APAC Key Account Manager – Travel Retail

Role Overview

The APAC Key Account Manager for Travel Retail will spearhead commercial expansion and enhance the company's footprint within Travel Retail sectors across the Asia Pacific region. Acting as the main commercial liaison, this role involves direct engagement with key distributors, duty-free retailers, airports, airlines, cruise lines, and related travel retail partners.

Main Duties

• Oversee and drive growth for strategic Travel Retail and Duty Free accounts throughout APAC.
• Lead commercial discussions including pricing structures, product listings, promotional budget allocations, and contract negotiations.
• Discover and cultivate new business prospects in airports, airlines, cruise ships, ferries, border shops, and downtown duty-free markets.
• Formulate and implement market entry and distribution strategies to broaden presence in both mature and emerging territories.
• Manage profitability and revenue targets, including forecasting and profit and loss responsibilities.
• Collaborate closely with Marketing, Trade Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, and other functional teams for seamless strategy execution.
• Represent the company at prominent industry forums and nurture relationships with senior customer contacts.
• Enable portfolio expansion through product introduces, innovative initiatives, channel tactics, and customer engagement strategies.

Travel Requirements

Expect to travel regionally between 40 to 50% of the time.

Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum 5 to 8 years of commercial experience within FMCG, Beverage, Consumer Goods, Luxury, Beauty, or similar sectors.
• Demonstrated expertise in Key Account Management, Business Development, Distributor Handling, or Commercial Sales roles.
• Preference given to candidates with travel retail, duty-free, export, or regional channel management exposure.
• Experience managing multiple countries or the entire APAC territory.
• Proven ability in managing pricing, contract negotiations, and driving commercial outcomes.
• Hands-on P&L accountability including revenue, margin, and ROI monitoring.

Skills and Competencies

• Robust commercial insight and effective negotiation skills.
• Proven capability in nurturing and maintaining senior-level client relationships.
• Strategic mindset coupled with practical, results-oriented execution.
• Strong financial acumen including understanding of pricing models, margins, ROI, and business planning.
• Excellent skills in stakeholder engagement and cross-departmental coordination.
• Comfortable operating within multinational, matrixed business environments.
• Proactive, entrepreneurial drive with a focus on achieving results.
• Fluent English is required; additional Asian languages are a considerable asset.

Educational Background

• Bachelor's degree or an equivalent qualification is essential.
• Field of study preferably in Business, Marketing, Commercial, or related areas.