders, and a shared approach with Royal Cosun colleagues so propositions can be scaled across the cooperative.

This role is a rare chance to learn how sustainability actually gets monetised in a food manufacturing context. Because you sit between Agro, Sales and Supply Chain, you would build working knowledge of regenerative agriculture practices, Scope 3 accounting at a practical level, circularity in processing and the logistics questions that sit behind a potato supply chain. That is a different skill set from reporting-focused sustainability jobs and highly transferable. Building business cases under commercial scrutiny is another development area. You would learn to defend sustainability investments to sales and finance audiences, which sharpens quantification and storytelling in equal measure. Working with external customers in tenders exposes you to how buyers in food service and retail construct their own sustainability requirements. The Royal Cosun connection adds a second layer of exposure. Cosun is a large agricultural cooperative with roughly 11,000 growers and multiple business units, so collaboration there offers insight into how sustainability propositions are developed across different product chains and scaled beyond a single subsidiary. Given that this is a newly created role, you would also likely gain unusual visibility into how a sustainability function is designed from the start.

The posting asks for a Master's degree in Business, Economics, Sustainability, Agri & Food or similar, plus roughly 3–5 years in business development, commercial strategy or value chain management. That combination is telling: Aviko is not looking for a pure sustainability specialist, but for someone with a commercial track record who is genuinely drawn to sustainability and wants to deepen expertise there. Experience writing business cases and propositions is explicitly required, so a candidate should be able to point to a deal, product or programme they helped shape and quantify. On the technical side, familiarity with climate topics, regenerative agriculture, Scope 3 or circularity is an advantage rather than a prerequisite. That suggests the hiring manager values analytical curiosity and the ability to learn the substance quickly over pre-existing subject-matter depth. Project management and experience in cross-functional, international environments are also called out, which fits a role that spans five or six internal functions. Soft skills matter heavily here. The person needs to be commercially minded, proactive and comfortable connecting people and ideas, balancing strategic thinking with a hands-on mentality. Language is a practical filter: English fluency is essential, Dutch is preferred and German is considered a plus, which reflects Aviko's footprint in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Because this is a newly created role and the job description is comparatively light on technical specifics, a strong application should demonstrate how you connect sustainability to money. Replace generic statements about passion for sustainability with one or two concrete examples: a business case you built, a customer proposition you helped land, a value chain project where an environmental improvement also produced a commercial result. Quantify where you can. Show that you understand Aviko's specific chain. The company processes over two million tonnes of potatoes annually across thirteen production locations, and its sustainability questions are rooted in agriculture and logistics rather than office operations. Referencing regenerative agriculture, grower relationships, Scope 3 in agri-food or circular solutions for processing would signal that you have read past the generic parts of the posting. If you have Dutch or German language capability, make it visible, since both are relevant to the operating region. In interviews, expect to be tested on stakeholder management rather than technical sustainability knowledge. Prepare to explain how you would convince a sales director to prioritise a sustainability proposition, or how you would align Agro, Procurement and Supply Chain around a single initiative. The reporting line to the Sustainability Manager suggests a lean team, so evidence of self-direction and comfort with an undefined remit would be valuable. Aligning your answers with the language of the posting, particularly 'commercially viable solutions' and 'customer-focused value propositions', will help you resonate.

The role is explicitly positioned away from reporting and compliance, so the focus is likely on the parts of Aviko's sustainability agenda that touch products, sourcing and customers. That points strongly toward regenerative agriculture and grower engagement, given that Aviko was founded by potato growers and remains part of the Royal Cosun cooperative. Programmes that improve soil health, reduce inputs and secure long-term supply while giving customers a credible story are exactly the kind of initiative this role would turn into propositions. Scope 3 emissions are another probable area. For a potato processor, the bulk of the footprint sits upstream in cultivation and downstream in transport and processing, so climate work would involve quantifying and reducing emissions across the value chain rather than just at owned sites. Circular solutions, whether in side-stream valorisation, packaging or waste reduction, are also a natural fit for a commercial sustainability role in food manufacturing. On the social and governance side, the intersection may be lighter but not absent. Customer requirements increasingly bundle human rights due diligence, sustainable sourcing certification and transparent chain data, and supporting tenders and strategic accounts means helping Aviko respond credibly to those asks. The collaboration with Royal Cosun colleagues suggests some focus on shared approaches that can be applied beyond Aviko's own operations.

The biggest challenge is likely internal persuasion. Sustainability propositions often compete with short-term commercial priorities, and a newly created role without a large team must rely on influence rather than authority. You would need to get Marketing, Sales, Agro, Procurement and Supply Chain to invest time in cross-functional initiatives while each function has its own targets. The hand-off to sales is another pressure point: propositions only create value if the sales organisation actually uses them in customer conversations. Data availability could be a recurring obstacle. Building business cases that combine commercial and sustainability value requires credible figures on emissions, agricultural practices and supply chain impacts, and in agri-food those are often estimates rather than precise measurements. Aligning definitions and methodologies across functions, and potentially with Royal Cosun, adds complexity. There is also an inherent tension in being positioned outside reporting and compliance. While that creates freedom, it can mean less clarity on how the role's impact is measured, especially in year one. A candidate should be comfortable operating with ambiguity, setting their own priorities and making the case for what success looks like rather than waiting for a defined scorecard.

A typical day would likely be a mix of analysis and internal coordination rather than a fixed routine. You might spend the morning refining a business case for a regenerative agriculture or Scope 3 initiative, pulling numbers from Agro or Procurement colleagues and stress-testing assumptions. That could be followed by a working session with Marketing & Sales to shape a customer-facing proposition, or a prep call to support a tender or strategic account conversation. Cross-functional project work would fill much of the calendar. Since the role spans five or six functions, expect regular touchpoints with Supply Chain, Procurement and Agro, plus periodic check-ins with the Sustainability Manager on priorities and progress. There would also be interactions with Royal Cosun counterparts to align on shared approaches and joint commercial opportunities. Variability is likely high. Some weeks would be dominated by internal alignment and project delivery, others by customer-facing support or deep dives into a specific value chain question. Given that the role is newly created and sits in a lean team, there is probably also unstructured time for scouting opportunities and shaping how the function develops, which suits someone who is proactive rather than reactive.

This role sits in a space where sustainability and commercial strategy overlap, which is one of the fastest-growing career intersections in food and agri-business. Success could open paths toward a more senior commercial sustainability position, a broader strategy role, or a move into a business unit where sustainability is increasingly part of the commercial mandate. The fact that the role reports to the Sustainability Manager in a newly created function means there may be room to shape and grow the remit over time. The exposure is broad by design. Working with Agro, Procurement, Supply Chain and Marketing & Sales, plus external customers, builds a value chain perspective that is difficult to acquire in a narrower role. Deepening expertise in climate, regenerative agriculture, Scope 3 or circularity would make a candidate more marketable across the wider food industry, where these skills are in short supply relative to demand. The Royal Cosun connection adds a further dimension. Cosun is a large cooperative with multiple business units, and demonstrated success in building joint propositions could open lateral opportunities across the group. Networking within Cosun, combined with visible results on customer-facing sustainability projects, would likely be the strongest drivers of advancement here.

The primary internal stakeholder is the Sustainability Manager, who sets direction and to whom the role reports. Close day-to-day collaboration would be with Global Marketing & Sales, since much of the role's output, propositions and tender support, is consumed there. Agro is another key partner given Aviko's agricultural roots, alongside Procurement and Supply Chain, which hold much of the value chain data and implementation capacity needed for credible business cases. Externally, the role touches customers, particularly in out-of-home food service and strategic accounts where sustainability requirements increasingly appear in tenders and negotiations. Suppliers and growers connected to regenerative agriculture or Scope 3 programmes may also be part of the picture, though often at one remove through Agro colleagues. The Royal Cosun network forms a third group. Collaboration with Cosun colleagues to share knowledge and develop joint propositions means navigating a cooperative structure with multiple business units and roughly 11,000 growers. That requires diplomatic, cross-organisational stakeholder management as much as technical knowledge, and it is one of the more distinctive aspects of this role.